Lift Fans as Gyroscopes for Controlling Compact VTOL Air Vehicles: Overview and Development Status of Oblique Active Tilting

Able to provide dual-fan VTOL air vehicles with exceptional pitch agility and stability, lift-fan Oblique Active Tilting (OAT) is outlined and supporting data from our two flying prototypes is presented. Comparisons to OAT - which generates large and immediate gyroscopic controlling moments - show conventional thrust vectoring to be an order of magnitude less effective. As well, OAT’s potential for providing independent, six-axis vehicle control is investigated with promising results.