During aircraft descent, flight control systems seek and maintain a glide slope determined from a single pilot input parameter; e.g., the position of a control axis of a flight stick. Appropriate guide slope selection by the pilot is readily determined from the pilot's visual observation of an intended landing site during landing approach. The glide slope defines a ratio of forward speed and descent speed which is automatically established and maintained/updated according to pilot input while these speeds are also automatically reduced during descent, despite the two speed directions respectively being affected distinctly and differently by aircraft mechanisms which control them. The aircraft ends its glide path with speed at or near zero, allowing landing by short vertical descent. Accordingly, the pilot offloads problems of both coordinating speeds to achieve a particular guide slope, and reducing them while maintaining this coordination.
An aircraft for in-flight battery management, comprising: a body of the aircraft; a plurality of batteries, wherein at least one battery is partially or fully decoupled from the rest of the batteries; a plurality of thrust vector units, each comprising one or more motor-propeller assemblies that provide thrust along a thrust vector to the body, and wherein said plurality of thrust vector units are powered by said plurality of batteries; at least one controller, configured for: determining or receiving at least one target goal related to one or both of the aircraft's performance and batteries' performance; translating the target goal to power demands from the plurality of batteries; and implementing said power demands by modifying the power consumption of one or more motor-propeller assemblies to achieve said target goal while meeting flight requirements.
G01R 31/392 - Détermination du vieillissement ou de la dégradation de la batterie, p. ex. état de santé
B60L 3/00 - Dispositifs électriques de sécurité sur véhicules propulsés électriquementContrôle des paramètres de fonctionnement, p. ex. de la vitesse, de la décélération ou de la consommation d’énergie
B64F 5/60 - Test ou inspection des composants ou des systèmes d'aéronefs
Stowing systems and methods to disassemble, store, and/or protect an aircraft, and in particular a VTOL aircraft, for transportation along standard public roadways. A stowing system attaches to the aircraft in a flight-ready state, and guides, supports, and/or stabilizes sub-assemblies of the aircraft as they are removed and moved into their stowed positions in preparation for transportation. In some embodiments, the stowing system is implemented as a trailer. The trailer, in some embodiments, is towable by car, such that the aircraft can be carried on and transported with the car and trailer by road. In some embodiments, the stowing system defines landing platform for the aircraft. It may provide facilities to help direct the aircraft to a precise location allowing support elements of the stowing system to be moved to engage with sub-assemblies of the aircraft along predefined degrees of freedom.
B60P 3/11 - Véhicules adaptés pour transporter, porter ou comporter des charges ou des objets spéciaux pour le transport de véhicules pour le transport d'avions
A VTOL aircraft comprising a plurality of motor assemblies, each configured to generate thrust by movement of air past the motor assembly along a respective axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and a wing, wherein 1) the orientations of the axes of thrust are each fixed, during operation of the aircraft, at a constant respective pitch angle oblique to a pitch orientation of the wing; 2) the plurality of motor assemblies is operable together to both fully support the aircraft in a hovering mode, and to propel the aircraft forward in a forward flight mode; 3) the wing does not intersect with any right cylinder centered on any motor assembly and having a central longitudinal axis aligned with the axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and having a radius equal to a radius of a propeller of the motor assembly.
During aircraft descent, flight control systems seek and maintain a glide slope determined from a single pilot input parameter; e.g., the position of a control axis of a flight stick. Appropriate guide slope selection by the pilot is readily determined from the pilot's visual observation of an intended landing site during landing approach. The glide slope defines a ratio of forward speed and descent speed which is automatically established and maintained/updated according to pilot input while these speeds are also automatically reduced during descent, despite the two speed directions respectively being affected distinctly and differently by aircraft mechanisms which control them. The aircraft ends its glide path with speed at or near zero, allowing landing by short vertical descent. Accordingly, the pilot offloads problems of both coordinating speeds to achieve a particular guide slope, and reducing them while maintaining this coordination.
Stowing systems and methods to disassemble, store, and/or protect an aircraft, and in particular a VTOL aircraft, for transportation along standard public roadways. A stowing system attaches to the aircraft in a flight- ready state, and guides, supports, and/or stabilizes sub-assemblies of the aircraft as they are removed and moved into their stowed positions in preparation for transportation. In some embodiments, the stowing system is implemented as a trailer. The trailer, in some embodiments, is towable by car, such that the aircraft can be carried on and transported with the car and trailer by road. In some embodiments, the stowing system defines landing platform for the aircraft. It may provide facilities to help direct the aircraft to a precise location allowing support elements of the stowing system to be moved to engage with sub- assemblies of the aircraft along predefined degrees of freedom
B60P 3/11 - Véhicules adaptés pour transporter, porter ou comporter des charges ou des objets spéciaux pour le transport de véhicules pour le transport d'avions
B64F 5/50 - Manipulation ou transport des composants d'aéronefs
B62D 33/08 - Carrosseries pour véhicules à marchandises caractérisées par l'assemblage entre la carrosserie et le châssis de véhicule comportant des moyens de réglage
A VTOL aircraft comprising a plurality of motor assemblies, each configured to generate thrust by movement of air past the motor assembly along a respective axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and a wing, wherein 1) the orientations of the axes of thrust are each fixed, during operation of the aircraft, at a constant respective pitch angle oblique to a pitch orientation of the wing; 2) the plurality of motor assemblies is operable together to both fully support the aircraft in a hovering mode, and to propel the aircraft forward in a forward flight mode; 3) the wing does not intersect with any right cylinder centered on any motor assembly and having a central longitudinal axis aligned with the axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and having a radius equal to a radius of a propeller of the motor assembly.
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