An aircraft is provided including an airframe, an extending tail, and a counter rotating, coaxial main rotor assembly including an upper rotor assembly and a lower rotor assembly. A translational thrust system positioned at the extending tail, the translational thrust system providing translational thrust to the airframe. A cockpit in the airframe, the cockpit including two seats and a single collective control input positioned between the two seats.

A method of automatically adjusting lift in a hybrid rotorcraft, the hybrid rotorcraft including a fuselage and at least two half-wings on either side of the fuselage, the at least two half-wings including at least one left half-wing having a left fixed structure secured to the fuselage and at least one left flap mounted to move relative to the left fixed structure, and at least one right half-wing having a right fixed structure secured to the fuselage and at least one right flap mounted to move relative to the right fixed structure. The method determines at least one first deflection angle setpoint δw1 by which the at least one left flap is to be deflected relative to the left fixed structure and at least one second deflection angle setpoint δw2 by which the at least one right flap is to be deflected relative to the right fixed structure.

A rotary wing vehicle includes a body structure having an elongated tubular backbone or core, and a counter-rotating coaxial rotor system having rotors with each rotor having a separate motor to drive the rotors about a common rotor axis of rotation. The rotor system is used to move the rotary wing vehicle in directional flight.

An aircraft is provided and includes an airframe, an extending tail, a counter rotating, coaxial main rotor assembly including an upper rotor assembly and a lower rotor assembly, a translational thrust system positioned at the extending tail, the translational thrust system providing translational thrust to the airframe, at least one sensor and at least one inertial measurement unit (IMU) to sense current flight conditions of the aircraft, an interface to execute controls of a main rotor assembly in accordance with control commands and at least one flight control computer (FCC) to issue the control commands. The at least one FCC includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory having logic and executable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed, cause the CPU to issue the control commands based on the current flight conditions and a result of an execution of the logic for the current flight conditions.

A control circuitry includes a first filter configured to filter a gravity compensated longitudinal acceleration of an aircraft to generate a filtered gravity compensated longitudinal acceleration. The propulsor trim control circuitry also includes a second filter configured to generate a filtered speed of the aircraft based on a speed of the aircraft. The propulsor trim control circuitry includes intermediary circuitry configured to generate a filtered longitudinal control effector error based on the filtered gravity compensated longitudinal acceleration and the speed. The propulsor trim control circuitry also includes a third filter configured to generate a filtered longitudinal thrust effector command value based on a longitudinal thrust effector command value. The propulsor trim control circuitry further includes output circuitry configured to generate a predicted longitudinal thrust effector trim value for a target horizontal state based on the filtered longitudinal control effector error and the filtered longitudinal thrust effector command value.

A rotorcraft including a first power plant, at least one main rotor participating at least in providing lift for the rotorcraft in the air, and at least one tail rotor carried by a tail boom, the first power plant including at least one engine. In accordance with the invention, the rotorcraft includes: at least one pusher or puller propeller independent from the at least one main rotor, the at least one pusher or puller propeller participating at least in providing propulsion or traction for the rotorcraft; a second power plant including at least one electric motor; and at least one control member configured to generate a control setpoint or instruction for controlling the at least one electric motor.

An anti-torque assembly for a helicopter includes a plurality of fans pivotably mountable to a tail boom. The fans have fan blades rotatable about a fan axis. One or more of the fans is pivotable relative to the tail boom to a first configuration. The fan axes in the first configuration have an upright orientation and the fans are operable to one or both of pitch and roll the helicopter. Different fans are operable to generate thrust to provide anti-torque to the helicopter. A method of providing anti-torque and method of changing an attitude of a helicopter are also provided.

The present invention includes a rotor-blade span-balancing system, including a span-balance pocket in a surface of a rotor blade; a cover operably configured to cover the span-balance pocket, wherein the cover is operably configured to be substantially flush with the surface of the rotor blade surface when covering the span-balance pocket, and wherein the cover includes a cover boss for reacting centrifugal force of the cover into the rotor blade; and one or more span-balance weights attached to the cover to span-balance the rotor blade.

A rotorcraft having pusher propeller generated power during autorotations. The rotorcraft has an engine powered mode and an autorotation mode. The rotorcraft includes an engine and a drivetrain configured to receive torque and rotational energy from the engine in the engine powered mode. A main rotor system is coupled to the drivetrain and is rotatable to generate lift and forward thrust for the rotorcraft in the engine powered mode. A pusher propeller is coupled to the drivetrain and is rotatable to generate forward thrust for the rotorcraft in the engine powered mode. In the autorotation mode, the pusher propeller is aerodynamically driven responsive to airflow therethrough and the drivetrain is configured to receive torque and rotational energy from the pusher propeller, thereby providing power to the main rotor system.

A rotorcraft is provided and includes a fuselage. The fuselage includes drag generating portions, a main rotor assembly and an auxiliary propulsor having an expected propulsion efficiency. The auxiliary propulsor is disposed to ingest boundary layer flows and in wake regions associated with the drag generating portions and is provided with a corresponding increase in the expected propulsion efficiency thereof.