Apparatus and methods for alleviating rotary aircraft downloads are disclosed. In one embodiment, a rotary aircraft includes an airframe assembly having a fuselage, at least one rotor assembly operatively coupled to the airframe assembly and configured to provide a downwash over at least a portion of the airframe assembly during operation of the at least one rotor assembly, and at least one download alleviation strake operatively coupled to the fuselage, each download alleviation strake extending at least partially along a length of the fuselage and being configured to reduce a downwash download during operation of the at least one rotor assembly. In some embodiments, the airframe assembly includes at least one fuel tank, and the at least one download alleviation strake is coupled to the at least one fuel tank. The download alleviation strake may be pivotably coupled to the at least one fuel tank.