Lift, weight, thrust, drag — balanced by rotor disc tilt and collective pitch.

Collective = power/height (all blades together); cyclic = disc tilt/direction; pedals = antitorque/heading.

To counter main-rotor torque (Newton's 3rd law) and control heading.

Tail-rotor thrust drifts the aircraft sideways; corrected with cyclic (and rigging).

Advancing blade makes more lift than retreating blade in forward flight.

Blade flapping: advancing flaps up (less AoA), retreating flaps down (more AoA).

~16–24 kt; rotor reaches clean air, gains efficiency; nose pitches up — anticipate with cyclic.

Tendency to climb, slight pitch/roll change, vibration smooths out.

Airflow difference front-to-back of the disc near ~10–20 kt; contributes to vibration/roll in transition.

Rotor reacts ~90° after the point of input — designed into control rigging.

Heat, altitude, humidity, low pressure — performance drops as DA rises.

Less power and less rotor thrust — margins shrink (worst OGE/heavy).

R44 POH Section 5 charts for the actual conditions — never estimated.

In ground effect needs LESS power than out of ground effect (~1 rotor diameter).

It's invisible — the runway looks the same; an OGE hover/takeoff may be impossible hot & high.