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US 2016/0236797 A1Published application
Helicopter-mediated system and method for launching and retrieving an aircraft
AssigneeHood Technology Corporation
InventorsAndreas H. von Flotow, Corydon C. Roeseler, Daniel Reiss
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a helicopter-mediated system and method for launching and retrieving an aircraft capable of long-distance efficient cruising flight from a small space without the use of a long runway.
Claims20
A copter-mediated method for retrieving an aircraft from wing-borne flight, said method comprising:
- flying a copter above an anchor assembly such that a first portion of a tether attached to both the copter and the anchor assembly extends between the copter and the anchor assembly;
- station-keeping the flying copter generally above the anchor assembly;
- and
- contacting and capturing a part of the first portion of the tether extending between the tether and the anchor assembly with the aircraft, thereby causing the anchor assembly to pay out a second portion of the tether and impose a resistive force on the tether that opposes movement of the aircraft.
1 more element
A copter-mediated method for launching an aircraft into and retrieving the aircraft from wing-borne flight, said method comprising:
- launching the aircraft into wing-borne flight by:
- (1) attaching a copter and the aircraft to one another;
- (2) hoisting the aircraft using the copter;
- (3) bringing the aircraft to a designated air speed using the flying copter;
- and
- (4) afterwards, detaching the aircraft from the flying copter from one another, thereby releasing the aircraft into wing-borne flight;
- and
- retrieving the aircraft from wing-borne flight by:
- (1) flying the copter above an anchor assembly such that a first portion of a tether attached to both the flying copter and the anchor assembly extends between the flying copter and the anchor assembly;
- (2) station-keeping the flying copter generally above the anchor assembly;
- and
- (3) contacting and capturing a part of the first portion of the tether extending between the tether and the anchor assembly with the aircraft, thereby causing the anchor assembly to pay out a second portion of the tether and impose a resistive force on the tether that opposes movement of the aircraft.
9 more elements
A copter-mediated system for retrieving an aircraft, said system comprising:
- a copter;
- a tether attachable to the copter;
- and
- an anchor assembly attachable to the tether such that a first portion of the tether extends between the copter and the anchor assembly, wherein the anchor assembly is configured such that, when the tether is attached to the anchor assembly, imposition of an extending force on the tether in a direction away from the anchor assembly causes the anchor assembly to pay out a second portion of the tether and impose a resistive force opposing the extending force.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.