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69-543: The Dassault Balzac V was a French vertical takeoff and landing ( VTOL ) testbed of the early 1960s. It was built by Dassault Aviation from a prototype Mirage III aircraft to test the configuration for the Mirage IIIV . The sole example was involved in two major accidents that killed the aircraft's pilot, and was not repaired after the second crash. Since the Rolls-Royce RB162 lift engines specified for

138-605: A thrust of 21.57 kN (4,850 lbf). The lift engines were grouped in tandem pairs around the aircraft's center of gravity on either side of the propulsion engine's intake duct, with each pair in a row separated by the main undercarriage wheelbays. The Balzac V began tethered hovering on 12 October 1962 and achieved the first free hover only six days later, two months ahead of schedule. The first accelerating transition from vertical takeoff to horizontal flight took place on its seventeenth sortie on 18 March 1963. The aircraft crashed on 10 January 1964, on its 125th sortie, during

207-773: A tiltwing in that only the rotor pivots rather than the entire wing. This method trades off efficiency in vertical flight for efficiency in STOL / STOVL operations. The first work in the direction of a tilt-rotor (French "Convertible") seems to have originated ca. 1902 by the French-Swiss brothers Henri and Armand Dufaux, for which they got a patent in February 1904, and made their work public in April 1905. Concrete ideas of constructing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft using helicopter-like rotors were pushed further in

276-497: A transverse rotor design, with a few exceptions that use other multirotor layouts. Tiltrotor design combines the VTOL capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft . For vertical flight, the rotors are angled so the plane of rotation is horizontal, generating lift the way a normal helicopter rotor does. As the aircraft gains speed, the rotors are progressively tilted forward, with

345-505: A turbofan in static or hovering conditions. Its efflux can be used for Upper Surface Blown architectures to boost the Lift Coefficient to values exceeding 8.0. Tiltrotor A tiltrotor is an aircraft that generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called proprotors ) mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing . Almost all tiltrotors use

414-631: A VTOL (helicopter) show up in Leonardo da Vinci 's sketch book. Manned VTOL aircraft, in the form of primitive helicopters, first flew in 1907, but would take until after World War Two to be perfected. In addition to helicopter development, many approaches have been tried to develop practical aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities, including Henry Berliner 's 1922–1925 experimental horizontal rotor fixed wing aircraft, and Nikola Tesla 's 1928 patent, and George Lehberger's 1930 patent for relatively impractical VTOL fixed wing airplanes with

483-543: A conventional wing and tilts the whole assembly to transition between vertical and horizontal flight. A tail-sitter sits vertically on its tail for takeoff and landing, then tilts the whole aircraft forward for horizontal flight. Thrust vectoring is a technique used for jet and rocket engines, where the direction of the engine exhaust is varied. In VTOL, the exhaust can be varied between vertical and horizontal thrust. Similar to tiltrotor concept, but with turbojet or turbofan engines instead of ones with propellers. A lift jet

552-435: A cruise speed of 300 knots, a top speed of 330 knots, a ceiling of 25,000 feet, and a range of 500 nautical miles. In vertical flight, the tiltrotor uses controls very similar to a twin or tandem-rotor helicopter. Yaw is controlled by tilting its rotors in opposite directions. Roll is provided through differential power or thrust. Pitch is provided through rotor blades cyclic -, or nacelle , tilt. Vertical motion

621-571: A few tiltrotor projects, mostly unmanned such as the Mil Mi-30 , and has started another in 2015. Around 2005 –2010, Bell and Boeing teamed up again to perform a conceptual study of a larger Quad TiltRotor (QTR) for the US Army's Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) program. The QTR is a larger, four rotor version of the V-22 with two tandem wings sets of fixed wings and four tilting rotors. In January 2013,

