Patent ID: 8403255

Claim:
A compound aircraft, the aircraft comprising: a. a fuselage; b. a variable incidence wing configured to provide a lift to said fuselage in response to a movement of the aircraft in a forward direction, said movement of said aircraft in said forward direction defining an airspeed of said fuselage; c. a thruster attached to the fuselage, said thruster being configured to apply a selectable forward thrust to said fuselage; d. an engine, said engine being connected to said fuselage, e. a clutch, said clutch being connected to said engine; f. a rotor configured for a rotation, said rotor having a rotor blade, said rotor blade having a selectable collective pitch and a selectable cyclic pitch, said engine being configured to selectably apply a power to said rotor through said clutch, said clutch being configured to selectably disengage said rotor from said engine, said rotor, said clutch and said engine being configured to support selectably the compound aircraft in a hovering flight g. a control system, said control system being attached to said fuselage; h. a sensor, said sensor being configured to detect an aircraft condition, said sensor being configured to communicate said aircraft condition to said control system; i. a collective effector and a cyclic effector, said collective and said cyclic effectors being operably attached to said control system, said collective effector being configured to control said collective pitch of said rotor blade, said cyclic effector being configured to control said cyclic pitch of said rotor blade, said control system being configured to select said collective pitch and said cyclic pitch based upon said aircraft condition, said aircraft condition comprising said airspeed of said fuselage wherein said control system is configured selectably to disengage said clutch and to select said collective pitch and said cyclic pitch of said rotor blade that will cause an autorotation of said rotor when said airspeed of said fuselage is sufficient to cause said variable incidence wing to supply said lift to said fuselage sufficient to support the compound aircraft in flight and wherein said rotor has an autorotating rotational speed when said rotor is autorotating, said control system being configured to select said cyclic and said collective pitch of said rotor to select said autorotating rotational speed, said airspeed of said fuselage causing an aerodynamic force against said rotor blade when said rotor is autorotating, said rotor blade being configured so that if said autorotating rotational speed falls below a predetermined minimum that said blade will exceed said allowable deformation due to said aerodynamic force, said control system being configured to select said autorotating rotational speed that is greater than said predetermined minimum autorotating rotational speed.