
The difference between “avgas” and the type of gasoline you would have in your car mainly come down to the following points: Turbine helicopters run on jet fuel, which is the same fuel type used by large airliners. The type of fuel a helicopter uses depends on the engine type.Ī piston helicopter uses “avgas”, which is very similar to regular gasoline. What Kind of Fuel Does A Helicopters Use? However, if the helicopter moves forward, more air is flowing through the rotors, resulting in that the air needs to be accelerated less to create the necessary lift. When a helicopter hovers, all the lift must be generated by its main rotor, which in turn means that it must accelerate a lot of air. Here are two common military helicopters and their fuel consumption: Helicopter Model Gallons Per Hour Boeing CH-47 Chinook 390 Sikorsky UH-60 “Black Hawk” 120 Does a Helicopter Use More Fuel When Hovering?Ī helicopter uses more fuel when hovering than in forward flight. This often makes them pretty large, and together with their powerful engines, they are bound to burn quite some fuel! Military helicopters need to be fast, agile, and come with the ability to carry a lot of equipment. Here is how much fuel four common turbine helicopters consume per hour: Helicopter Model Fuel Consumption (Gallons per Hour) Bell 206 JetRanger 30 Airbus EC135P2 75 Hughes OH-6 Cayuse 22 Eurocopter AS350 45 Military Helicopters On the negative side, they consume quite a lot of fuel and cost quite a lot more than a piston engine. In addition, they are more reliable and work much better at high altitudes. Not only are they much more powerful than piston engines, but when engine power increases, they become a lot lighter as well relative to their output. Turbine engines, also called jet engines, are the engine of choice for medium-sized to large helicopters. Here is the fuel consumption for three of the most common piston helicopters: Helicopter Model Gallons per hour Bell 47 15 Robinson R-22 8 Robinson R-44 15 Turbine powered helicopters Most piston-powered helicopters flying today are quite small, which is reflected in their low fuel consumption. Therefore they are used a lot for sightseeing, flight training law enforcement, and similar operations. Piston powered helicopters have the advantage of being cheap and low weight, while providing high maneuverability. The explosion makes the piston move, which in turn makes the rotor blades rotate. In short, the fuel goes into the combustion chamber, where it’s ignited.

We have chosen to make the distinction between: Here we will look at the fuel consumption for the most common helicopters in each category. Ending Words Helicopter Fuel Consumption By Helicopter Category.Do Helicopters Use More Fuel Than Planes?.How Much Does It Cost To Fill Up A Helicopter?.What Kind of Fuel Does A Helicopters Use?.Does a Helicopter Use More Fuel When Hovering?.Helicopter Fuel Consumption By Helicopter Category.
