"David E. Powell" wrote:
Makes me think back to some of the studies looked at
in the 1980s, ...
People have been tilting at this windmill a lot longer than that.
There's a cute summary (circa 1997) at:
http://www.vstol.org/wheel/wheel.htm
In any event, I'm sure any patents that Lockheed had on
the AH-64 have expired by now :-)
If X2 can approach the safety standards of conventional
helos (e.g. has credible auto-rotation that is safe to routinely
demonstrate), it may eclipse tilt-rotor on that measure alone.
I still doubt that tilt-rotor will gain civil certification, something
now in the promised state for over a decade.
X2 might.
--
Regards, Bob Niland
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