A system comprising an aerial vehicle or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to control pitch, roll, and/or yaw via airfoils having resiliently mounted trailing edges opposed by fuselage-house deflecting actuator horns. Embodiments include one or more rudder elements which may be rotatably attached and actuated by an effector member disposed within the fuselage housing and extendible in part to engage the one or more rudder elements.

A system comprising an aerial vehicle or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to control pitch, roll, and/or yaw via airfoils having resiliently mounted trailing edges opposed by fuselage-house deflecting actuator horns. Embodiments include one or more rudder elements which may be rotatably attached and actuated by an effector member disposed within the fuselage housing and extendible in part to engage the one or more rudder elements.

A robust amphibious air vehicle incorporates a fuselage with buoyant stabilizers and wings extending from the fuselage. At least one lift fan is mounted in the fuselage. Movable propulsion units carried by the wings are rotatable through a range of angles adapted for vertical and horizontal flight operations.

An aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing comprises a fuselage, at least one processor carried by the fuselage and a pair of aerodynamic, lift-generating wings extending from the fuselage. A plurality of vectoring rotors are rotatably carried by the fuselage so as to be rotatable between a substantially vertical configuration relative to the fuselage for vertical take-off and landing and a substantially horizontal configuration relative to the fuselage for horizontal flight. The vectoring rotors are unsupported by the first pair of wings. The wings may be modular and removably connected to the fuselage and configured to be interchangeable with an alternate pair of wings. A cargo container may be secured to the underside of the fuselage, and the cargo container may be modular and interchangeable with an alternate cargo container.

A method of forming a hollow spar for an aerofoil includes forming a sandwich structure having a first structural layer, a second structural layer and a cellular core layer located in between the first structural layer and the second structural layer. At least part of the sandwich structure is removed at intervals corresponding to one or more corner locations, and the sandwich structure is folded at the one or more corner locations to define a hollow space and form the spar. A chordwise extending rib section for an aerofoil has a substantially planar web with a chordwise length; and a reinforcement strip attached to an edge of the web over substantially the majority of the chordwise length.

An aerial vehicle has a wing and a fuselage. A tether is anchored at opposing ends of the wing and/or the fuselage. The tether is arranged to prevent one or more parts of the aerial vehicle from separating from the remainder of the aerial vehicle in the event of structural failure of the aerial vehicle.

A method of fire-fighting is provided based on unmanned aerial vehicles UAV(s) launched from transporter aircrafts to deliver water or fire-retardants or any other fire-fighting materials to a location selected by the fire-fighting personnel. A capability of putting-off high intensity forest fires is provided that stems from the precision and the quantity of material that can be delivered per unit surface per unit time. After releasing the fire-fighting material(s), the UAV reaches a safe altitude from which it flies on autopilot to intercept and then proceed on a pre-programmed route to land per pre-programmed instructions on an airfield from which fire-fighting transporter(s) operate, allowing a high efficiency along the line, from loading the transporter airplanes to maximizing the quantity of material that reach the target, to minimizing the remote-pilot time and up to the recovery system that minimizes the recovery cost and it maximizes UAVs' utilization by a quick turnaround.

An unmanned helicopter platform includes a fuselage, a tail coupled with the fuselage, a payload rail coupled with and extending along the fuselage and a main rotor assembly coupled with the fuselage. The tail includes a tail rotor and a tail rotor motor. The main rotor assembly includes a main rotor having an axis of rotation and a main rotor motor. The payload rail allows mechanical connection of payloads to the fuselage and positioning of the payloads such that a center of gravity of the payloads is alignable with the axis of rotation. A system for controlling the unmanned helicopter includes a processor and a memory for providing instructions to the processor. The processor can receive a task, dynamically determine a route for the task and autonomously perform the task including flying along at least part of the route. The route is based on the task, geography and terrain.

An example of an aerial vehicle includes a rudder removably connected to the aerial vehicle by a twist lock mechanism. The twist lock mechanism is biased in a locked position by an elastic member.

An aircraft (1) has at least one main wing (2) and at least one boom fuselage (3). The main wing has an aerofoil section having a leading edge (20), a trailing edge (21), a chord length extending between the leading edge and the trailing edge, a centre of lift (Lw), a flexural centre and a centre of mass. The centre of lift, the flexural centre and the centre of mass are located all within a region at most 4% of the chord length.