Described herein are aircraft, comprising rear spar integration assemblies, and methods of manufacturing these aircraft. Specifically, an aircraft comprises a keel beam and a center wing box, comprising a rear spar. The rear spar is attached to the keel beam using a rear spar integration assembly. The assembly comprises a rear spar stiffener, attached to the rear spar, and having a stiffener load axis. The assembly also comprises and a keel beam fitting, attached to the keel beam, and having a fitting load axis. The rear spar stiffener is also attached to the keel beam fitting, e.g., using splice plates. More specifically, the fitting load axis is offset relative to the stiffener load axis along the primary axis of the aircraft. This offset is designed to compensate for a bending moment at the keel beam-rear spar interface, which allows reducing the size and/or the number of fasteners needed.

A transport carriage for wings that are secured together, wherein the transport carriage comprises a chassis mounted on wheels, cradles mounted on positioning cylinders, support cylinders that each have a support mounted on the stem of the support cylinder, a central support having a frame and, for each wing, a rotatable lateral cradle, wherein the frame is movable vertically, for each wing, a lifting system with a mast and an arm, wherein each arm is movable vertically on the mast between a low position and a high position, and for each arm, at least two bearing points for the wing. The use of different movable elements allows good loading of the wings and makes it easier to move the wings thus loaded.

Embodiments for commercial freighter configuration for aircraft with composite wings. One embodiment is cargo floor structure for a wing center section of an aircraft. The cargo floor structure includes over wing floor beams extending longitudinally between a rear spar and a front spar of the aircraft. The over wing floor beams are coupled with an upper skin panel of a composite wing. The cargo floor structure also includes intercostals extending spanwise across the over wing floor beams. The intercostals suspended over the upper skin panel of the composite wing. The cargo floor structure also includes a truss box structure disposed between a middle pair of the over wing floor beams and configured to shear a spanwise load from the intercostals into the upper skin panel of the composite wing.

A compound helicopter includes a fuselage, a fixed wing, a rotary wing, and a barrier member. The fixed wing is fixed to the fuselage. The rotary wing is rotatably coupled to the fuselage. The barrier member is attached to a part, of the fuselage, that is above the fixed wing and is between the rotary wing and the fixed wing. The barrier member is configured to generate no lift upon forward flight.

Systems, devices, and methods for a ground support system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including: at least one handling fixture, where each handling fixture is configured to support at least one wing panel of the UAV; and at least one dolly, where each dolly is configured to receive at least one landing pod of the UAV, and where each landing pod supports at least one wing panel of the UAV; where the at least one handling fixture and the at least one dolly are configured to move and rotate two or more wing panels to align the two or more wing panels with each other for assembly of the UAV; and where the at least one dolly further allows for transportation of the UAV over uneven terrain.

An aircraft includes an airframe having a fixed-wing section and a plurality of articulated electric rotors, at least some of which are variable-position rotors having different operating configurations based on rotor position. A first operating configuration is a vertical-flight configuration in which the rotors generate primarily vertical thrust for vertical flight, and a second operating configuration is a horizontal-flight configuration in which the rotors generate primarily horizontal thrust for horizontal fixed-wing flight. Control circuitry independently controls rotor thrust and rotor orientation of the variable-position rotors to provide thrust-vectoring maneuvering. The fixed-wing section may employ removable wing panels so the aircraft can be deployed both in fixed-wing and rotorcraft configurations for different missions.

A system and a method for securing a portion of a fuselage of an aircraft to a portion of a wing of the aircraft include a longeron having a first end and a second end, a first moveable coupling interface that moveably secures the first end to the portion of the fuselage, and a second moveable coupling interface that moveably secures the second end to the portion of the wing.

A system and a method for securing a portion of a fuselage of an aircraft to a portion of a wing of the aircraft include a longeron having a first end and a second end, a first moveable coupling interface that moveably secures the first end to the portion of the fuselage, and a second moveable coupling interface that moveably secures the second end to the portion of the wing.

A carriage with two hexapod platforms, each having a base, a plate, and a set of six cylinders associated in pairs. Each cylinder is articulatedly mounted with the plate. For each pair, a slider is able to move in translation on the base. For a first pair, the two cylinders of the first pair are mounted in an articulated manner on the slider. The articulation of one of the two cylinders of the first pair with the plate is adjacent to the articulation of one of the two cylinders of a second pair with the plate. The articulation of the other of the two cylinders of the first pair with the plate is adjacent to the articulation of one of the two cylinders of a third pair with the plate. For each slider, a movement system moves the slider. A control unit controls each cylinder and the movement system.

A compliant tail structure for a rotorcraft having rotating components and a fuselage. The tail structure includes a tail assembly having first and second oppositely disposed tail members. A tail joint connects the tail assembly to an aft portion of the fuselage. The tail joint includes at least four tail mounts configured to establish a nodding axis for the tail assembly. At least two of the tail mounts are resilient tail mounts that are configured to establish a nodding degree of freedom for the tail assembly relative to the fuselage about the nodding axis, thereby detuning dynamic fuselage responses from excitation frequencies generated by the rotating components.