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newtoon t1_j5h1nv7 wrote

If you look for the conference of one of the conceptors, you may understand why it is interesting. An helicopter is presently he Best solution efficiency wise because there is one large rotor. Yet, it is noisy, cumbersome and dangerous (big blades turning fast). So, if we fan get rid of open blades, it s quite interesting for some uses. An helicopter is great in hovering but not adapted for long distance and going fast. So, you want wings. And wings like fast moving air on the upper wing for best lift. If you have standard props, it does not fit well since it is a circular design and the wing is flat. You could make the wing half circles and it works but has drawbacks https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_wing . Hence, some air taxi makers use lots of small turbines on the upper surface. But If you have a compressor, the design of the exhaust can be anything you like and you can blow the best way on the upper surface ! You can also combine with a "box wing design" . Brillant. The only question of those kind of design is what happens when the compressor fails mind flight. What is the glide possibility ?

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umbcorp t1_j5haqut wrote

when you have loose power, with box wing design you can still glide, with their other designs you need a parachute.

Helicopters can auto rotate, but they can't pop up a parachute. Russians tried blowing the rotor blades of for a parachute, but it never got anywhere.

But in low speeds and low altitudes, this might be more dangerous than a helicopter

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im_thatoneguy t1_j5kod2u wrote

The compressor though will certainly have some inertia won't it? Not quite auto-rotation levels of power but, maybe enough for the chute to deploy.

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umbcorp t1_j5myw0t wrote

good point, but if you are below certain altitude chute wont help at all.

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