Patent ID: 8177161

Claim:
An air vehicle comprising: a bag skirt extendable along a portion of a hull of the air vehicle, the bag skirt being inflatable to provide an air cushion during touchdown and deflatable during flight of the air vehicle; a cover roller adjacent the bag skirt; and a cover portion coupled to the cover roller, the cover roller being configured to roll between an exposed position and an unexposed position to expose or hide the bag skirt with the cover portion without generating a separation gap, wherein the cover roller includes an extensible shaft and a pad securely wrapped around the extensible shaft, the extensible shaft capable of being rotated along a shaft axis, one end of the extensible shaft being pivotally coupled to the hull by an anchor, a circumference of the cover roller being based on a function of a distance between the exposed and the unexposed positions, and wherein the cover portion has a first end secured to the hull and a second end rollable around the cover roller.