Personal aircraft

Abstract

A safe, quiet, easy to control, efficient, and compact aircraft configuration is enabled through the combination of multiple vertical lift rotors, tandem wings, and forward thrust propellers. The vertical lift rotors, in combination with a front and rear wing, permits a balancing of the center of lift with the center of gravity for both vertical and horizontal flight. This wing and multiple rotor system has the ability to tolerate a relatively large variation of the payload weight for hover, transition, or cruise flight while also providing vertical thrust redundancy. The propulsion system uses multiple lift rotors and forward thrust propellers of a small enough size to be shielded from potential blade strike and provide increased perceived and real safety to the passengers. Using multiple independent rotors provides redundancy and the elimination of single point failure modes that can make the vehicle non-operable in flight.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An aircraft comprising:
 a fuselage;   a first mounting boom mounted outboard of a port side of the fuselage, with a forward end of the first mounting boom being positioned forward of a center of gravity of the aircraft and an aft end of the first mounting boom being positioned aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft;   a second mounting boom mounted outboard of a starboard side of the fuselage, with a forward end of the first mounting boom being positioned forward of a center of gravity of the aircraft and an aft end of the first mounting boom being positioned aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft;   a first plurality of lift rotors, each rotor mounted on the first mounting boom on the port side of the fuselage and configured to produce an amount of vertical thrust independent of levels of vertical thrust produced by the other rotors, wherein one or more of said first plurality of lift rotors are mounted forward of the center of gravity of the aircraft and one or more other of said first plurality of lift rotors are mounted aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft;   a second plurality of lift rotors, each rotor mounted on the second mounting boom and configured to produce an amount of vertical thrust independent of levels of vertical thrust produced by the other rotors, wherein one or more of said second plurality of lift rotors are mounted forward of the center of gravity of the aircraft and one or more other of said second plurality of lift rotors are mounted aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft; and   one or more propellers mounted aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft and configured to push the aircraft in a forward direction.   
     
     
         2 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , the first plurality of rotors and the second plurality of rotors each includes two rotors mounted forward of the center of gravity of the aircraft and two rotors mounted aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft. 
     
     
         3 . The aircraft of  claim 2 , wherein the rotors mounted forward of the center of gravity of the aircraft and the rotors mounted aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft are mounted in location such that the center of lift of the rotors in hover is co-located with the center of gravity of the aircraft. 
     
     
         4 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , wherein the fuselage provides payload volume near the center of gravity of the aircraft. 
     
     
         5 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more wings attached to the fuselage. 
     
     
         6 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , further comprising a protective shroud at least partly surrounding one or more of said first plurality of rotors and said second plurality of rotors. 
     
     
         7 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , wherein the aircraft is unmanned. 
     
     
         8 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , wherein the fuselage accommodates a human passenger. 
     
     
         9 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , wherein the fuselage accommodates two or more human passengers. 
     
     
         10 . The aircraft of  claim 1 , wherein first plurality of rotors and the second plurality of rotors are mounted in an arrangement that enables pitch, roll, and yaw moments about the center of gravity of the aircraft to be generated. 
     
     
         11 . The aircraft of  claim 10 , wherein said pitch, roll, and yaw moments are generated by varying the respective thrust of said rotors mounted in different locations on the aircraft.