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A tiltwing 
The tiltwing design offers certain advantages in vertical flight relative to a tiltrotor. Because the slipstream from the rotor strikes the wing on its smallest dimension, the tiltwing is able to apply more of its engine power to lifting the aircraft. For comparison, the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor loses about 10% of its thrust to interference from the wings.
Another advantage of tiltwing aircraft is the ease of transition between VTOL and horizontal flight modes. A tiltrotor must first fly forwards like a helicopter, building airspeed until wing lift is sufficient to allow the nacelles to begin tilting down. As a note, the MV-22 Osprey's stall speed in airplane mode is . Conversely, a tiltwing aircraft can begin the transition from helicopter to airplane at zero forward airspeed. Because of this, the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert was able to take off vertically, then accelerate from zero airspeed to in 8 seconds.
However, the fixed wing of a tiltrotor aircraft offers a superior angle of attack—thus more lift and a shorter takeoff roll—when performing STOL/
A tiltwing aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...
features a wing that is horizontal for conventional forward flight and rotates up for vertical takeoff and landing. It is similar to the tiltrotor
A tiltrotor is an aircraft which generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called ''proprotors'') mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing. Almost all tiltrotors use a t ...
design where only the propeller and engine rotate. Tiltwing aircraft are typically fully capable of VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...
operations.Markman, Steve and Bill Holder. "Tilt-Wing VTOL Systems". ''Straight Up: A History of Vertical Flight''. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. .
The tiltwing design offers certain advantages in vertical flight relative to a tiltrotor. Because the slipstream from the rotor strikes the wing on its smallest dimension, the tiltwing is able to apply more of its engine power to lifting the aircraft. For comparison, the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor loses about 10% of its thrust to interference from the wings.
Another advantage of tiltwing aircraft is the ease of transition between VTOL and horizontal flight modes. A tiltrotor must first fly forwards like a helicopter, building airspeed until wing lift is sufficient to allow the nacelles to begin tilting down. As a note, the MV-22 Osprey's stall speed in airplane mode is . Conversely, a tiltwing aircraft can begin the transition from helicopter to airplane at zero forward airspeed. Because of this, the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert was able to take off vertically, then accelerate from zero airspeed to in 8 seconds.
However, the fixed wing of a tiltrotor aircraft offers a superior angle of attack—thus more lift and a shorter takeoff roll—when performing STOL/STOVL
A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...
operations.
The main drawbacks of tiltwing aircraft are susceptibility to wind gusts in VTOL mode and lower hover efficiency. The wing tilted vertically represents a large surface area for crosswinds to push against. Tiltrotors generally have better hover efficiency than tiltwings, but less than helicopters. This is due to the difference in rotor disk loading.
As of 2014, NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
is testing a diesel-electric hybrid 10-foot 10-rotor tiltwing called the GL-10 Greased Lightning, with most propellers folding during horizontal flight.Warwick, Graham. "Distributed power" ''Aviation Week & Space Technology
''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviatio ...
'' page 31, 25 August 2014. Accessed: 26 August 2014.
List of tiltwing aircraft
Tiltwing designs with rocket, jet, or propeller propulsion * Airbus A³ Vahana (2018) * Canadair CL-84 Dynavert (1965) * Hiller X-18 (1959) * Kaman K-16B (1959) * LTV XC-142 (1964) * NASA GL-10 Greased Lightning (2014) * Vertol VZ-2 (1957) *Weserflug P.1003
The Weserflug P.1003, was a two-seat German aircraft designed in 1938 by Weserflug. The aim of the project was to construct a military tilt rotor aircraft with VTOL characteristics for use in World War II.
At the beginning of 1938 plans for a til ...
(1938)
See also
*Thrust vectoring
Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the ...
* Tailsitter
* Tiltrotor
A tiltrotor is an aircraft which generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called ''proprotors'') mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing. Almost all tiltrotors use a t ...
* Tiltjet
* Coleopter
* VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...
References
Aircraft configurations {{aviation-stub