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Would a VTOL design like this actually work? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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The idea is a static body VTOL design that can hover stable in the air, and also go at high speeds very efficiently with wings. Could modify dimensions as needed, but general idea, I'm unsure if there's a major design issue?

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[–] 23 points 2 months ago (4 children)

So 99% of the time this thing is in level flight using one motor to carry 3 paperweights.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago*

    I have wondered about the prospect of an aircraft carrier that uses rotary-wing drones to launch and recover the fixed-wing aircraft. That'd give you a lot more flexibility as to the form factor of the ship, since you don't need to do the deceleration or acceleration on the ship, let you launch and recover directly from stuff like submarines (and not like the I-400 class, which was really a seaplane carrier).

    The US has been working on fixed-wing UAVs that are launched and recovered from a fixed-wing airborne aircraft carrier, Gremlins. If you can do that, I'd imagine that it'd also be possible to launch and recover them from a rotary-wing drone.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynetics_X-61_Gremlins

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