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Military Applications
While the V-22 is operational, the design has limitations even apart from stability considerations. The size of the propellers prevents the Osprey from taking off horizontally. At best it does a short takeoff – thus limiting the payload.
The engine location prevents entry and exit from the sides. Soldiers or passengers can only enter and exit from the rear of the craft. For the same reason, guns cannot be mounted on wings nor can they fire from the sides of the fuselage. Belly-mounted guns have been tried. Its abilities as an air-assault vehicle are limited. Wing mounted ordnance is out of the question.
Among the advantages of a twin-fuselage geometry, crucial in military applications are: ability of soldiers to enter and exit the fuselage rapidly from the left or right sides of the left or right fuselage respectively, absence of prop wash along outboard sides – these are unavailable in the V-22.
Utterfly can be configured as a gunship. Ordnance can be mounted under the wings and outboard sides of each fuselage as well as the noses of fuselages. Utterfly® can fly at speeds of 300 – 400 knots over distances ≈ 1000 knots while adding the flexibility of VTOL/STOL feature. Unmanned Utterfly would be suitable for reconnaissance and border patrol. Unlike conventional UAV’s Utterfly can hover at a site.
Although there are other designs extant (Aerovironment’s Qube), Utterfly design has some advantages (large payload, fewer motors, stability etc.) The superiority of the Utterfly design should be apparent.
A larger payload can be lifted using the short take off facility. When landing in STOL mode, the propeller arrangement facilitates air braking by reversing the pitch of the propellers.
Optimally Utterfly will commence its flight using a short or horizontal take off because of the higher possible payload; transition to horizontal flight, then land vertically.
This profile is sometimes labeled as short take off vertical landing. Safety: Twin turboprop engine configuration ensures a measure of safety because of redundancy provided by multiple engines. If there is total loss of power during hover, airbags will deploy under the fuselages to ensure a soft landing.
The rotors are capable of autorotation in the event of complete engine failure.
Utterfly Ground
Utterfly Ground
Commercial Applications
The features described are suitable for a 40-passenger commuter aircraft with VTOL/STOL capability. I estimate a cruising speed of 300 - 400 knots and a maximum range of ≈1000 nautical miles.
Point-to point urban air taxi is an obvious application. Opening up areas without airports to air traffic becomes possible. Mountainous locations in remote sites become accessible. Low cost operations facilitate transport of supplies over long distances between sites without airports. Utterfly would eminently serve undeveloped regions of the world or nations with a large number of islands. A thriving commuter airline could be built around Utterfly