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Learn more about the Work

The concept of the J-27 has been around since June 2023. Work on it began in August 2023.

Creating an aircraft that can seemingly defy gravity with no clear indications of how, isn’t easy. To assess first insights into the possibility of this design (specifically with regards to forward flight dynamics), small hand thrown gliders were built and tested. Later, powered and remotely controlled versions followed, which were launched by hand, as the VTOL-mechanics were left out for simplicity and ease of iteration. (Most flight tests ended with crashes right at launch due to the low tolerance for mistakes of the plane. The strong backward sweep coupled with an extremely high wing loading for efficient fast cruise isn’t meant to launch into forward flight. It is meant to transition from hover.) Nevertheless, enough data and experience could be collected to move on to the next stage; A 1:10 scale model with the VTOL-mechanics, which was first attempted in January 2024.

Special emphasis is put on attempted, since this first try was followed by three more thoroughly reworked versions before June 2024. Interestingly, the exotic thrust reversal mechanism at the rear functioned pretty well by the third build already (It was feared to be the most difficult design aspect). But it would be for the front augmented power plant (used during hover) that would pose an actual great challenge to meet the strict criteria for efficiency, weight and space constraints. This seemingly ever persisting issue was finally solved by December 2024 through a radical, yet fabulously well functioning redesign.

In the process, many assisted and non-assisted hovering flights took place (mostly crashing). After the quality of thrust from each system was verified, it was left to optimize the stabilization and control inputs during hover. To significantly lower the fatal crashes the PID controls were fine-tuned in assisted flight (aircraft being held with one hand during hover, while the other hand is trying to control thrust and three axes of movement to achieve stable and stationary hover).

Most models so far have been built out of solid 3-d printed parts (mostly LW-PLA ad CFR-PLA). Some of the newer ones featured a laser-cut rib structure with some 3-d printed parts, and a composite skin. It is a superior build-method, but definitely slower to iterate than just fully 3d-printed versions. As for the electronics, regular RC-components and a single flight controller work together with Arduino Nanos.

To achieve reliable transitions into fast forward flight and back, a new craft must be built. Currently, mechanical tolerances with 3d-printers at this smaller scale are too high. This would inevitably yield unreliable and difficult control of the aircraft during high speed forward flight. Additionally, more reliable electronic components and computers are needed to first; decrease likelihood of crashes that were not due to flaws in the design and program. And second; enable the right mixing of control inputs during every phase of flight. Because of the unconventional layout of the craft, this must be custom made.

To accommodate larger quality parts, and decrease tolerance relative to the aircraft’s size, it is planned to build a 1:7 scale version as part of the next step.