Vertical take-off and landing aircraft

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising high lift and high drag devices positioned within the propeller generated airflow, said high lift and drag devices being retractable, thus enabling transitional flight between vertical flight and conventional horizontal flight.

Aircraft according to any one of the preceding claim, comprising a fuselage spoiler (18) consisting of a flat plate hinged such that it is flush with the fuselage surface when retracted and produces a high drag due to stalled flow as it is extended, said fuselage spoiler (18) arranged underneath the fuselage (2) between the thrust generating source (3) and the center of gravity (23) such that said fuselage spoiler (18) acts as a means of balancing the pitch attitude of said aircraft (1) in take-off or landing, thereby avoiding pitch attitude offset created by the pressure build-up around the extended flaps aft of the center of gravity in ground effects.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, whereby the main wing (6) further comprises a wing-tip configuration consisting of two downwardly extending endplates (27) in combination with two upwardly and outwardly extending winglets (28) positioned at the ends of the main wing;

• said endplates (27) providing a containment for the PGA (4) and for the pressure below the wing;
• said winglets stabilizing the aircraft by countering the destabilizing effect of the endplates, re-establishing coordinated flight;
• said winglets (28) further serving to protect the inner portion of the wing from potential lightning strikes.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims further comprising fuel tanks of x-wise (longitudinally) elongated geometry, such as cylinder or pipes with minimal dimension in the y-direction, thereby further stabilizing the aircraft by minimizing the lateral (or y-direction) fuel surge.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a tail support (13) positioned aft of a main gear wheel (11) and underneath the fuselage (2), whereby the aircraft (1) is positioned such that it is stable in a nose-up take-off and landing position, NUTOL, on the main gear wheel (11) and the tail support (13) with the main gear wheel (11) and the tail support (13) being in the same horizontal plane, due to the position of the center of gravity (23) between said main gear wheel and said tail support.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a nose gear wheel (12) in the nose of the aircraft (1), whereby the aircraft (1) is stable in a conventional horizontal take-off and landing, CHTOL, position on the nose gear (12) and on the main gearwheel (11) being in the same horizontal plane, due to the position of the center of gravity (23) between the main landing gear and the nose gear wheel.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, whereby the landing gear comprises two trailing forward wheels and two aft fixed wheels (30), with the center of gravity (23) positioned between the two sets of wheel thereby providing a stable NUTOL position.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, whereby said torque caused by the propeller is further compensated by means of the main wing (6) having a different angle of incidence, and/or having different profile effectiveness, and/or being of different sizes on the left and the right side of the aircraft (1).

Aircraft according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a static weight on either the right or left main wing (6) for compensating a torque produced by said propeller (3).

Aircraft according to any one of the preceding claims, whereby said stator blades further comprise trailing edge trim flaps respectively to account for changes in the rotational airflow component.

Aircraft according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the propeller blades are configured to produce an airflow with a rotational velocity;

• said rotational velocity inducing greater lift on one wing than the other to counteract the torque caused by said propeller.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims, wherein spoilers, either ventilated or non-ventilated, are positioned either within said PGA or within the area affected by the pressure gradient created by said PGA, thereby enabling roll control.

Aircraft according to any of the preceding claims further comprising rudder and elevator controls mounted on the aircraft empennage whereby said rudder and elevator controls are exposed to the propeller generated airflow (4) and are conditioned with respect to size and position for vertical flight.

Method for transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight of the aircraft according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the steps of:

• gradual retraction of all high drag devices to gradually reduce drag to a minimum thereby enabling optimal forward horizontal flight;
• retracting the high lift and drag devices so as to obtain the original wing profile and retracting the fuselage spoiler to its position flush with the fuselage surface.