History in the Making

Hummingbird is designed to be the most maneuverable piloted aircraft ever built by human hands. With proper development, Hummingbird will make history:

• The first internal-combustion-engined airplane (not helicopter) capable of a sustained, fully controlled hover.

• The first aircraft of any type capable of full maneuverability in the hover. (No other aircraft—airplane, helicopter, or tiltrotor—can flip, tumble, or somersault, safely from the hover, in pitch or yaw.)

• The first aircraft of any type capable of a knife-edge (side-flight) loop.

• The first airplane capable of a sustained vertical dive without overspeeding (clearance from ground permitting).

• The first civil aircraft capable of fully controlled post-stall slow flight.

• As a demonstration of pure mobility in three dimensions, the first aircraft of any type capable of performing a “mile-square loop”—a square loop measuring over 5000 feet on a side.