690-731: A followup story was part of the April 2006 issue that mentioned "the fuel-consumption and stability problems that plagued earlier plane/copter." Retired from the British Royal Navy in 2006, the Indian Navy continued to operate Sea Harriers until 2016, mainly from its aircraft carrier INS  Viraat . The latest version of the Harrier, the BAE Harrier II , was retired in December 2010 after being operated by

759-584: A helicopter, then transitions to fixed-wing lift in forward flight. Examples of this include the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey A tiltrotor or proprotor tilts its propellers or rotors vertically for VTOL and then tilts them forwards for horizontal wing-borne flight, while the main wing remains fixed in place. Similar to tiltrotor concept, but with ducted fans . As it can be seen in the Bell X-22 . A tiltwing has its propellers or rotors fixed to

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828-439: A helicopter. The rotors would become stationary in mid-flight, and function as wings, providing lift in addition to the static wings. Boeing X-50 is a Canard Rotor/Wing prototype that utilizes a similar concept. A different British VTOL project was the gyrodyne , where a rotor is powered during take-off and landing but which then freewheels during flight, with separate propulsion engines providing forward thrust. Starting with

897-437: A low-altitude hover. During a vertical descent the aircraft experienced uncontrollable divergent wing oscillations, the port wing eventually striking the ground at an acute angle with the aircraft rolling over because of the continued lift engine thrust. The loss was attributed to loss of control because the stabilising limits of the three-axis autostabilisation system's 'puffer pipes' were exceeded in roll. Although airframe damage

966-489: A proposal in 1948 for an aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aboard platforms mounted on the afterdecks of conventional ships. Both Convair and Lockheed competed for the contract but in 1950, the requirement was revised, with a call for a research aircraft capable of eventually evolving into a VTOL ship-based convoy escort fighter. At the end of 1958, the French SNECMA Coléoptère ,

1035-415: A runway. A drawback however is that a tiltrotor suffers considerably reduced payload when taking off from high altitude. A mono tiltrotor aircraft uses a tiltable rotating propeller , or coaxial proprotor , for lift and propulsion . For vertical flight the proprotor is angled to direct its thrust downwards, providing lift. In this mode of operation the craft is essentially identical to a helicopter. As

1104-518: A short time later. The Harrier is usually flown in STOVL mode, which enables it to carry a higher fuel or weapon load over a given distance. In V/STOL the VTOL aircraft moves horizontally along the runway before taking off using vertical thrust. This gives aerodynamic lift as well as thrust lift and permits taking off with heavier loads and is more efficient. When landing the aircraft is much lighter due to

1173-690: A single reciprocating engine. Development started on the Model 1-G in 1947, though it did not fly until 1954. The Model 1-G flew for about a year until a crash in Chesapeake Bay on July 20, 1955, destroying the prototype aircraft but not seriously injuring the pilot. The Model 2 was developed and flew shortly afterwards, but the US Air Force withdrew funding in favor of the Bell XV-3 and it did not fly much beyond hover tests. The Transcendental 1-G

1242-543: A successful landing after boosting 11 commercial satellites to low Earth orbit on Falcon 9 Flight 20 . These demonstrations opened the way for substantial reductions in space flight costs. The helicopter's form of VTOL allows it to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft would usually not be able to take off or land. The capability to efficiently hover for extended periods of time

1311-406: A tailsitter annular wing design, performed its maiden flight. However the sole prototype was destroyed on its ninth flight in 1959, and financing was never sourced for a second prototype. Another more influential early functional contribution to VTOL was Rolls-Royce 's Thrust Measuring Rig ("flying bedstead") of 1953. This led to the first VTOL engines as used in the first British VTOL aircraft,

1380-561: A tilting engines. In the late 1930s British aircraft designer Leslie Everett Baynes was issued a patent for the Baynes Heliplane , another tilt rotor aircraft. In 1941 German designer Heinrich Focke 's began work on the Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 , which had two rotors that tilted downward for vertical takeoff, but wartime bombing halted development. In May 1951, both Lockheed and Convair were awarded contracts in

