Aircraft recovery methods

• US 3,980,259 A
• Filed: 04/02/1975
• Issued: 09/14/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: British Aerospace, Inc. (BAE Systems Plc)
• Original Assignee: British Aircraft Corp. Ltd. (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Seyfang, George Reginald, Greenhalgh, Richard David, Saunders, Ronald Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Blix, Trygve M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kelmachter, Barry L.
• Application Number:
  US05/564,639
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 244/139, 244/115, 244/113, 244/116, 244/17.17, 244/145, 114/43.5 AC, 89/16, 102/63, 102/89
• US Class Current: 244/139
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 17/80 in association with aircraft, e.g. for braking thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/50 Glider-type UAVs, e.g. with parachute, parasail or kite for landing B64U70/83
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/12 Variable or detachable wings, e.g. wings with adjustable sweep
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/12 using turbine engines, e.g. turbojets or turbofans
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/15 using combustion exhausts other than turbojets or turbofans, e.g. using rockets, ramjets, scramjets or pulse-reactors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/30 for capturing UAVs in flight by ground or sea-based arresting gear, e.g. by a cable or a net
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/70 Launching or landing using catapults, tracks or rails launching from storage containers B64U70/50
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/93 for use on a land or nautical vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/84 Waterborne vehicles

Abstract

A powered remotely piloted vehicle which is not controllable at the low landing speeds necessary for landing on a platform of small area is provided with a para-foil type wing deployable at the beginning of a recovery sequence, and is further provided with a rocket ejectable line which is passed to the landing platform and winched in so that the composite flight vehicle and deployed para-foil wing is drawn towards the platform after the manner of a kite.

Claims

1. A method of effecting transition of a flight vehicle having propulsion means from an in-flight state to an on-ground state including the following steps:

deploying an inflatable wing from a stowed position in the vehicle such that the vehicle is suspended therefrom,

maneuvering the combination of the vehicle and its deployed wing with the propulsion means operating to a position higher than and in the region of a landing surface,

causing a line to be passed between the combination vehicle and the landing surface,

causing the combination vehicle to act as a kite to maintain tension in the line by stopping the propulsion means, and,

winding the line in so that the combination vehicle is drawn toward the landing surface.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the combination vehicle is manoeuvred to a position displaced in plan to one side of the landing surface and the line is ejected laterally from the vehicle to lie across the landing surface.