"The R-22s are  light, two-place, single piston-engined helicopters with a semi-rigid two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor. The main rotor has a teetering hinge and two coning hinges. The tail rotor has only a teetering hinge. The normal production variant has skid landing gear"

The helicopter rotor system consists of a two-bladed main rotor and two-bladed anti-torque rotor on the tail, each equipped with a teetering hinge. The main rotor is equipped with two coning hinges. Collective and cyclic pitch inputs to the main rotor are transmitted through pushrods and a conventional swash plate mechanism. Control inputs to the pre-coned tail rotor are transmitted through a single pushrod inside the aluminium tail cone.

To ease the pilot's workload, a electronic govenor adjusts the throttle as the collective pitch control is raised or lowered. The pilot only needs to make small adjustments by twisting the throttle grip on the collective throughout the flight regime.