Aircraft

Concept aircraft combines VTOL with fixed wing capabilities

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A small Norwegian company is developing an aircraft that aims to take advantage of the "best of two worlds": the Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) properties of a helicopter and the high-speed potential of a fixed-wing plane. The SiMiCon Rotor Craft (SRC) concept utilises a circular fuselage shaped like an aerofoil containing retractable rotor blades that extend telescopically from the disc as they spin up to speed for vertical take-off and landing. When in the air, the SRC's jet engine takes over and the rotor blades retract into the circular wing cavity for fixed wing flight. The rotor blades can be extended mid-flight if the craft needs to hover and sideways thrust from the jet engine or a small tail rotor is being integrated into the design to prevent the entire place "spinning like a top".

SiMiCon has recently performed tests of the aerodynamic characteristics of circular disc-shaped wings in cooperation with the Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Research is still in its early stages and the concept is not expected to fly for several years.

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6 comments
Facebook User
Looks like it belongs in \"Star Trek\".
Sr Jorge
to quote Ezekiel....a wheel within a wheel
Stuart Halliday
Mechanically horrendous to keep serviced surely. Helicopters are bad enough.
Kirti Azad
It looks like the air-craft from \"Jetsons\" and the functional description also sound similar.... I think its a joke :))
Will, the tink
Maker and Ebay seller sgtalon is selling a rc aircraft shaped like the starship Enterprise: bit.ly/qHNQQC and here is a review and flight on youtube: bit.ly/fhiYRV What fun! The SiMiCon Rotor Craft (SRC) concept group could save some time by using this already built rc model!
Wesley Bruce
OK nice design. That's a variant on the WW2 flugelrads. Given better materials and design tools it looks like this version will fly. The WW2 Nazi version only flew in Czechoslovakia a few times and crashed often. There were scale models available in the 1970's. The Norwegian team will see low speed stability problems at 3 metres or lower. The solution for that is micro thrusters at the four compass points, how the harrier jump jet works at that hight. The German/ Czech team ruled that out in the 1940's. Either that was a bad mistake or a good act of sabotage, no one knows.
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