Conventional jet aircraft are all very well and good if you like that kind of thing, but they need runways to take off from and (if they are to be reused) to land on.

Doughnuts, on the other hand, are lovely but are not viable as a means of transportation.

It should be evident, therehence, that here are two technologies waiting to be merged.

The doughnutoplane consists of a single circular wing, not unlike (in fact, one could say, like) those flying ring style Frisbee-type things.

Supported in the middle of the central hole are five conventional jet engines. Their intakes (clustered in the centre) are fed from a single manifold which opens upward, so that they suck air downward before hurling it outward to wash over the circular wing.

As the engines are brought up to speed, lift is generated partly from the ferocious suction of the central jet intake, but also from the jet exhaust being directed over the circular wing. As a result, the whole structure rises majestically and, above all, vertically from the ground.

Once at a safe altitude, differential throttling allows the doughnutoplane to transition into something approximating normal flight. Landing, obviously, is the reverse procedure.

The present prototype is some 124 feet in diameter and, at lift-off, has barely twice the fuel consumption of a fully- laden 747.

It has not, obviously, been possible to include passenger or freight space in this prototype, but its VTOL capabilities are impressive, as is its ability to clear large landing areas of snow, dogs and light aircraft.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 19 2013

Cylindrical Aircraft Body
[xaviergisz, Jun 19 2013]

Jet Airship Jetairship
[theircompetitor, Jun 20 2013]

// rises majestically and, above all, vertically from the ground.

That is always reassuring in an aircraft.

//from the jet exhaust being directed over the circular wing

I'm suspecting caramelisation will be the main issue, possibly high-speed piping of the jam around could help to dissipate the heat?
-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 19 2013


We're counting on an ablative icing.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 19 2013


All of my ideas are ethanol fuelled.

However, I am in favour of dessertification.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 19 2013


//riding its own vortex ring.//

If [8th] were around, I would ask him to doff his cap to you on my behalf (I'm a non-doffer myself). I suspect that suggestion has the makings of an idea in, of, by and for itself.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 19 2013


// ethanol fuelled by any chance

A trifling matter, or more like tiramisu?

I'm suspecting the Borg has finally got the wormhole up and running and is currently in 1927 trying to patent all our great ideas. Like..errr...
-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 19 2013


Cats strapped to the outside to deter birds trying to peck the sprinkles off?
-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 19 2013


// birds// Sp.: Wing cleaners.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 19 2013



random, halfbakery