Designing and tuning a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft can take a very long time. It may even take years to design and get your VTOL aircraft set up and working with stability. Originally, this chapter was going to be based on something fun—a Battlebot design. But, when the book was announced, one thing was very clear. You (the readers) wanted to know more about VTOL. So, without the time nor budget to create a VTOL prototype aircraft (by the time we have made one work properly, it's likely a new version of Pixhawk would be released); we're going to work on the principle and theory of how someone would create a Pixhawk VTOL; not how someone did create a Pixhawk VTOL.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- The types of VTOL aircraft
- Limitations and considerations of VTOL
- Fusing a multicopter and fixed wing design
- Tuning a VTOL aircraft