1449-490: A vertical take-off research aircraft issued in September 1953. The design was accepted by the ministry and a contract was placed for two aircraft (XG900 and XG905) to meet Specification ER.143D dated 15 October 1954. The SC.1 was also equipped with the first "fly-by-wire" control system for a VTOL aircraft. This permitted three modes of control of the aerodynamic surfaces or the nozzle controls. The Republic Aviation AP-100

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1518-524: Is an auxiliary jet engine used to provide lift for VTOL operation, but may be shut down for normal wing-borne flight. The Yak-38 is the only production aircraft to employ lift jets. Lift fan is an aircraft configuration in which lifting fans are located in large holes in an otherwise conventional fixed wing or fuselage. It is used for V/STOL operation. The aircraft takes off using the fans to provide lift, then transitions to fixed-wing lift in forward flight. Several experimental craft have been flown, but only

1587-543: Is controlled with conventional rotor blade pitch and either a conventional helicopter collective control lever (as in the Bell/Agusta BA609 ) or a unique control similar to a fixed-wing engine control called a thrust control lever (TCL) (as in the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey ). The tiltrotor's advantage is significantly greater speed than a helicopter. In a helicopter the maximum forward speed

1656-403: Is defined by the turn speed of the rotor ; at some point the helicopter will be moving forward at the same speed as the spinning of the backwards-moving side of the rotor, so that side of the rotor sees zero or negative airspeed , and begins to stall . This limits modern helicopters to cruise speeds of about 150 knots / 277 km/h. However, with the tiltrotor this problem is avoided, because

1725-672: Is designed to perform missions like a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. The FAA classifies the Osprey as a model of powered lift aircraft. Attempts were made in the 1960s to develop a commercial passenger aircraft with VTOL capability. The Hawker Siddeley Inter-City Vertical-Lift proposal had two rows of lifting fans on either side. However, none of these aircraft made it to production after they were dismissed as too heavy and expensive to operate. In 2018 Opener Aero demonstrated an electrically powered fixed-wing VTOL aircraft,

1794-527: Is due to the helicopter's relatively long, and hence efficient rotor blades, and allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that fixed-wing aircraft and other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft could not perform at least as well until 2011 . On the other hand, the long rotor blades restrict the maximum speed to about 250 miles per hour (400 km/h) of at least conventional helicopters, as retreating blade stall causes lateral instability. Autogyros are also known as gyroplanes or gyrocopters. The rotor

1863-402: Is significant in certain uses. Speed and, more importantly, the benefit to overall response time is the principal virtue sought by the military forces that are using the tiltrotor. Tiltrotors are inherently less noisy in forward flight (airplane mode) than helicopters. This, combined with their increased speed, is expected to improve their utility in populated areas for commercial uses and reduce

1932-673: Is the tiltwing . Although two designs, the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert and the LTV XC-142 , were technical successes, neither entered production due to other issues. Tiltrotors generally have better hover efficiency than tiltwings, but less than helicopters. In 1968, Westland Aircraft displayed their own designs—a small experimental craft (We 01C) and a 68-seater transport We 028—at the SBAC Farnborough Airshow . In 1972, with funding from NASA and

2001-407: Is the first tiltrotor aircraft to have flown and accomplished most of a helicopter to aircraft transition in flight (to within 10 degrees of true horizontal aircraft flight). Built in 1953, the experimental Bell XV-3 flew until 1966, proving the fundamental soundness of the tiltrotor concept and gathering data about technical improvements needed for future designs. A related technology development

2070-421: Is unpowered and rotates freely in the airflow as the craft travels forward, so the craft needs a conventional powerplant to provide thrust. An autogyro is not intrinsically capable of VTOL: for VTO the rotor must be spun up to speed by an auxiliary drive, and vertical landing requires precise control of rotor momentum and pitch. Gyrodynes are also known as compound helicopters or compound gyroplanes. A gyrodyne has

