Powered lift

A powered lift aircraft takes off and lands vertically under engine power but uses a fixed wing for horizontal flight. Like helicopters, these aircraft do not need a long runway to take off and land, but they have a speed and performance similar to standard fixed-wing aircraft in combat or other situations.

Some powered-lift aircraft, like the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey used by the United States Marines, use a tiltrotor or tiltwing. These are called a convertiplane. Others like the British Harrier jump jet use thrust vectoring or other direct thrust techniques.

The first powered-lift ratings on a civilian pilot certificate were issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 21 August 1997 to pilots of Bell Helicopter, Boeing, and the United States Marine Corps.^[1] In 2024 FAA established a special class of powered-lift aircraft to certificate them under § 21.17(b) of FAR Part 21 to address certain unique features without applying special conditions or exemptions. The final rule allows for flight training in single control eVTOL aircraft and for issue by the FAA certain deviations in cases of future technological advancements.^[2]