Commercial Canard Tilt-Rotor

[GIThruster]

Anyone know what this is? I love the design.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=i ... 2519298387

Trouble is, it looks like it would be stable while the tanks are full, but not when they're empty.

[hanelyp]

Why do you say that? Where do you think the tanks are?

[GIThruster]

In the wings. The lift is near the center of mass so that it can hover, but the center moves hugely when the fuel is at one end of the ship instead of in the middle.

[GIThruster]

Turns out it's a NASA design from 1991. See pages 3 and 18:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi. ... 016825.pdf

[hanelyp]

In this case at least some of the fuel should be carried in the fuselage, forward of the main wings. A common helicopter rotor can also shift the center of lift some across the rotor.

[Schneibster]

In the wings. The lift is near the center of mass so that it can hover, but the center moves hugely when the fuel is at one end of the ship instead of in the middle.

Yes, that's leverage. OTOH it also has belly tanks; the design implies it. They probably get out of it with fly-by-wire and pumps to move the fuel around.

[Schneibster]

And this also is being buried by the spammer.

Interesting aircraft, totally lost in someone's political spam.