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.

A flying robot comprising: a flying body unit; a propulsion portion comprising a plurality of propulsion units configured to cause propulsion to occur by driving rotor blades, the plurality of propulsion units being provided on the flying body unit; a working body unit; a manipulator unit configured to be capable of executing predetermined work and comprising one or more work manipulators provided on the working body unit; and connection units provided on the working body unit and the flying body unit so as to enable the flying body unit to be connected with and disconnected from the working body unit; wherein the flying robot executes the predetermined work by the work manipulators in a state in which the working body unit and the flying body unit are connected at the connection units. The flying robot is caused to execute a wide range of content of work as far as possible.

Methods of retracting a strut assembly for stowing aircraft landing gear comprise longitudinally translating an upper bulkhead within an upper tubular housing from a lower position to an upper position by pressurizing an upper bulkhead space between an upper plate of the upper bulkhead and an upper bulkhead restriction structure that is fixed to the upper tubular housing. Other methods of retracting a strut assembly for stowing aircraft landing gear comprise flowing liquid from an upper liquid chamber positioned above an upper bulkhead within an upper tubular housing to a recoil chamber, wherein during the flowing, the liquid is prevented from passing from the recoil chamber to a pressure chamber that is defined between the upper bulkhead and a lower bulkhead, thereby longitudinally translating a lower tubular housing upward.

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.

An aircraft landing gear includes a strut leg, a bottom portion carrying at least one wheel and mounted to slide in the strut leg, and a plurality of elements such as power electric cables, signal-carrying electric cables, and hydraulic pipes extending toward the bottom portion along the strut leg and terminating at the bottom portion, all of the elements being flexible between a bottom end of the strut leg and the bottom portion of the landing gear. The landing gear includes a first movable support having a proximal end hinged to the bottom end of the strut leg, and a distal end carrying a rack for receiving and guiding the flexible elements. The landing gear also includes a second movable support having a distal end hinged to the bottom portion of the landing gear and a proximal end carrying a rack for receiving and guiding the flexible elements.

Methods and systems are provided that facilitate the maintenance of levered landing gears by monitoring the condition of the stop pads of such landing gears. One embodiment provides for calibrating a sensor for measuring a condition of a stop joint formed by a first stop pad and a second stop pad of a levered landing gear against a nominal condition of at least one of the first stop pad and the second stop pad; monitoring, by the sensor, a current condition of the at least one of the first stop pad and the second stop pad from the nominal condition; determining whether a non-conformance from the nominal condition of the at least one of the first stop pad and the second stop pad has been detected by the sensor for the current condition; and in response to determining that the non-conformance has been detected, generating an alert.

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 storage unit for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) includes a container, a UAV landing platform, and a receptacle. The container is provided for enclosing the UAV. The receptacle is positioned above the UAV landing platform and it includes at least one inclined surface for guiding a landing UAV to a predetermined UAV landing position on the UAV landing platform.

Aspects related to aircraft for commercial air travel and methods of manufacture. An exemplary aircraft includes a blended wing body, a single deck located within the blended wing body, wherein the single deck additionally includes a passenger compartment located in a lateral middle portion of the blended wing body and at least a cargo store located laterally outside the passenger compartment, and a landing gear, wherein the landing gear includes at least a nose gear located substantially forward of the single deck and at least a main gear located substantially aft of the single deck, wherein one or more of the at least a nose gear and the at least a main gear occupies a gear housing that overlaps with a plane coincident with at least a portion of the single deck.

A landing gear assembly for an aircraft includes a landing member and an actuation mechanism coupled to the landing member. The actuation mechanism is configured to selectively actuate the landing member into a first landing position and a second landing position. The landing member is configured to support the aircraft in either the first landing position or the second landing position.