A method of supersonic thrust generation includes generating a thrust supersonic exhaust plume having a first average velocity from an engine, and expelling a bypass exhaust plume having a second average velocity from the engine, the first average velocity greater than the second average velocity, so that the bypass exhaust plume inhibits coalescence of an engine exhaust plume compression shockwave.

A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, configured to transport passengers and/or cargo, uses propellers during vertical flight and wings during forward flight to generate lift. The VTOL aircraft includes a front wing and a rear wing connected by inboard booms. The rear wing may include a wingtip boom attached to each free end of the wing. A propeller may be attached to each inboard boom and each wingtip boom. The propellers attached to the inboard booms may be stacked propellers including at least two co-rotating propellers. The aircraft can also include a cruise propeller attached to the tail region of the fuselage, where the cruise propeller is configured to rotate in a plane approximately perpendicular to the fuselage to generate thrust during forward flight.

Systems, devices, and methods including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); one or more inner wing panels of the UAV; one or more outer wing panels of the UAV; at least one inboard propeller attached to at least one engine disposed on the one or more inner wing panels; at least one tip propeller attached to at least one engine disposed on the one or more outer wing panels; at least one microcontroller configured to: determine an angular position of the at least one inboard propeller; and send a signal to halt rotation of the at least one inboard propeller such that the at least one inboard propeller is held in an attitude that provides for clearance of the propeller blade to the ground upon landing.

An aircraft having multiple wing planforms. The aircraft includes an airframe having first and second half-wings with first and second pylons extending therebetween. A distributed thrust array is attached to the airframe. The thrust array includes a plurality of propulsion assemblies coupled to the first half-wing and a plurality of propulsion assemblies coupled to the second half-wing. A flight control system is coupled to the airframe. The fight control system is configured to independently control each of the propulsion assemblies and control conversions between the wing planforms. The aircraft is configured to convert between thrust-borne lift in a VTOL orientation and wing-borne lift in a forward flight orientation. In addition, the aircraft is configured to convert between a biplane configuration and a monoplane configuration in the forward flight orientation.

A low noise aircraft comprising a fuselage comprising a nose section, a cabin and a tail comprising an empennage, the profile of the fuselage tightening towards the tail, two wings mounted on opposite sides of the fuselage, two engines, each engine mounted on a pylon on a respective side of the fuselage, two propellers, each propeller joined to and positioned behind a respective the engine, at least one cabin door to access the cabin, and landing gear, wherein the engines are positioned above the wings, wherein the propellers are positioned at a rear end of each engine such that the propellers push the engines, and wherein the propellers are positioned behind the inhabitable zone of the cabin.

A low noise aircraft comprising a fuselage comprising a nose section, a cabin and a tail comprising an empennage, the profile of the fuselage tightening towards the tail, two wings mounted on opposite sides of the fuselage, two engines, each engine mounted on a pylon on a respective side of the fuselage, two propellers, each propeller joined to and positioned behind a respective the engine, at least one cabin door to access the cabin, and landing gear, wherein the engines are positioned above the wings, wherein the propellers are positioned at a rear end of each engine such that the propellers push the engines, and wherein the propellers are positioned behind the inhabitable zone of the cabin.

An aeronautical apparatus is disclosed that has two pairs of wings: an aft pair and a fore pair. Each wing has a thrust-angle motor. An assembly is coupled to each thrust-angle motor. Assemblies coupled to the fore wings have a propeller motor with a propeller and a landing element which is a wheel or a landing foot. When in forward flight, the propeller rotational axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage and the landing element is pointing toward the aft of the aeronautical apparatus to limit the drag presented by the landing element. When in vertical flight or hovering, the propeller rotational axis is perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverse axes of the fuselage and the landing element is deployed downward to facilitate landing.

An aeronautical apparatus is disclosed that has two pairs of wings: an aft pair and a fore pair. Each wing has a thrust-angle motor. An assembly is coupled to each thrust-angle motor. Assemblies coupled to the fore wings have a propeller motor with a propeller and a landing element which is a wheel or a landing foot. When in forward flight, the propeller rotational axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage and the landing element is pointing toward the aft of the aeronautical apparatus to limit the drag presented by the landing element. When in vertical flight or hovering, the propeller rotational axis is perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverse axes of the fuselage and the landing element is deployed downward to facilitate landing.

A ground effect craft having a ground effect wing, a plurality of sponsons, and a control system is disclosed. The ground effect wing may include a fore ground effect wing and an aft ground effect wing. The ground effect wing may generate a stabilizing moment on at least one sponson to stabilize the ground effect craft. The plurality of sponsons may be dynamically coupled to the body. The plurality of sponsons may be dynamically coupled to each other. The dynamic coupling may permit the sponsons to move relatively independent of the body and each other, thereby stabilizing the ground effect craft. The ground effect craft may include a stabilizing wing.

A safe, quiet, easy to control, efficient, and compact aircraft configuration is enabled through the combination of multiple vertical lift rotors, tandem wings, and forward thrust propellers. The vertical lift rotors, in combination with a front and rear wing, permits a balancing of the center of lift with the center of gravity for both vertical and horizontal flight. This wing and multiple rotor system has the ability to tolerate a relatively large variation of the payload weight for hover, transition, or cruise flight while also providing vertical thrust redundancy. The propulsion system uses multiple lift rotors and forward thrust propellers of a small enough size to be shielded from potential blade strike and provide increased perceived and real safety to the passengers. Using multiple independent rotors provides redundancy and the elimination of single point failure modes that can make the vehicle non-operable in flight.