crazylemur
New Member
Alright so I've got this idea in my head, but I don't know enough about aviation theory to tell if its even doable or not.
My idea is thus, from general to specific, a vtol aircraft that you ride similar to a motorcycle. It would be single person only, made of almost entirely fiberglass/carbon fiber besides the engine. Somewhere between 100 and 150 lbs. empy weight, so then hopefully around 300 lbs. maximum takeoff weight. You sit on top of a tube housing a ducted propeller, and by sit I mean straddle it like a really fat motorcycle. Then there are two pairs of wings, both attached at the top of the duct, one pair at the front and one at the back, so to give a visual it would look like an H if one was looking at it from directly overhead. To give it the VTOL ability the end of the propeller duct would be closable and it would have something similar to wing tanks that would open to provide an outlet for airflow and in effect give it thrust vectoring. As far as engine placement, it would probably be mounted below the duct to lower the CoG, but I have next to no knowledge in this area. So my questions are:
From what I understand there are no bonuses from having a ducted propeller at static air speed, so what size propeller and rpm would be able to provide the thrust needed to lift this amount of weight at static air speed? I know for vtol it's essentially thust vs. weight, so this is probably the most questionable aspect
Redirecting the airflow in this manner won't decrease the available thrust will it? I don't know anything about what can affect moving air
Any thoughts/input would be great! the more critical the better haha
My idea is thus, from general to specific, a vtol aircraft that you ride similar to a motorcycle. It would be single person only, made of almost entirely fiberglass/carbon fiber besides the engine. Somewhere between 100 and 150 lbs. empy weight, so then hopefully around 300 lbs. maximum takeoff weight. You sit on top of a tube housing a ducted propeller, and by sit I mean straddle it like a really fat motorcycle. Then there are two pairs of wings, both attached at the top of the duct, one pair at the front and one at the back, so to give a visual it would look like an H if one was looking at it from directly overhead. To give it the VTOL ability the end of the propeller duct would be closable and it would have something similar to wing tanks that would open to provide an outlet for airflow and in effect give it thrust vectoring. As far as engine placement, it would probably be mounted below the duct to lower the CoG, but I have next to no knowledge in this area. So my questions are:
From what I understand there are no bonuses from having a ducted propeller at static air speed, so what size propeller and rpm would be able to provide the thrust needed to lift this amount of weight at static air speed? I know for vtol it's essentially thust vs. weight, so this is probably the most questionable aspect
Redirecting the airflow in this manner won't decrease the available thrust will it? I don't know anything about what can affect moving air
Any thoughts/input would be great! the more critical the better haha