2139-511: The Blackfly , which the manufacturer claims is the world's first ultralight fixed-wing, all-electric, vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In the 21st century, unmanned drones are becoming increasingly commonplace. Many of these have VTOL capability, especially the quadcopter type. In 1947, Ryan X-13 Vertijet , a tailsitter design, was ordered by the US Navy, who then further issued

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2208-520: The F-35 Lightning II entered into production. Aircraft in which VTOL is achieved by exploiting the Coandă effect are capable of redirecting air much like thrust vectoring , but rather than routing airflow through a duct, the airflow is simply routed along an existing surface, which is usually the body of the craft allowing less material and weight. The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar , or simply

2277-520: The FAA defined US tiltrotor noise rules to comply with ICAO rules. A noise certification will cost $ 588,000, same as for a large helicopter. AgustaWestland says they have free-flown a manned electric tiltrotor in 2013 called Project Zero , with its rotors inside the wingspan. In 2013, Bell Helicopter CEO John Garrison responded to Boeing's taking a different airframe partner for the US Army's future lift requirements by indicating that Bell would take

2346-476: The Fairey Gyrodyne , this type of aircraft later evolved into the much larger twin-engined Fairey Rotodyne , that used tipjets to power the rotor on take-off and landing but which then used two Napier Eland turboprops driving conventional propellers mounted on substantial wings to provide propulsion, the wings serving to unload the rotor during horizontal flight. The Rotodyne was developed to combine

2415-645: The Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 of the mid-1940s and the Centro Técnico Aeroespacial "Convertiplano" of the 1950s reached testing or mock-up stages, the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is considered the world's first production tiltrotor aircraft. It has one three-bladed proprotor , turboprop engine, and transmission nacelle mounted on each wingtip. The Osprey is a multi-mission aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing capability ( STOL ). It

2484-506: The Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 , was developed starting in 1942, which was tilting to the ground, but never flew. Platt and LePage patented the PL-16, the first American tiltrotor aircraft. However, the company shut down in August 1946 due to lack of capital. Two prototypes which made it to flight were the one-seat Transcendental Model 1-G and two seat Transcendental Model 2, each powered by

2553-750: The Hawker P.1127 , which became subsequently the Kestrel and then entered production as the Hawker Siddeley Harrier , though the supersonic Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was canceled in 1965. The French in competition with the P.1154 had developed a version of the Dassault Mirage III capable of attaining Mach 1. The Dassault Mirage IIIV achieved transition from vertical to horizontal flight in March 1966, reaching Mach 1.3 in level flight

2622-460: The Short SC.1 (1957), Short Brothers and Harland, Belfast which used four vertical lift engines with a horizontal one for forward thrust. The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft. The SC.1 was designed to study the problems with VTOL flight and the transition to and from forward flight. The SC.1 was designed to meet a Ministry of Supply (MoS) request for tender (ER.143T) for

2691-534: The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps . Bell teamed with Boeing in developing a commercial tiltrotor, but Boeing went out in 1998 and Agusta came in for the Bell/Agusta BA609 . This aircraft was redesignated as the AW609 following the transfer of full ownership to AgustaWestland in 2011. Bell has also developed a tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the TR918 Eagle Eye . Russia has had

2760-595: The U.S. Army , Bell Helicopter Textron started development of the XV-15 , a twin-engine tiltrotor research aircraft. Two aircraft were built to prove the tiltrotor design and explore the operational flight envelope for military and civil applications. In 1981, using experience gained from the XV-3 and XV-15, Bell and Boeing Helicopters began developing the V-22 Osprey , a twin-turboshaft military tiltrotor aircraft for

2829-529: The lunar module (LEM), which had to rely on a reaction engine to land on the Moon. The idea of using the same engine for vertical and horizontal flight by altering the path of the thrust was conceived by Michel Wibault . It led to the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus engine which used four rotating nozzles to direct thrust over a range of angles. This was developed side by side with an airframe,

