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Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

(techcrunch.com)
171 points BrooklynRage | 4 comments | 03 Oct 19 17:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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dmix ◴[06 Oct 19 00:17 UTC] No.21168892[source]▶
When a VTOL vehicle switches directions of the blades in the air, is there any sort of drop in altitude as it moves into the forward direction? Or is it a gradual type of thing as it starts angling forward?

I could see any drop before it kicks in being startling for customers, especially if the motors are less powerful than a helicopter or jet.

I noticed the video makes a cut from flying to the landing part, without showing the transition of the blades downwards from forward flight. I'd imagine this also takes some careful timing to line up properly with the ground target.

replies(1): >>21169005 #
1. mysterydip ◴[06 Oct 19 00:44 UTC] No.21169005[source]▶
May not be exactly the same, but I don't believe there's an appreciable drop on a tiltrotor like the V-22.
replies(2): >>21169356 #>>21169727 #
2. dmix ◴[06 Oct 19 02:03 UTC] No.21169356[source]▶
I thought about that (and watched a few examples) but these would have a much less powerful motor, so I was curious how it handles it.
3. Tossrock ◴[06 Oct 19 03:52 UTC] No.21169727[source]▶
There isn't - the V-22 rotors tilt continuously from vertical to horizontal rather slowly as it builds up enough speed to transition to forward flight. Same thing with Quantum's VTOL UAVs.
replies(1): >>21170306 #
4. UIZealot ◴[06 Oct 19 06:58 UTC] No.21170306[source]▶
And since the Heaviside has many pairs of small rotors, it has another option which is to switch the rotors gradually pair by pair, but switching each pair quickly.