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]