Patent ID: 8256704

Claim:
A vertical/short take-off and landing aircraft capable of in-flight conversion between a vertical hover mode and a horizontal flight mode comprising: a fuselage having a starboard side and a port side; a pair of wing sections each extending from each of the port and starboard sides of the fuselage; a thrust assembly attached between the wing sections and further affixed so as to be rotatable about a primarily lateral axis from a vertical position to a horizontal position during conversion between the vertical hover mode and the horizontal flight mode and from a horizontal position to a vertical position during reconversion between the horizontal flight mode and the vertical hover mode, the thrust assembly comprising: a first fan and a second fan; a first engine and a second engine; wherein the pair of fans are counter-rotating, and wherein the pair of engines are counter rotating, each engine having an output connected to one of the inline counter-rotating fans and not connected to the other of the inline counter rotating fans; wherein the fans and engines are positioned coaxially and inline such that the fist fan and second fan are located on opposite ends of the thrust assembly and the first engine and second engine such that the output of the first engine is connected to the first fan, and the second engine is connected to the second fan; and wherein the relative speed of the inline counter-rotating engines is controlled such that a difference in speed between the engines creates an imbalance in the torque produced by each engine and fan, the imbalance in the torque produced by each engine and fan being operative to control yaw of the vertical/short take-off and landing aircraft.