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2898-421: The wing tips , in that the coaxial proprotor is mounted to the aircraft's fuselage . As a result of this structural efficiency, a mono tiltrotor exceeds the transport efficiency (speed times payload) of both a helicopter and a conventional tiltrotor. One design study concluded that if the mono tiltrotor could be technically realized, it would be half the size, one-third the weight, and nearly twice as fast as

2967-513: The 1930s. The first design resembling modern tiltrotors was patented by George Lehberger in May 1930, but he did not further develop the concept. In World War II , Weserflug in Germany came up with the concept of their P.1003/1 around 1938, which was tilting to the top with part of the wings but not the full wings, so it may be in between tilt-rotor and tilt-planes. Shortly after a German prototype ,

3036-585: The 1960s and early 1970s, Germany planned three different VTOL aircraft. One used the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter as a basis for research for a V/STOL aircraft. Although two models (X1 and X2) were built, the project was canceled due to high costs and political problems as well as changed needs in the German Air Force and NATO. The EWR VJ 101 C did perform free VTOL take-offs and landings, as well as test flights beyond mach 1 in

3105-1262: The British Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The United States Marine Corps and the Italian and Spanish navies all continue to use the AV-8B Harrier II , an American-British variant. Replacing the Harrier II/AV-8B in the air arms of the US and UK is the STOVL variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II , the F-35B. SpaceX developed several prototypes of Falcon 9 to validate various low-altitude, low-velocity engineering aspects of its reusable launch system development program . The first prototype, Grasshopper, made eight successful test flights in 2012–2013. It made its eighth, and final, test flight on October 7, 2013, flying to an altitude of 744 metres (2,441 ft) before making its eighth successful VTVL landing. This

3174-486: The Mirage IIIV were not expected to be available before 1963, Dassault modified the first Mirage III prototype to serve as an interim VTOL testbed. Eight Rolls-Royce RB108 lift engines were installed, each with an average maximum takeoff thrust of 9.83 kN (2,210 lbf). The Mirage III's Snecma Atar G.2 propulsion engine was replaced with an un-reheated (non-afterburning) Bristol Siddeley Orpheus BOr 3 with

3243-520: The VZ-9, was a Canadian VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. which utilizes this phenomenon by blowing air into a central area, then it is directed down over the top surface, which is parabolic and resembles a bowed flying saucer . Due to the Coandă effect, the airflow is attracted to the nearest surface and continues to move along that surface despite the change in the surface's direction away from

3312-627: The aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle taxiing . VTOL is a subset of V/STOL (vertical or short take-off & landing). Some lighter-than-air aircraft also qualify as VTOL aircraft, as they can hover, takeoff and land with vertical approach/departure profiles. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs , are being developed along with more autonomous flight control technologies and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) to enable advanced air mobility (AAM), that could include on-demand air taxi services, regional air mobility, freight delivery, and personal air vehicles (PAVs). Besides

3381-563: The airflow. The craft is designed to direct the airflow downward to provide lift. Jetoptera announced a proposed line of aircraft based on what it called fluidic propulsion that employs the Coandă effect. The company claims an Oswald efficiency number of 1.45 for its boxwing design. Other claims include increased efficiency, 30% lower weight, reduced complexity, as much as 25 dBA lower (and atonal) noise, shorter wings, and scalability. Jetoptera says its approach yields thrust augmentation ratios exceeding 2.0 and 50% fuel savings when compared to

3450-627: The attempt to design, construct, and test two experimental VTOL fighters. Lockheed produced the XFV , and Convair producing the Convair XFY Pogo . Both experimental programs proceeded to flight status and completed test flights 1954–1955, when the contracts were cancelled. Similarly, the Ryan X-13 Vertijet flew a series of test flights between 1955 and 1957, but also suffered the same fate. The use of vertical fans driven by engines

