Overview of recent endeavors on personal aerial vehicles: A focus on the US and Europe led research activities

The next generation of vertical lift vehicles will push the state-of-the-art in many technology areas to meet high-speed and high-efficiency performance requirements while enabling affordable and environmentally friendly operations. This paper describes the NASA Rotary Wing research results, on-going research and future technology directions that demonstrate the viability of advanced technology at the component, sub-system and system level. Technologies that particularly pertain to structural dynamics challenges in the disciplines of propulsion, aeromechanics, impact loading of composites, and design optimization are emphasized.

/pdf/nasa-technology-for-next-generation-vertical-lift-vehicles-55q2q79the.pdf

NASA Technology for Next Generation Vertical Lift Vehicles

https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1808&context=jaaer

Scenario-Based Strategic Planning for Future Civil Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Transport

https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/Young_Hopper_TM_PhaseI_12.pdf

Combined Electric Aircraft and Airspace Management Design for Metro-Regional Public Transportation

According to a number of system studies, large capacity advanced rotorcraft with a capability of high cruise speeds (approx350 mph) as well as vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) flight could alleviate anticipated air transportation capacity issues by making use of non-primary runways, taxiways, and aprons These advanced aircraft pose a number of design challenges, as well as unknown issues in the flight control and handling qualities domains A series of piloted simulation experiments have been conducted on the NASA Ames Research Center Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in recent years to systematically investigate the fundamental flight control and handling qualities issues associated with the characteristics of large rotorcraft, including tiltrotors, in hover and low-speed maneuvering

/pdf/handling-qualities-of-large-rotorcraft-in-hover-and-low-2gbs0uk35c.pdf

Handling Qualities of Large Rotorcraft in Hover and Low Speed

Based on a previous Civil Tiltrotor (CTR) National Airspace System (NAS) performance analysis study, CTR operations were evaluated over selected routes and terminal airspace configurations assuming noninterference operations (NIO) and runway-independent operations (RIO). This assessment aims to further identify issues associated with these concepts of operations (ConOps), and their dependency on the airspace configuration and interaction with conventional fixed-wing traffic. Safety analysis following a traditional Safety Management System (SMS) methodology was applied to CTR-unique departure and arrival failures in the selected airspace to identify any operational and certification issues. Additional CTR operational cases were then developed to get a broader understanding of issues and gaps that will need to be addressed in future CTR operational studies. Finally, needed enhancements to National Airspace System performance analysis tools were reviewed, and recommendations were made on improvements in these tools that are likely to be required to support future progress toward CTR fleet operations in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).

/pdf/an-assessment-of-civil-tiltrotor-concept-of-operations-in-jxqhod8d86.pdf

James Lindsey

Papers

An Assessment of Civil Tiltrotor Concept of Operations in the Next Generation Air Transportation System