Well if you also have jet engines straped on to it also of course when you shut off the rotors it will still fly, I really hope that Nasa didn't put
money into this for that reason alone.
That drawing looks like the rotors cant move, unless I guess that after there shut down they lower to make it more aerodynamic.
I think that was the point, that it would fly anyway. No one had ever stopped a rotor in flight before, deliberately anyway. With this set up they
could stop the rotor and measure the aerodynamic effects, such as lift generated, bending force on the blades etc etc. without the risk of losing
everything if the rotor broke off because of aerodynamic forces or some other unforseen factor. Rather like when they mounted early jets in the rear
fulelages of Lancasters to try them out in a relatively safe airborne environment. Obviously computer simulations would have predicted the behaviour
of the rotor but these would have to be backed up by actually flying the hardware, for which there is no substitute. I believe that the next stage was
to remove the wings and fly with the X-wing alone. This is where my knowledge runs out, I do not know if it flew in that configuration or if the
results of the S-72 tests put them off the idea.
You know when you say that on the drawing the rotors look as if they can't move? I too have wondered about this. Apparently it was intended to
retract after stopping into the position shown to improve the aerodynamics at high speed flight.
[edit on 22-9-2004 by waynos]
[edit on 22-9-2004 by waynos]
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