The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, an example of a tiltrotor aircraft

A tiltrotor aircraft combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed of a turboprop airplane. U.S. Navy photograph of a V-22 Osprey aircraft[1]. Taken January 17, 2003 by Vernon Pugh. ... U.S. Navy photograph of a V-22 Osprey aircraft[1]. Taken January 17, 2003 by Vernon Pugh. ... An Airbus A380, currently the worlds largest airliner An aircraft is any vehicle or craft capable of atmospheric flight. ... Robinson Helicopter Company (USA) R44, a four seat development of the R22 A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each having two or more rotor blades. ... A schematic diagram showing the operation of a turboprop engine. ... An Air France Boeing 777, a modern passenger jet. ...

Description

As the name implies, a tiltrotor aircraft uses tiltable (rotating) propellers, or proprotors, for lift and propulsion. For vertical flight the proprotors are angled to direct their thrust downwards, providing lift. In this mode of operation the craft is essentially identical to a helicopter. As the craft gains speed, the proprotors are slowly tilted forward, eventually becoming perpendicular to the ground. In this mode the wing provides the lift, and the wing's greater efficiency helps the tiltrotor achieve its high speed. In this mode, the craft is essentially a turboprop aircraft. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Fig. ...

In vertical flight, the tiltrotor uses controls very similar to a twin or tandem-rotor helicopter. Yaw is controlled by tilting its rotors in opposite directions. Roll is provided through differential power or thrust. Pitch is provided through rotor cyclic or nacelle tilt. Vertical motion is controlled with conventional rotor blade pitch and either a conventional helicopter collective control lever (as in the Bell/Agusta BA609) or a unique control similar to a fixed wing engine control called a thrust control lever (TCL) (as in the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey). Tandem rotor helicopters have two large horizontal rotor assemblies instead of one main assembly and a smaller tail rotor. ... Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw. ... Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw. ... Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw. ... Turning the pitch angle of wingblades on or off the wind to controll is absorption of power. ... The Bell/Agusta BA609 is a civil twin-engined tiltrotor VTOL aircraft with a configuration similar to the Bell Helicopter Textron/Boeing V-22 Osprey. ... The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multi-mission military aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. ...

The tiltrotor's advantage is significantly greater speed than a helicopter. In a helicopter the maximum forward speed is defined by the turn speed of the rotor; at some point the helicopter will be moving forward at the same speed as the spinning of the backwards-moving side of the rotor, so that side of the rotor sees zero or negative airspeed, and begins to stall. This limits modern helicopters to cruise speeds of about 150 knots (277 km/h.) However, with the tiltrotor this problem is avoided, because the proprotors are perpendicular to the motion in the high-speed portions of the flight regime (and thus never suffering this reverse flow condition), meaning that the tiltrotor has relatively high maximum speed - over 300 knots (560 km/h) has been demonstrated in the two types of tiltrotors flown so far, and cruise speeds of 250 knots (460 km/h) are achieved.

This speed is achieved somewhat at the expense of payload. The two production tiltrotors flown so far have about half the payload of a helicopter with the same power and empty weight. As a result of this reduced payload, a tiltrotor does not exceed the transport efficiency (speed times payload) of a helicopter (reference 1). Additionally, the tiltrotor propulsion system is more complex than a conventional helicopter due to the large, articulated nacelles and the added wing; however, the improved cruise efficiency and speed improvement over helicopters is significant in certain uses. Speed and, more importantly, the benefit to overall response time is the principal virtue sought by the military forces that are using the tiltrotor. Tiltrotors are inherently less noisy in forward flight (airplane mode) than helicopters. This, combined with their increased speed, is expected to improve their utility in populated areas for commercial uses and reduce the threat of detection for military uses. Tiltrotors, however, are typically as loud as equally sized helicopters in hovering flight. In cargo transport, the payload is the valuable contents of the vehicle. ...

The advantages of the V/STOL capability of tiltrotors, particularly to the military, are still being evaluated. However, it is clear that for some military missions, such as rapid troop insertion/extraction and long range combat rescue, the tactical advantage of speed might well be worth the reduced payload capability. Tiltrotors also provide substantially greater cruise altitude capability than helicopters. Tiltrotors can easily reach 20,000 ft or more whereas helicopters typically do not exceed 10,000 ft altitude. This feature will mean that some uses that have been commonly considered only for fixed-wing aircraft can now be supported with tiltrotors without need of a runway. A drawback however is that a tiltrotor suffers considerably reduced payload when taking off from high altitude. Based on the approved flight manuals for each, the 50,000 lb class (22,600 kg) V-22 Osprey carries the same payload as the 22,000 lb class (9,950 kg) UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter when both operate from a landing zone at 10,000 feet above sea level. V/STOL is an acronym for Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing. ... The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a twin-turbine engine, single rotor, semi-monocoque fuselage, rotary wing helicopter. ...

Tiltrotor proprotors require all the fundamental parts of a twin rotor helicopter. They also have a full set of airplane controls, and they have a tilt mechanism that rotates the lifting rotors (while carrying flight loads). This means that the cost of a tiltrotor is typically 50 to 100% more than a helicopter of the same power and empty weight. For example, one V-22 Osprey is reported to cost more than $80 million without including development costs.

