A UAV with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) function having a plurality of lift propellers; a cabin engaged with a plurality of lift propellers; a water propulsion system engaged with the cabin to push the cabin in a forward direction when the cabin is at least partially immersed in water; at least one water inlet engaged with the water propulsion system; the cabin is a cargo hold or a passenger cabin. The UAV provided by the disclosure can realize vertical takeoff and landing in the water area, and fly, drive and navigate freely in the whole area.

A winglet includes a winglet body and a control body. The winglet body includes a first winglet surface arranged opposite a second winglet surface. The second winglet surface is joined to the first winglet surface to form front and trailing edges of the winglet body. The second winglet surface defines a control body seat. The control body is coupled to the winglet body to move between a stowed position seated in the control body seat and a deployed position rotated out of the control body seat. The control body includes a first control surface arranged to face toward the winglet body, a second control surface arranged opposite the first control surface to face away from the winglet body and joined to the first control surface to form a trailing edge of the control body and a control front connecting the first control surface and the second control surface.

A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is described in which rotors can be disposed underneath the booms. This will allow for zero downward force resulting from thrust on the aircraft and therefore greater energy efficiency. Retractable doors can shield the rotors when not in use, decreasing drag during forward flight.

A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is described in which rotors can be disposed underneath the booms. This will allow for zero downward force resulting from thrust on the aircraft and therefore greater energy efficiency. Retractable doors can shield the rotors when not in use, decreasing drag during forward flight.

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.

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.

The invention provides a firefighting float plane having a fuselage and two floats mounted to the fuselage. The fuselage has a water tank with open and closed configurations. In some embodiments, the water tank is integrated into the fuselage, and/or both the water tank and the fuselage have a generally triangular cross-sectional configuration. The water tank has a closed bottom in its closed configuration and an open bottom in its open configuration. In some embodiments, the plane has specified ratio of water tank holding capacity to total power of two engine assemblies. It can optionally also have the above-noted fuselage configuration, tank configuration, or both. In some embodiments, the plane has dual propellers, two engine assemblies, and two tail booms, optionally together with specified ratio of water tank holding capacity to total power of two engine assemblies. It may also have the above-noted fuselage configuration, tank configuration, or both.

A public transportation system combines a unique combination of components that includes interoperable electric-powered vehicles, facilities, hardware and software having specifications, standards, processes, capabilities, nomenclature, and concepts of operations that together include a concerted, comprehensive, multi-modal, future system for moving people and goods that is herein named Quiet Urban Air Delivery (QUAD) and in which uniquely-capable, ultra-quiet, one to six-seat, electrically-powered, autonomous aircraft (SkyQarts) fly sub-193 kilometer trips on precise trajectories with negligible control latency and perform extremely short take-offs and landings (ESTOL) with curved traffic patterns at a highly-distributed network of very small, airports (“SkyNests”) that themselves have standardized compatible facilities that interoperate with SkyQarts as well as with versatile, autonomous electric-powered payload carts (EPCs) and robotic delivery carts (RDCs) to provide safe, fast, on-demand, community-acceptable, environmentally friendly, high-capacity, affordable door-to-door delivery of both passengers and cargo across urban, suburban and rural settings across the globe.

A rotary wing aircraft that extends along an associated roll axis between a nose region and an aft region and that comprises a fuselage with a front section and a rear section, the rotary wing aircraft comprising: a main rotor that is rotatably mounted at the front section, a shrouded duct that is arranged in the aft region, and a propeller that is rotatably mounted to the shrouded duct, wherein the rear section extends between the front section and the shrouded duct and comprises an asymmetrical cross-sectional profile in direction of the associated roll axis.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation systems include a UAV charging pad positioned at a storage facility, a plurality of fiducial markers positioned at the storage facility, and a UAV. Each of the fiducial markers is associated with a fiducial dataset storing a position of the corresponding fiducial marker, and the fiducial datasets are stored in a fiducial map. The UAV includes a camera and logic that when executed causes the UAV to image a first fiducial marker, to access from the fiducial map a first fiducial dataset storing the position of the first fiducial marker, and to navigate based upon the first fiducial dataset.