Vehicle rotation and control mechanism

Abstract

A nose assembly and method for controlling the rotation and stabilizing the orientation of a vehicle during landing maneuvers. The vehicle includes a nose assembly that is coupled to an airframe thereof and that has a frame and flap assembly. The flap assembly includes an actuating means and a flap coupled to the frame such that the actuating means moves the flap from and between a fully retracted position and a fully extended position in response to a guidance signal received from a flight control computer. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the flap assembly includes a plurality of flaps each coupled to the nose assembly frame and an actuating means that selectively positions the plurality of flaps in response to a signal. The method for rotating a vehicle from a nose-forward orientation to a base-forward orientation includes the steps of orientating the vehicle in nose-forward flight, rotating the vehicle in a first direction, and selectively actuating one of a first and second flap from a retracted position toward an extended position to generate a damping moment tending to position the vehicle in a base-forward orientation.