VTOL commercial aircraft....

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
And to all that, I'd add a rather complex computer-aided control system... since I doubt that a normal (or even skilled) pilot can handle the demands of each individual rotor simultaneously
I would be surprised the pilot could do that, safely / always / in any situation...if at all.
 

shteii01

Joined Feb 19, 2010
4,644
I once saw a Harrier at an airshow. It did _not_ hover. The said that hovering was too hard on the runway.
The V-22 exhaust is so bad that some ships are not allowed to land them and that is supposed to be a utility aircraft, carry the troops, carry the gear, carry supplies, carry the mail. And you can forget landing it on helicopter platform, probably would melt it.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
I once saw a Harrier at an airshow. It did _not_ hover. The said that hovering was too hard on the runway.
We had to modify the flight deck with special heat absorbent non-skid and build heat spreaders under the deck structure to do vertical take-off and landing on the ship from only one or two special spots. The normal surfaces would heat, the non-skid blow off exposing bare metal and the deck plates would buckle. I've watch many take-offs and landing that were right on the edge of loss of control when we were steaming ahead with pitch and roll so the pilot had to match our speed, pitch and roll second by second. The landing technique is to get close in the same 3D rotational position then cut power and drop like a brick to the deck hoping you don't slide over the side before friction stops you and the deck crew can chock you down. Many a brave man has almost lost his composure after doing this but they climb back inside and do it again.

On this video you can see the landing spots with the paint gone. The ship is close to dead still here (still moving to maintain stability) still so you can imagine what it's like matching a exact position underway on a rolling sea.
 
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RichardO

Joined May 4, 2013
2,270
Read that book... loved it...
The content was excellent but the editing was atrocious -- same cliched phrase used at least three times...
It was very hard to follow the action when current and power were used interchangeably.

The book Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz was far superior in my opinion.
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
The content was excellent but the editing was atrocious -- same cliched phrase used at least three times...
It was very hard to follow the action when current and power were used interchangeably.

The book Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz was far superior in my opinion.
You want excellent editing and content at the same time? Read this... or you wait for the movie to come out in a few weeks
 
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