3519-427: The craft gains speed, the coaxial proprotor is slowly tilted forward, with the blades eventually becoming perpendicular to the ground. In this mode the wing provides the lift, and the wing's greater efficiency helps the tiltrotor achieve its high speed. In this mode, the craft is essentially a turboprop aircraft. A mono tiltrotor aircraft is different from a conventional tiltrotor in which the proprotors are mounted to

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3588-709: The development of the Panavia Tornado . The Yakovlev Yak-38 was a Soviet Navy VTOL aircraft intended for use aboard their light carriers, cargoships, and capital ships. It was developed from the Yakovlev Yak-36 experimental aircraft in the 1970s. Before the Soviet Union broke up, a supersonic VTOL aircraft was developed as the Yak-38's successor, the Yak-141 , which never went into production. In

3657-495: The efficiency of a fixed-wing aircraft at cruise with the VTOL capability of a helicopter to provide short haul airliner service from city centres to airports. The CL-84 Dynavert was a Canadian V/STOL turbine tilt-wing monoplane designed and manufactured by Canadair between 1964 and 1972. The Canadian government ordered three updated CL-84s for military evaluation in 1968, designated the CL-84-1. From 1972 to 1974, this version

3726-409: The ejection seat's escape envelope. The findings of the accident investigation were never made public. It was speculated that hydraulic control difficulties coupled with excessive use of the lift engines resulted in fuel starvation and the flameout of all nine engines. Once again, the damage was not irreparable, but this time the aircraft was not rebuilt, as flight development of the Mirage IIIV prototype

3795-443: The expense of payload . As a result of this reduced payload, some estimate that a tiltrotor does not exceed the transport efficiency (speed times payload) of a helicopter, while others conclude the opposite. Additionally, the tiltrotor propulsion system is more complex than a conventional helicopter due to the large, articulated nacelles and the added wing; however, the improved cruise efficiency and speed improvement over helicopters

3864-657: The lead itself in developing the Bell V-280 Valor , with Lockheed Martin. In 2014, the Clean Sky 2 program (by the European Union and industry) awarded AgustaWestland and its partners $ 328 million to develop a "next-generation civil tiltrotor" design for the offshore market, with Critical Design Review near the end of 2016. The goals are tilting wing sections, 11 metric tons Maximum takeoff weight , seating for 19 to 22 passengers, first flight in 2021,

3933-418: The loss of propellant weight and a controlled vertical landing is possible. An important aspect of Harrier STOL operations aboard naval carriers is the "ski jump" raised forward deck, which gives the craft additional vertical momentum at takeoff. The March 1981 cover of Popular Science showed three illustrations for its "Tilt-engine V/STOL - speeds like a plane, lands like a copter" front-page feature story.;

4002-700: The mid- and late 60s. One of the test-aircraft is preserved in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, another outside Friedrichshafen Airport. The others were the VFW-Fokker VAK 191B light fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, and the Dornier Do 31 E-3 (troop) transport. The LLRV was a spacecraft simulator for the Apollo lunar lander. It was designed to mimic the flight characteristics of

4071-514: The plane of rotation eventually becoming vertical. In this mode the rotors provide thrust as a propeller , and the airfoil of the fixed wings takes over providing the lift via the forward motion of the entire aircraft. Since the rotors can be configured to be more efficient for propulsion (e.g. with root-tip twist) and it avoids a helicopter's issues of retreating blade stall , the tiltrotor can achieve higher cruise speeds and takeoff weights than helicopters. A tiltrotor aircraft differs from

4140-590: The powered rotor of a helicopter with a separate forward thrust system of an autogyro. Apart from take-off and landing the rotor may be unpowered and autorotate. Designs may also include stub wings for added lift. A cyclogyro or cyclocopter has a rotary wing whose axis and surfaces remain sideways across the airflow, as with a conventional wing. There are number of designs for achieving power lift, and some designs may use more than one. There are many experimental designs that have unique design features to achieve powered lift. A convertiplane takes off under rotor lift like

