Abstract: Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are provided with fixed-position port and starboard wings extending laterally from an elongate fuselage having an empennage at an aft end of the fuselage and a propeller to provide horizontal thrust to the aircraft in a direction of the longitudinal axis thereof. A series of port and starboard rotor units are provided, each of which includes axially opposed rotor blades, and a motor to rotate the rotor blades and provide vertical thrust to the aircraft. A logic control unit (LCU) controllably sets an angular position of the opposed rotor blades along a position axis relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft in response to determining an optimal position of the rotor blades during cruise flight operation to thereby minimize airflow disruption over the fixed-position wings.

Abstract: A VTOL inceptor arrangement is handled by a single pilot and consists of or comprises a first inceptor and a second inceptor. The first inceptor is capable of controlling at least one axis of movement and the second inceptor is capable of controlling at least three axes of movement. The first inceptor is configured to be operated by a first hand of the pilot, and the second inceptor is configured to be operated by a second hand of the pilot different from the first hand. These two hand-operated inceptors enable use of reliable operation based on stick motion (i.e., the pilot's respective hands each grasp a respective inceptor) instead of relying on movement of switches, knobs or the like—which may not allow precision control under vibration or turbulent environments or conditions.

Abstract: Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, especially electric VTOL (e-VTOL) aircraft include a fuselage (which may include a pair of ground-engaging skids) defining a longitudinal axis of the aircraft, forward and aft pairs of port and starboard aerodynamic wings extending laterally outwardly from the fuselage and forward and aft pairs of port and starboard rotor pods each being in substantial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the fuselage. In specific embodiments, each of the forward and aft pairs of port and starboard rotor pods comprises a forward and aft pair of rotor assemblies.

Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft include a fuselage having a center of gravity (CG) and defining mutually orthogonal X-, Y- and Z-axes. An even number of positionally mirror imaged port and starboard side rotors are provided laterally of the fuselage in spaced relationship to a plane established by the XZ axes while an even number of fuselage rotors are positioned along an X-axis centerline of the fuselage. Improved stability during failure of an engine/motor/rotor is achieved by causing one-half of the side rotors to rotate in one direction about the Z-axis and a remaining one-half of the side rotors rotate in a counter direction relative thereto, while one-half of the fuselage rotors rotate in one direction about the Z-axis and a remaining one-half of the fuselage rotors rotated in a counter direction relative thereto.