a helicopter main rotor blade having a metallic nose spar extending the length of the leading edge of the blade and a trailing edge skin attached to the nose spar . a closure channel fixed within the nose spar extends the length thereof with unidirectional fiberglass material fixed to and extending along the length of the closure channel . a bushing on the inboard end of the blade preferably is attached both to the nose spar and the fiberglass bands for transfer of centrifugal forces in the blade to a grip .