4209-408: The proprotors are perpendicular to the motion in the high-speed portions of the flight regime (and thus not subject to this reverse flow condition), so the tiltrotor has relatively high maximum speed—over 300 knots / 560 km/h has been demonstrated in the two types of tiltrotors flown so far, and cruise speeds of 250 knots / 460 km/h are achieved. This speed is achieved somewhat at

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4278-712: The threat of detection for military uses. Tiltrotors, however, are typically as loud as equally sized helicopters in hovering flight. Noise simulations for a 90-passenger tiltrotor indicate lower cruise noise inside the cabin than a Bombardier Dash 8 airplane, although low-frequency vibrations may be higher. Tiltrotors also provide substantially greater cruise altitude capability than helicopters. Tiltrotors can easily reach 6,000 m / 20,000 ft or more whereas helicopters typically do not exceed 3,000 m / 10,000 ft altitude. This feature will mean that some uses that have been commonly considered only for fixed-wing aircraft can now be supported with tiltrotors without need of

4347-768: The ubiquitous helicopters, there are currently two types of VTOL aircraft in military service: tiltrotor aircraft, such as the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey , and thrust-vectoring airplanes, such as the Harrier family and new F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). In the civilian sector currently only helicopters are in general use (some other types of commercial VTOL aircraft have been proposed and are under development as of 2017 ). Generally speaking, VTOL aircraft capable of STOVL use it wherever possible, since it typically significantly increases takeoff weight, range or payload compared to pure VTOL. The idea of vertical flight has been around for thousands of years, and sketches for

4416-579: Was a prototype VTOL 6x General Electric J85 Turbojet engined nuclear capable strike fighter concept designed by Alexander Kartveli that had 3x ducted fans in the centre of its fuselage and tail as a possible contender for the TFX Program . Another design was the A400 AVS that used variable geometry wings but was found too complicated, however it led to the development of the AFVG which in turn helped

4485-660: Was already underway. The Balzac V gained its name from the co-incidence of its serial number (001) with the telephone number (BALZAC 001) of a well-known Paris movie advertising agency (Publicité Jean Mineur). Data from General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists VTOL Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as CTOL (conventional take-off & landing), STOL (short take-off & landing), or STOVL (short take-off & vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate as VTOL, due to

4554-614: Was demonstrated and evaluated in the United States aboard the aircraft carriers USS Guam and USS Guadalcanal , and at various other centres. These trials involved military pilots from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. During testing, two of the CL-84s crashed due to mechanical failures, but no loss of life occurred as a result of these accidents. No production contracts resulted. Although tiltrotors such as

4623-574: Was investigated in the 1950s. The US built an aircraft where the jet exhaust drove the fans , while British projects not built included fans driven by mechanical drives from the jet engines. NASA has flown other VTOL craft such as the Bell XV-15 research craft (1977), as have the Soviet Navy and Luftwaffe . Sikorsky tested an aircraft dubbed the X-Wing , which took off in the manner of

4692-496: Was relatively light, the Centre D'Essai en Vol test pilot, Jacques Pinier, did not eject and died in the crash. The aircraft was rebuilt, and resumed flight testing on 2 February 1965. On 8 September 1965, the aircraft suffered another fatal crash, once again while in a low altitude hover. The aircraft was being evaluated by United States Air Force Major P. E. Neale, as part of a Franco-American information exchange on VTOL programmes. Major Neale made an unsuccessful ejection outside

4761-431: Was the last scheduled test for the Grasshopper rig; next up will be low altitude tests of the Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) development vehicle in Texas followed by high altitude testing in New Mexico. On November 23, 2015, Blue Origin 's New Shepard booster rocket made the first successful vertical landing following an uncrewed suborbital test flight that reached space. On December 21, 2015, SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage made

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