HN Explorer

20 comments

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thearn4
It's an interesting alternative to visualization of tree-based hierarchies
mrfusion
Shouldn't the falcon 9 be included?
TrainedMonkey
While F9 is really awesome, it is not an aircraft ^^
mrfusion
How about a gyrocopter or is that not a short takeoff?
pdelbarba
Most are not especially short takeoff but many can pretty much land vertically
mrfusion
Many of these become very viable with the advent of electric aircraft. Tailsitters being the simplest.
TheSpiceIsLife
Why would electric power make any of these more viable? All the battery technology we presently have has worse energy density than av gas or jet fuel.
ge96
Yeah nice thing about gas gets lighter doesn't get weaker unlike batteries, gets weaker, stays the same weight. Guess it depends how far down you run the batteries.
mrfusion
The main thing is a small electric motor can provide a lot of power. It's difficult to provision a gas powered aircraft with an engine powerful enough for vtol but it's not a big deal for an electric.
TheSpiceIsLife
Aren't all commercially available, and military grade, VTOL aircraft either liquid hydrocarbon powered or rockets? I'm not aware of any electric powered aircraft in the same markets.
Gravityloss
A tailsitter has the drawback of being susceptible to winds when landing.
pdelbarba
Am I the only one who thinks the X-32 got shafted in the JSF project? It's a pretty good example of keeping a design simple.
NegativeLatency
No, I thought it was a good looking plane. Too bad they changed up the requirements so late in the selection process.
ge96
Oh man so cool, there are great footages on YoyTube under Nasa Dryden I think. Like old research videos on flat spins, aeroelasticity, one these was in there the Vertol 76 that's a cool video that bubble canopy and those twin rotors.
ge96
Do cyclorotors count or no

Also the jet engine stand that they tilt forward and they cruise around on single man. It looks like a flying podium haha.

What about jet-tip helicopters or fall under helicopters too yeah

Sephr
Missing the Lilium Jet and the XTI TriFan 600.
blorsh
They left out the recent DARPA idea of helicopter-style blades that retract into a disk-like wing.

They left out designs that transition rapidly and automatically, without sustained hover. For example, an aircraft with a pair of thrust-vectoring engines could be equipped with a nose gear that tosses the front upward, allowing an automated takeoff. (too fast to be done manually) Landing could be similar, with a long and heavy-duty node gear that can take a bit of shock. Another approach is a solid-fuel rocket, again just enough to support the nose.