rotorcraft
noun
ro·tor·craft
| \ ˈrō-tər-ˌkraft
\
\
plural rotorcraft
Definition of rotorcraft
: an aircraft (such as a helicopter) whose lift is derived principally from rotating airfoils
Examples of rotorcraft in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
At Jaunt, Stanzione, who is also a former test pilot, acquired the rights to technology long in development by Carter Aviation Technologies, one of the most aggressive innovators in rotorcraft technology in the modern age. — Eric Adams, WIRED, "Old Gyrocopters Could Be the Funky Flying Cars of the Future," 12 Aug. 2019 The rotorcraft, called Dragonfly, will study several regions where exotic chemistry could produce the constitute components of life. — Jay Bennett, Smithsonian, "Dragonfly Spacecraft to Scour the Sands of Titan for the Chemistry of Life," 6 May 2012 Lockheed Martin was set to close a plant in Coatesville, Pennsylvania where workers manufactured helicopters, citing a lack of demand for rotorcraft. — Fortune, "A VC Community Introduces a Gender Quota: The Broadsheet," 12 July 2019 The Dragonfly mission will involve a small, drone-like rotorcraft lander that will be able to fly in small hops across Titan’s surface, covering more distance during its two-year mission than any planetary rover in history. — Daniel Oberhaus, WIRED, "NASA Will Send a Helicopter to Hunt for Life on Saturn's Biggest Moon," 27 June 2019 McCormack received his commercial pilot's license in 2004, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, and he was certified as a flight instructor for a rotorcraft-helicopter last year. — Greg Wallace And Brynn Gingras, CNN, "Pilot of helicopter that crashed on New York high-rise didn't have proper certificate, FAA says," 12 June 2019 For years now, aerospace firms have been engineering the kinds of drones and rotorcraft that could be adapted for the self-flying taxi role. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "The "Mega Skyport" Is a Fanciful Future Landing Spot for Uber’s Flying Taxis," 19 July 2018 Started in 2008 as a response to legacy helicopters crashing in Iraq and Afghanistan, the goal was to develop an entirely new rotorcraft system, as opposed to just continually upgrading Black Hawks and Apaches. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Will the Defiant Be the Helicopter That Finally Replaces the Black Hawk?," 26 Dec. 2018 The altitude record for a rotorcraft stands at just over 40,000 feet, and during that flight the engine flamed out and the pilot had to land using autorotation. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "How to Fly a Helicopter on Mars," 15 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rotorcraft.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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