1366

Item 1366

OTHER: Miscellaneous - Thoughtless Idea - XSTOL & Airpad

Extreme Short Take-off and Landing Craft and Airpad

Sketch:

Overview:

Modes of Operation:

The following is an idea for a commercial XSTOL craft that is capable of landing and taking off in three distinct modes from three different types of landing sites.

It lands and takes off in conventional flight mode from existing airports.
It lands and takes off in XSTOL mode from 'airparks', where the runways may only be a few hundred feet long.
It land and takes off vertically in XSTOL mode from special high utilization 'airpads' in congested areas. In this scenario, the vertical portion of the flight is assisted by ground based equipment.

Overview:

This page is to contemplate a configuration for scheduled commercial short and medium haul flights, which fit between those of helicopters and larger long-range airplanes.
The recommended take off and landing height/velocity characteristics of the helicopter do not differ very much from the gyrocopter. The take off and landing height/velocity characteristics of the gyrocopter do not differ at all from that of a STOL airplane. For requirements where there is no need for absolute zero airspeed, an advanced eXtreme Short Take_Off & Landing craft, with very lightweight construction and thrust augmented stability, may be an answer to future recreational flight and inter-city short-haul.

Airpad:

For VTOL 'airpad' sites, which are located in congested areas and have high commuter traffic, the ground equipment might consisted of very high power vectored thrust equipment. It would help support the craft just as a column of air supports a Ping-Pong ball. This equipment would be computer controlled and only operate for a couple of minutes at a time.
Ground based air thrust, which provides a 'ground cushion' for the XSTOL craft to 'drop' onto?
A large mechanical catapult, which is used in conjunction with the air thrust, to 'toss' the craft up and forward during takeoff. See sketch above.
The Airpad is rotateable, so that take-offs and landings can be made into an existing wind..
Arms of catapult are approximately 100 feet long.
Air thrust is used during take-off to offset the vertical drag on the wings, which is caused by the rapid ascendancy.
Fortunately, the reliability of the ground equipment will not be a 'show stopper'. This is because aircraft, and particularly VTOL craft, have to balance reliability against weight. The ground equipment can be as strong and system-redundant as is necessary.

XSTOL Craft:

Can operate at conventional airports, in conventional mode.
Can operate at very short airparks, in XSTOL mode.
Can operate at airpads, in vertical XSTOL mode with ground based assist.

For lift, the wings might be monoplane for forward flight and convert to staggered biplane for XSTOL. Another option might be to increase the wings surface area by unfurling an extremely strong fabric at slow flight.

For vertical thrust, the engine(s) might be stronger then that which is required for forward flight. For slow-speed flight a blower, (somewhat like the Lockheed Martin X-35) might be connected and used to direct air to the wing tips ant tail.

Stability and control during slow speed may require fast redirecting of vectored thrusts.

Another complementary idea might be that of elevating the airfoil while its area is being significantly increased. This raised center of lift visa vie the center of gravity should assist with stability.

The canard configuration [http://142.26.194.131/aerodynamics1/Appendix/Aircraft/Canards.htm] may offer better lift.

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Initially displayed: September 6, 2004 ~ Last Revised: November 8, 2004

The above utility invention is openly and publicly disclosed on the Internet to negate an entity from patenting it, to the exclusion of all others whom may wish to use it. ~ Reference patent law 35 U.S.C. 102 A person shall be entitled to a patent unless - (a) the invention was known ... by others in this country, ..., before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent.