VTOL is an abbreviation for
Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported...
. See also
V/STOLVertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Most were experiments or outright failures from the 1950s to 1970s. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require short runways...
. This classification includes
fixed-wing aircraftA fixed-wing aircraft, usually called an airplane, aeroplane or plane, is an aircraft capable of flight using forward motion that causes air to pass over its wings to generate lift. Planes include jet engine and propeller driven vehicles propelled forward by thrust, as well as unpowered aircraft...
that can hover, take off and land vertically as well as
helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter achieves lift with the...
s and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as
tiltrotorA tiltrotor aircraft utilizes a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
s.
AutogyroAn autogyro, also known as gyroplane, gyrocopter, or rotaplane, is a type of rotorcraft which utilises an unpowered rotor in autorotation to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller, similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft, to provide thrust...
s,
balloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a type of gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were sometimes made of dried animal bladders...
s,
airshipAn airship or dirigible is a lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust...
s and
rocketA rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of a jet of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. Chemical rockets create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant...
s are not normally considered VTOL, but may be termed VTVL (Vertical Takeoff with Vertical Landing). Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as
CTOLCTOL is an acronym for Conventional Take-off and Landing, and is the process whereby conventional aircraft take off and land, involving the use of runways. The aircraft will taxi along the runway until its rotation speed is reached, then climb into the air...
(Conventional Take-off and Landing),
STOLSTOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.The formal NATO definition is:...
(Short Take-Off and Landing), and/or
STOVLSTOVL is an acronym for Short Take Off and Vertical Landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...
(Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) mode. Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking
landing gearLanding Gear is Devin the Dude's fifth studio album. It was released on October 7 2008. It will be his first studio album since signing with the label Razor & Tie. It features a high-profile guest appearance from Snoop Dogg. As of October 30, 2008, the album has sold 18,906 copies.-Track...
that can handle horizontal motion. VTOL is a subset of
V/STOLVertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Most were experiments or outright failures from the 1950s to 1970s. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require short runways...
.
Besides the ubiquitous helicopter, there are currently two types of VTOL aircraft in military service: craft using a
tiltrotorA tiltrotor aircraft utilizes a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
, such as the
BellBell Helicopter Textron is an American helicopter and tiltrotor manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A division of Textron, Bell manufactures military helicopter and tiltrotor products in and around Fort Worth, as well as in Amarillo, Texas, and commercial rotorcraft products in...
BoeingThe Boeing Company is a major aerospace and defense corporation, founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Its international headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois, since 2001...
V-22 OspreyThe Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is a multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing and short takeoff and landing capability. It is designed to perform missions like a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop...
, and aircraft using directed jet thrust such as the
HarrierThe Harrier Jump Jet, often referred to as just "Harrier" or "the Jump Jet", is a British designed military jet aircraft capable of Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing via thrust vectoring...
family.
History
In addition to the
helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter achieves lift with the...
, many approaches have been tried to develop practical aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities. An early contribution to VTOL was
Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce Limited was a British car and, from 1914, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904. In 1971, Rolls-Royce was crippled by the development of the advanced RB211 jet engine, resulting...
's
Thrust Measuring RigThe Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig was a pioneering vertical take-off and landing aircraft developed by Rolls-Royce in the 1950s. The TMR used two Nene turbojet engines mounted back-to-back horizontally within a steel framework, raised upon four legs with castors for wheels...
("flying bedstead") of 1953. This led to the first VTOL engines as used in the first British VTOL aircraft, the
Short SC.1The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The SC.1 was designed to study the problems with VTOL flight and the transition to and from forward flight.-Design and development:...
(1957) which used 4 vertical lift engines with a horizontal one for forward thrust.
The idea of using the same engine for vertical and horizontal flight by altering the path of the thrust led to the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus engine which used rotating ducts to direct thrust over a range of angles. This was developed side by side with an airframe, the
Hawker P.1127The Hawker P.1127 and the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 were the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VSTOL jet fighter-bomber.-Background:...
, which became subsequently the Kestrel and then entered production as the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, though the supersonic
Hawker Siddeley P.1154The Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was a supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic Hawker Siddeley P.1127/Kestrel. The project was cancelled in 1965.-Development:...
was canceled in 1965.
The Harrier is often flown in
STOVLSTOVL is an acronym for Short Take Off and Vertical Landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...
mode which enables it to carry a higher fuel or weapon load over a given distance. Now retired from British
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
service, the
Indian NavyThe Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. It currently has approximately 55,000 personnel on active duty, including 5,000 members of the naval aviation branch and 2,000 marine commandos, making it the world's fifth largest navy...
operates Sea Harriers mainly from its
aircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
INS ViraatINS Viraat is a Centaur-class aircraft carrier currently in service with the Indian Navy. INS Viraat is the flagship of the Indian Navy, the oldest carrier afloat, and one of the two aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean Region.- Royal Navy Service :INS Viraat was originally commissioned in the...
. The latest version of the Harrier, the BAE Harrier II is operated by the British
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
and
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
. The United States Marine Corps, and the Italian and Spanish Navies use the AV-8 Harrier II, an equivalent derivative of the Harrier II. The Harrier II/AV-8 will be replaced in the air arms of the US and UK by a STOVL variant of the
F-35 Lightning IIThe Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable multirole fighter, that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions...
.
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
has flown other VTOL craft such as the
Bell XV-15The United States Bell XV-15 was the second successful experimental tiltrotor VTOL aircraft and the first to demonstrate the concept's high speed performance relative to conventional helicopters.-Pre-XV-15 VTOL rotor aircraft:...
research craft (1977), as have the
Soviet NavyThe Soviet Navy was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to...
and
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
. Sikorsky tested an aircraft dubbed the
X-WingThe Sikorsky S-72 was an experimental hybrid helicopter/fixed-wing aircraft developed by helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.-RSRA:The Rotor Systems Research Aircraft was developed by Sikorsky for NASA and the Army. Configured with rotor, wings and auxiliary jets, the RSRA allows testing of...
, which took off in the manner of a helicopter. The rotors would become stationary in mid-flight, and function as wings, providing lift in addition to the static wings.
Boeing X-50The Boeing X-50 Dragonfly, formerly known as the Canard Rotor/Wing Demonstrator, was a gyrodyne unmanned aerial vehicle that was developed by Boeing and DARPA to demonstrate the principle that a helicopter's rotor could be stopped in flight and act as a fixed wing...
is a
Canard Rotor/WingThe Canard Rotor/Wing is a class of VTOL aircraft capable of both fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight. For vertical take-off, hovering, low-speed flight, and vertical landing, the main airfoil is spun like a helicopter's rotor by directing the exhaust from a jet engine through thrust nozzles in the...
prototype that utilizes a similar concept.
In the 1960s France developed a version of the
Dassault Mirage IIIThe Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a...
capable of attaining
MachMach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance...
1. The
Dassault Mirage IIIVThe Dassault Mirage IIIV fighter aircraft is a vertical take-off and landing fighter. Unlike its predecessor, the Dassault Mirage III, the IIIV model featured eight small vertical lift jets straddling the main engine...
achieved transition from vertical to horizontal flight in March 1966, reaching Mach 1.3 in level flight a short time later.
The
Yakovlev Yak-38The Yakovlev Yak-38 was Soviet Naval Aviation's first and only operational VTOL multi-role combat aircraft.-Design and development:...
was the
Soviet NavyThe Soviet Navy was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to...
's VTOL aircraft for their light carriers, cargoships, and capital ships. It was developed from the
Yakovlev Yak-36{||}The Yakovlev Yak-36 was a Soviet technology demonstrator for a VTOL combat aircraft.-Design and development:...
experimental aircraft. Before the Soviet Union collapsed, a supersonic VTOL aircraft was developed as the Yak-38's successor, the
Yak-141The Yakovlev Yak-141 is a supersonic VTOL fighter aircraft from the Soviet Union. It did not enter production.-Design and development:...
, which never went into production.
In the 1960s and early 70s Germany planned three different VTOL planes. One used the F-104 as a base for research for a
V/STOLVertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Most were experiments or outright failures from the 1950s to 1970s. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require short runways...
aircraft. Although two models (X1 and X2) were built, the project was canceled due to high costs and political problems as well as changed needs in the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
and NATO. The
EWR VJ 101The EWR VJ 101 was an experimental German jet fighter VTOL tiltjet aircraft. VJ stood for "Versuchsjäger", . It was to be the basis for a successor to the F-104G Starfighter, but was cancelled in 1968 after a five-year test program...
C did perform free VTOL take-offs and landings, as well as test flights beyond mach 1 in the mid- and late 60s. One of the test-aircraft is preserved in the
Deutsches MuseumThe Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...
in Munich, Germany. The others were the VFW-Fokker
VAK 191BThe VFW VAK 191B was an experimental German VTOL nuclear strike fighter. The design was intended to lead to a replacement for the Fiat G.91.-Design and development:...
light fighter and reconnaissance plane, and the
Dornier Do 31The Dornier Do 31 was a German experimental VTOL jet transport built by Dornier. The Do 31 was designed to meet a NATO specification for a tactical support aircraft for the EWR VJ 101 VTOL strike aircraft designed under the NATO contract of BMR-3....
E-3 (troop) transport.
Canadair CL-84 Dynavert
The
CL-84The Canadair CL-84 was a V/STOL turbine tilt-wing monoplane designed and manufactured by Canadair between 1964 and 1972. Only four of these experimental aircraft were built with three entering flight testing. Two of the CL-84s crashed due to mechanical failures, but no loss of life occurred as a...
was a Canadian
V/STOLVertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Most were experiments or outright failures from the 1950s to 1970s. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require short runways...
turbine tilt-wing monoplane designed and manufactured by
CanadairCanadair was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. It was the subsidiary of other aircraft manufacturers and a nationalized corporation until privatized in 1986, and became the core of Bombardier Aerospace....
between 1964 and 1972. The Canadian government ordered three updated CL-84s for military evaluation in 1968, designated the CL-84-1. From 1972 to 1974, this version was demonstrated and evaluated in the United States aboard the aircraft carriers USS
Guam and USS
Guadalcanal, and at various other centres. These trials involved military pilots from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Two of the CL-84s crashed due to mechanical failures, but no loss of life occurred as a result of these accidents. No production contracts resulted.
Aircraft designed to operate in extraterrestrial environments often utilize VTOL. An example of this type of aircraft is the LLRV.
SpacecraftA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as...
typically operate in environments where runways or even a suitably flat surface for skids is nonexistent.
V-22
The
V-22 OspreyThe Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is a multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing and short takeoff and landing capability. It is designed to perform missions like a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop...
is the world's first production
tiltrotorA tiltrotor aircraft utilizes a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
aircraft, with one three-bladed
proprotorA proprotor is an spinning airfoil that is used as both an airplane style propeller and a helicopter style rotor during the same flight.This is accomplished by either changing the angle of attack from around zero degrees to around ninety degrees of the wing it is attached to or just the rotor hub...
,
turbopropTurboprop engines are a type of aircraft powerplant that use a gas turbine to drive a propeller. The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
engine, and transmission
nacelleThe nacelle is a cover housing that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft or wind turbine. In some cases—most notably the World War II-era P-38 Lightning airplane—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle...
mounted on each wingtip. The Osprey is a multi-mission aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing capability (
STOLSTOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.The formal NATO definition is:...
). It is designed to perform missions like a conventional
helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter achieves lift with the...
with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a
turbopropTurboprop engines are a type of aircraft powerplant that use a gas turbine to drive a propeller. The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
aircraft. The FAA classifies the Osprey as a model of
powered liftPowered lift or powered-lift refers to a type of aircraft that can take off and land vertically and functions differently from a rotorcraft in horizontal flight.-Definition:...
aircraft.
See also
- STOL
STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.The formal NATO definition is:...
- VSTOL
- Powered lift
Powered lift or powered-lift refers to a type of aircraft that can take off and land vertically and functions differently from a rotorcraft in horizontal flight.-Definition:...
- List of VTOL aircraft
- Military flying saucers
The development of disc shaped aircraft — or military "flying saucers" — apparently dates back to World War II. Since most of the information is highly classified, many details are uncertain....
- Tiltrotor
A tiltrotor aircraft utilizes a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
- Mono tiltrotor
A mono tiltrotor aircraft combines the vertical lift capability and structural efficiency of a helicopter with the speed and range of an airplane.-Overview:...
- Tiltwing
A tiltwing aircraft is similar in concept to a tiltrotor design. Whereas a tilt rotor rotates the propeller from axial to dorsal, a tiltwing rotates the entire wing, not just the nacelles or prop and shaft. They are typically fully capable of VTOL operations....
- Tailsitter
A tailsitter is a type of VTOL aircraft that launches and lands on its tail, something akin to a Buck Rogers type rocket, such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-X Delta Clipper. One of the most famous examples of this type of aircraft is the Ryan X-13 Vertijet. Among the propeller-driven versions were...
- McDonnell Douglas DC-X
The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an unmanned prototype of a reusable single stage to orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the DOD's SDIO from 1991 to 1993...
- Reusable Vehicle Testing
The Reusable Vehicle Testing project was conducted by the Japanese Space Agency from 1998 until 2003. The project involved a series of experimental vehicles to test repeated flights of a reusable rocket. Four complete vehicles were developed during the project...
- Quad (rocket)
In rocketry, the Armadillo aerospace Quad vehicle is a computer controlled VTOL rocket that is used to compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge.-General description:...
- Vertical airship
A vertical airship is a type of airship that is designed to fly vertically.Vertical airships also differ from conventional airships because they have better structural efficiency when carrying heavy loads. The shape and low speed also make it easy to fly low above urban areas...
External links