A ground effect craft having a ground effect wing, a plurality of sponsons, and a control system is disclosed. The ground effect wing may include a fore ground effect wing and an aft ground effect wing. The ground effect wing may generate a stabilizing moment on at least one sponson to stabilize the around effect craft. The plurality of sponsons may be dynamically coupled to the body. The plurality of sponsons may be dynamically coupled to each other. The dynamic coupling may permit the sponsons to move relatively independent of the body and each other, thereby stabilizing the ground effect craft. The ground effect craft may include a stabilizing wing.

A docking port is for an unmanned aerial vehicle being a rotorcraft, said docking port having at least one primary coil. The docking port has a primary coil housing formed with a funnel shaped indentation adapted to receive a complementary frustoconical shaped external surface of a secondary coil housing positioned on a landing gear of the rotorcraft, and the primary coil is formed to follow closely a funnel shaped indentation surface. The rotorcraft is charged wirelessly by the primary coil in the primary coil housing and a secondary coil in the secondary coil housing. The invention further concerns the landing gear and a system comprising the docking port and the landing gear. A method for docking the unmanned aerial vehicle on the docking port by use of a magnetic homing field is described.

An example charging station for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the charging station generally including a nest and a charging device. The nest includes an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion defines an upper opening sized and shaped to receive a landing apparatus of the UAV, and a diameter of the nest reduces from a first diameter at the upper opening to a second diameter at the lower portion. The charging device is mounted in the nest, and includes a first contact pad and a second contact pad. The charging device is configured to apply a voltage differential across the first contact pad and the second contact pad such that the charging station is operable to charge a power supply of the UAV via the landing apparatus.

A section of an aircraft wing including a leading edge of the aircraft wing. A leading edge part of the section includes ribs; and a skin fixedly attached to the ribs to form a spanwise series of adjacent cells. Each cell includes an enclosed volume bounded by the skin at the leading edge and a pair of the ribs. At least one cell of the series of adjacent cells is a dry cell include a mounting point for mounting a leading edge high-lift device support apparatus in the dry cell. The skin at the leading edge provides a primary load path for carrying at least some of a spanwise primary load experienced by the section when in use on an aircraft.

A section of an aircraft wing including a leading edge of the aircraft wing. A leading edge part of the section includes ribs; and a skin fixedly attached to the ribs to form a spanwise series of adjacent cells. Each cell includes an enclosed volume bounded by the skin at the leading edge and a pair of the ribs. At least one cell of the series of adjacent cells is a dry cell include a mounting point for mounting a leading edge high-lift device support apparatus in the dry cell. The skin at the leading edge provides a primary load path for carrying at least some of a spanwise primary load experienced by the section when in use on an aircraft.

A torque link assembly may comprise an upper torque link, a lower torque link, and a torque link pin. The upper torque link may define an upper hydraulic fluid channel. The lower torque link may define a lower hydraulic fluid channel. The torque link pin may fluidly couple the upper hydraulic fluid channel to the lower hydraulic fluid channel.

A component alignment system for an aircraft includes a first component having a first surface including first shaped projections that repeat in at least two directions along the first surface. The component alignment system also includes a second component having a second surface including second shaped projections that repeat in at least two directions along the second surface. The first shaped projections are complementary to the second shaped projections such that the first surface is translationally and rotationally constrained relative to the second surface when the first and second shaped projections are in an interlocked position.

A method according to certain embodiments generally involves operating a system including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a base station. The base station includes a nest including an upper opening having an upper opening diameter and a lower opening having a lower opening diameter less than the upper opening diameter. The lower opening is accessible from within the base station. The method generally includes landing the UAV within the nest such that a portion of the UAV is accessible via the lower opening, releasably attaching a load to the UAV, and operating the UAV to deliver the load to a destination.

Systems and methods for mechanically rotating an aircraft about its center-of-gravity (C.sub.G) are disclosed. The system can enable the rear, or main, landing gear to squat, while the nose landing gear raises to generate a positive angle of attack for the aircraft for takeoff or landing. The system can also enable the nose gear and main gear to return to a relatively level fuselage attitude for ground operations. The system can include one or more hydraulically linked hydraulic cylinders to control the overall height of the nose gear and the main gear. Because the hydraulic cylinders are linked, a change on the length of the nose cylinder generates a proportional, and opposite, change in the length of the main cylinder, and vice-versa. A method and control system for monitoring and controlling the relative positions of the nose gear and main gear is also disclosed.

Disclosed herein are a vehicle system and method for VTOL. The vehicle system includes: a carrier vehicle and a cruise vehicle. The carrier vehicle includes one or more fuselages, one or more wings, one or more attach units coupled to the one or more fuselages or to the one or more wings, and propulsion systems operable to provide, at least, substantially vertical thrust and substantially horizontal thrust. The cruise vehicle includes one or more fuselages for carrying passengers or cargo and one or more wings. The one or more attach units of the carrier vehicle are adapted to couple to the cruise vehicle to detachably engage.