A collapsible flying device is provided having a housing including first and second housing sections forming an enclosure, and a motorized assembly that includes a drive motor and a drive shaft driven by the drive motor. The drive shaft matingly receives the first housing section and is coupled to the second housing section, wherein operation of the drive motor drives the drive shaft to move the first housing section from a closed position adjacent the second housing section to an open position spaced from the second housing section. A rotor hub is rotatingly driven by the drive motor. At least two rotor blades are coupled thereto and positioned within the enclosure in a collapsed position when the first housing section is in the closed position, and extend beyond the enclosure in an expanded position when the first housing section is in the open position.

Aircraft are configured to facilitate propeller blade pitch adjustability. According to one example, an aircraft can include a plurality of propellers, where each propeller includes plurality of blades. At least one pitch adjust mechanism may be associated with at least on propeller, where the pitch adjust mechanism is configured to adjust a pitch of the plurality of blades for at least one propeller in response to airflow from at least one other propeller influencing an airflow at the at least one propeller. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also included.

An engine assembly having an improved mounting system or assembly is disclosed. Features of this mounting system include having crankcase arms that are integrally formed with a crankcase of the engine assembly, having multiple mounting legs that each have a dedicated vibration damping subassembly and where the stiffness of at least two of the mounting legs is different (by varying the configurations of the corresponding vibration damping subassemblies), and using a mounting ring or base with having differently oriented mounting pads for securement of the corresponding mounting leg relative thereto.

A collapsible flying device is provided having a housing including first and second housing sections forming an enclosure, and a motorized assembly that includes a drive motor and a drive shaft driven by the drive motor. The drive shaft matingly receives the first housing section and is coupled to the second housing section, wherein operation of the drive motor drives the drive shaft to move the first housing section from a closed position adjacent the second housing section to an open position spaced from the second housing section. A rotor hub is rotatingly driven by the drive motor. At least two rotor blades are coupled thereto and positioned within the enclosure in a collapsed position when the first housing section is in the closed position, and extend beyond the enclosure in an expanded position when the first housing section is in the open position.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for operating a multicopter experiencing a failure during flight, the multicopter comprising a body, and at least four effectors attached to the body, each operable to produce both a torque and a thrust force which can cause the multicopter to fly when not experiencing said failure. The method may comprise the step of identifying a failure wherein the failure affects the torque and/or thrust force produced by an effector, and in response to identifying a failure carrying out the following steps, (1) computing an estimate of the orientation of a primary axis of said body with respect to a predefined reference frame, wherein said primary axis is an axis about which said multicopter rotates when flying, (2) computing an estimate of the angular velocity of said multicopter, (3) controlling one or more of said at least four effectors based on said estimate of the orientation of the primary axis of said body with respect to said predefined reference frame and said estimate of the angular velocity of the multicopter. The step of controlling one or more of said at least tour effectors may be performed such that (a) said one or more effectors collectively produce a torque along said primary axis and a torque perpendicular to said primary axis, wherein (i) the torque along said primary axis causes said multicopter to rotate about said primary axis, and (ii) the torque perpendicular to said primary axis causes said multicopter to move such that the orientation of said primary axis converges to a target orientation with respect to said predefined reference frame, and (b) such that said one or more effectors individually produce a thrust force along said primary axis.

An aeronautical vehicle that rights itself from an inverted state to an upright state has a self-righting frame assembly has a protrusion extending upwardly from a central vertical axis. The protrusion provides an initial instability to begin a self-righting process when the aeronautical vehicle is inverted on a surface. A propulsion system, such as rotor driven by a motor can be mounted in a central void of the self-righting frame assembly and oriented to provide a lifting force. A power supply is mounted in the central void of the self-righting frame assembly and operationally connected to the at least one rotor for rotatably powering the rotor. An electronics assembly is also mounted in the central void of the self-righting frame for receiving remote control commands and is communicatively interconnected to the power supply for remotely controlling the aeronautical vehicle to take off, to fly, and to land on a surface.

A quick release propeller for model airplanes is disclosed including two or more blades mounted to a hub. For each blade, the hub includes a slot and a shoulder. Each blade includes a base portion having pins which slide into the slot in the hub. The slots are curved which prevents the blades from being removed unless they are rotated at predefined threshold angle with respect to the hub.

A driving control device for a remote controlled helicopter includes an rpm detection unit that detects an rpm of a main rotor, a gyro sensor that detects angular velocities of control axes including roll, pitch and yaw axes, and a control unit that generates a control signal of a control actuator for controlling movements of the control axes based on the angular velocities detected by the gyro sensor and a steering signal sent from a transmitter. The control unit has information on the gyro sensitivities of the control axes and information on a set rpm of the main rotor which are preset for each of the flight states of the remote controlled helicopter, and corrects the gyro sensitivities based on a difference between the set rpm corresponding to a selected flight state among the flight states and an rpm of the main rotor detected by the rpm detection unit.

A motor assembly that includes a motor having a motor casing, a rotatable shaft extending from said motor casing to a shaft length and a hub coupled to said rotatable shaft, the hub having a circumferential skid surface disposed immediately proximal to the motor casing and having a channel configured to seat a propeller, when a propeller is present, wherein a bending moment applied to the shaft through the hub results in the circumferential skid surface contacting said motor casing.

The present invention relates to a device for directly controlling a blade which comprises a stator (1), at least one blade carrier (7) composed of at least one curved magnet (6), the blade carrier (7) being secured to at least one blade (3) and pivotally coupled to the rotor (8) for varying the alpha angle of said blades with the excitation of the stator (1). The stator (1) is a partially spherical stator, the stator core (1) being the intersection of the blade axis (22) and the rotor axis (20), said stator being radially close to the magnets (3) to control the rotation of the blades (3) around the blade axis (22). A magnetic ring (5) holds the blades (3) in a neutral position, the system can be compared to a cyclically controlled mechanical oscillator, the frequency, phase and amplitude of the oscillation being controlled by said stator. Device providing a compact, lightweight and robust solution for controlling the direction of an aircraft.