rotary-wing aircraft

noun

: rotorcraft

specifically : helicopter

—usually used in plural

Examples of rotary-wing aircraft in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Byrne said that a fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft could operate as a drone to a larger, passively buoyant platform. —Leonard David, Space.com, 8 Feb. 2025

Cal Fire has the largest civil aerial firefighting fleet in the world, including more than 60 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. —Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2023

Equipped with these sophisticated flight controllers, the fly-by-wire BlackFly is similar in that regard to the hobbyist drones that rely on processors and clever algorithms to avoid the tricky manipulations of sticks, levers, and pedals required to fly a traditional fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft. —IEEE Spectrum, 29 Dec. 2022

The Stinger, in service with more than 18 countries and the US armed forces, has scored more than 270 hits against fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. —Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2022

The centerpiece is a rotary-wing aircraft simulator/mock-up with a digital backbone architecture that allows plug and play flexibility for different capabilities and systems integration combinations. —Eric Tegler, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2021

That facility had 150 workers who made sheet metal components and assemblies for fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. —Allie Morris, Dallas News, 19 Feb. 2020

Its fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft will be based out of Barbados and Guadeloupe respectively. —Elizabeth Koh, miamiherald, 23 Sep. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rotary-wing aircraft

• abaft
• camshaft
• crankshaft
• downdraft
• engraft
• priestcraft
• redraft
• schoolcraft
• spacecraft
• stagecraft
• statecraft
• updraft