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VTOL aircraft can take off and land vertically, without a runway, and are expensive and difficult to design. The first practical VTOL was the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, and the V-22 Osprey is now considered safe for military use. The Moller Skycar is a prototype that uses VTOL and is aimed at being an affordable option for the masses.
VTOL stands for vertical takeoff and landing, referring to aircraft that can take off and land vertically, without the use of a runway. Few aircraft are truly VTOL. The ones that do exist are relatively expensive, but invaluable for certain applications, such as quick getaways for Special Ops teams. The first practical VTOL was the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, introduced in 1969. It was one of several successes among the many failed efforts to develop VTOL craft that were pursued in the 1960s.
The motivation behind creating a VTOL is to produce a craft capable of taking off vertically, like a helicopter, while retaining the desirable characteristics of fixed-wing aircraft, such as high cruising speeds. In fact, the VTOL-equipped French Dassault Mirage IIIV reached speeds of Mach 1.32 during testing.
VTOL vessels tend to be expensive, difficult to design, and sometimes dangerous. For example, the V-22 Osprey, the VTOL vessel of choice for the United States Marine Corps, costs around $130 million US dollars (USD). Three were lost during testing, killing all on board in all cases. As of 2005, a study concluded that the V-22 Osprey, which cost $30 billion to develop to program, is now mature enough to serve as a reliable and safe aircraft for the military. The V-22 Osprey uses a tilt-rotor design, allowing it to take off like a helicopter, but tilts its rotors forward during level flight, turning them into propellers.
Early ideas for the VTOL craft involved the use of curved ducts to direct thrust towards the ground, but implementing this is much more difficult than it seemed at the time. An example is the Osprey V-22, which skips this approach and goes with rotors instead.
There are two quite famous VTOL craft: the Harrier Jump Jet, and the Apollo Lunar Module used by astronauts to take off from the Moon after finishing their visit. “Harrier Jump Jet” refers to all vessels in the Harrier family, the first example appearing in 1969, with several modern versions featuring complete redesigns. The Jump Jet is used by the military in both the United States and Great Britain.
The Moller Skycar, a flywheel prototype whose builders say will be the first affordable skycar for the masses, uses VTOL. However, as of this writing, it has yet to be flown horizontally with people. Reservations for Moller Skycars are available for a cost of $500,000 USD.
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