Several designs of such aircraft have been built, starting with the introduction of large turbine engines in the late 1950s. Two particularly successful designs were the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert tiltwing and the LTV XC-142A tiltwing. Both aircraft were technical successes, but neither entered production due to other issues. Another design philosophy was that instead of turning the wing, engine pods, or propeller shafts to horizontal and vertical, the entire aircraft could do the same. This resulted in the Ryan X-13 Vertijet tailsitter, which never went into production. It was a ZLTO VTOL aircraft. WWII era steam turbine used for ship propulsion. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st December, 1959. ... Vertical-Short Take-off Aircraft .The CL-84 was a turbine monoplane designed & manufactured by Canadair in which the wing and the powerplants could be tilted hydraulically so that the wing incidence changed through 100 degrees to the vertical from a normal flight angle to those for STOL and VTOL... A tiltwing aircraft is similar to the tiltrotor V-22 Osprey. ... The Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142A is an tiltwing experimental aircraft designed to investigate the operational suitability of vertical/short takeoff and landing transports. ... A tiltwing aircraft is similar to the tiltrotor V-22 Osprey. ... The Ryan X-13A-RY Vertijet, Ryan Model 69, was an experimental Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft flown in the United States in the 1950s. ... A tailsitter is a type of VTOL aircraft that launches and lands on its tail, something akin to a Buck Rogers type rocket, such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-X Delta Clipper. ... The zero length launch system or zero length take-off system was a system whereby jet figher-interceptors were placed upon rockets attached to launch platforms. ... Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) describes airplanes that can lift off vertically. ...

However, Bell Helicopter has been dominant in tiltrotor development with major designs from almost every decade back to the 1950s. They are currently partnered with Boeing on the first production tiltrotor aircraft, the jointly developed and manufactured Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey. Bell is developing commercial tiltrotors like the Bell/Agusta BA609. Categories: Aircraft stubs | Corporation stubs | U.S. aircraft manufacturers ... Boeing Vertol CH-47 Chinook Boeing Helicopters is a US aircraft manufacturer, part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. ... The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multi-mission military aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. ... The Bell/Agusta BA609 is a civil twin-engined tiltrotor VTOL aircraft with a configuration similar to the Bell Helicopter Textron/Boeing V-22 Osprey. ...

Quad Tiltrotor

See also: Quadrotor

Bell and Boeing have studied larger Quad Tiltrotor (QTR) military models for possible application to the US Army's Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) program. A Quad Tiltrotor is a larger four rotor version of a Tiltrotor aircraft. It has 2 sets of fixed wings and 4 tilting rotors mounted at the tips of the wings. The program has been nicknamed the V-44 Tiltrotor for the four Tiltrotor version and V-66 Tiltrotor for the six tiltrotor version. These poly-tiltrotor aircraft have also been called "The Flying Freight Train" for their large capacity almost the size of a railcar. These may carry as many as 100 passengers or troops or heavy cargo over 50,000 pounds. They would use uprated versions of the tiltrotor engines used for the V-22 Osprey. These designs have been seen in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... R0t0r is from efnet ... The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multi-mission military aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. ... This article is not about the magazine, Popular Science Popular science is interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students. ... The adolescent Internet. ...

List of tiltrotor aircraft

• V-22 Osprey
• Bell/Agusta BA609
• Bell XV-15
• Bell XV-3
• Bell Eagle Eye

The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multi-mission military aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. ... The Bell/Agusta BA609 is a civil twin-engined tiltrotor VTOL aircraft with a configuration similar to the Bell Helicopter Textron/Boeing V-22 Osprey. ... XV-15 at National Air and Space Museum The Bell XV-15 was the first successful experimental tiltrotor VTOL airplane. ... The Bell Helicopter XV-3 was a tiltrotor aircraft. ... Specifications General Characteristics Crew: none Capacity: 200 lb (91 kg) payload Length: 17 ft 11 in (5. ...

References

• Reference 1 - Tiltrotor/Helicopter Payload comparison and transport efficiency shown at "Naval Expeditionary Logistics: Enabling Operational Maneuver from the Sea", Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications, figs D.3 and D.4, Page 82 at: [1]

External links

• NASA's Tiltrotor research
• Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey
• Bell-Agusta 609

QTR links

• Boeing press release
• Quad Tiltrotor 1
• Quad Tiltrotor 2
• Quad Tiltrotor cutaway view
• Popular Mechanics V-44 Article

Related content

Comparable aircraft

• Bell X-22
• Canadair CL-84
• Curtiss-Wright X-19
• LTV XC-142A

  The Bell X-22 was an experimental VTOL/STOL aircraft evalutated by the US Navy. ... Vertical-Short Take-off Aircraft .The CL-84 was a turbine monoplane designed & manufactured by Canadair in which the wing and the powerplants could be tilted hydraulically so that the wing incidence changed through 100 degrees to the vertical from a normal flight angle to those for STOL and VTOL... Curtiss-Wright X-19 in flight The Curtiss-Wright X-19 was designed as a 4 passenger VTOL transport originally, before the United States Air Force showed interest. ... The Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142A is an tiltwing experimental aircraft designed to investigate the operational suitability of vertical/short takeoff and landing transports. ...

See also

• Tiltwing
• Tailsitter
• VTOL