A retractable landing gear assembly for an aircraft includes a leg mounted to airframe structure for rotation about a pivot axis. A stay assembly is provided for maintaining the landing gear assembly in a deployed, for example down and unlocked, configuration. The stay assembly has a linkage mechanism including a first stay and a second stay movable between a folded state and an unfolded state. Room that would otherwise be occupied within a landing gear bay may be freed up above the landing gear leg when in a stowed configuration by the stay assembly being unfolded but generally aligned with the length of the landing gear leg, with the stay assembly being mostly positioned beneath the leg.

A thin-skin side-stay beam may include an upper arm with thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the thin skin. A lower arm may also have a thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the lower arm. A joint may include a pin and/or a bushing extending through the mating flanges to pivotally couple the upper arm to the lower arm. The upper arm and/or the lower arm may include one or more internal walls defining one or more internal cavities.

A thin-skin side-stay beam may include an upper arm with thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the thin skin. A lower arm may also have a thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the lower arm. A joint may include a pin and/or a bushing extending through the mating flanges to pivotally couple the upper arm to the lower arm. The upper arm and/or the lower arm may include one or more internal walls defining one or more internal cavities.

A thin-skin side-stay beam may include an upper arm with thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the thin skin. A lower arm may also have a thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the lower arm. A joint may include a pin and/or a bushing extending through the mating flanges to pivotally couple the upper arm to the lower arm. The upper arm and/or the lower arm may include one or more internal walls defining one or more internal cavities.

A remotely controlled VTOL aircraft includes an autopilot subsystem outputting helicopter control signals, and an autopilot subsystem outputting fixed wing control signals. A transition control subsystem is configured to receive said helicopter control signals, said fixed wing control signals, and a transition control signal. Control signals to be applied to the VTOL aircraft controls are calculated as a function of the transition percentage and weighting factors applied to the helicopter control signals and said fixed wing control signals.

Aerial vehicles may be configured to control their attitudes by changing one or more physical attributes. For example, an aerial vehicle may be outfitted with propulsion motors having repositionable mounts by which the motors may be rotated about one or more axes, in order to redirect forces generated by the motors during operation. An aerial vehicle may also be outfitted with one or more other movable objects such as landing gear, antenna and/or engaged payloads, and one or more of such objects may be translated in one or more directions in order to adjust a center of gravity of the aerial vehicle. By varying angles by which forces are supplied to the aerial vehicle, or locations of the center of gravity of the aerial vehicle, a desired attitude of the aerial vehicle may be maintained irrespective of velocity, altitude and/or forces of thrust, lift, weight or drag acting upon the aerial vehicle.

A landing gear including an outer cylinder rotatably coupled to a frame of an aircraft about a trunnion axis of rotation, a shock strut assembly movably coupled to the outer cylinder so as to reciprocate along a longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder, and a shrink mechanism including a first shrink link member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder, a second shrink link member coupling the first shrink link member to the shock strut assembly, a crank member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder, a drive member coupling the crank member to a walking beam (a.k.a. retract actuator beam) of a landing gear retract mechanism, and a driven member coupling the crank member to the first shrink link member.

A thin-skin side-stay beam may include an upper arm with thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the thin skin. A lower arm may also have a thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the lower arm. A joint may include a pin and/or a bushing extending through the mating flanges to pivotally couple the upper arm to the lower arm. The upper arm and/or the lower arm may include one or more internal walls defining one or more internal cavities.

A thin-skin side-stay beam may include an upper arm with thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the thin skin. A lower arm may also have a thin skin and a mating flange extending longitudinally from the lower arm. A joint may include a pin and/or a bushing extending through the mating flanges to pivotally couple the upper arm to the lower arm. The upper arm and/or the lower arm may include one or more internal walls defining one or more internal cavities.

A folding trailing arm landing gear assembly having a main fitting configured to couple to a hinge positioned at a proximal end; a swing arm rotatably coupled at a proximal end to a distal end of the main fitting; a shock coupled at a distal end to a distal end of the swing arm; a bellcrank coupled at a distal end to a proximal end of the shock, and coupled at a proximal end to the main fitting; and a wheel coupled to the swing arm.