"Good thinking!" Robin's mother smiled. "Those are called rotor blades. They are called rotor blades because the long, flat blades are connected to a shaft that spins. This shaft makes the rotor blades turn." "Do the turning rotor blades make the helicopter fly?" asked Robin. "You got it!" Jackie Whirlybird gave her daughter a wink. "The turning rotor blades make the force that lifts the helicopter in the air.