> Correct, but that is just the workaround to achieve more immediate thrust variability from a combustion engine Well no, it's not just a work-around to the th

> Correct, but that is just the workaround to achieve more immediate thrust variability from a combustion engine Well no, it's not just a work-around to the thrust response of combustion engines. Cyclic control is also how traditional rotorcraft control their pitch and roll. It actually works quite well, helicopters are a huge success and the main reason why tiltrotors aren't more popular is because helicopters are generally good enough; nobody really needs the extra endurance of a tiltrotor enough to make the extra complexity worth it. In most cases when you need more range, a fixed wing aircraft is better. The intersection of "needs to be VTOL" and "needs better range than a helicopter" seems to be "military". Anyway, saying that Helicopters are "technically" VTOLs is silly; they are VTOLs in every sense of the term. If you think they aren't in some way VTOLs then you're operating with some pet definition of VTOL. You seem to think electric multirotors are the ideal form of VTOL and anything other than that doesn't really count... but VTOL doesn't mean that. VTOL means vertical takeoff and landing. Helicopters are VTOL, not just technically but conceptually, spiritually, and in every other sense you can conceive of. > Batteries are the only reason why we aren't seeing these things everywhere and a tiltrotor capable of VTOL and winged horizontal flight could finally make them viable. I disagree. Electric VTOLs perform much worse than electric fixed-wing airplanes, and always will. Fixed wing electric airplanes don't have the power or endurance to do much that's useful. That's the upper bound for VTOL performance, and it sucks.