GD Hummingbird

Airships are too slow. Aerodynes don't have the range. Passenger scramiets iust too expensive — after all, you're just going across the country, not LEO. So what can get you there when you absolutely, positively have to be there in a few hours?

The Hummingbird can. Combining the virtues of winged speed with tilt-wing vectored thrust, the Hummingbird can land on a helipad, and take off from one with catapult assist as well. Fast, agile, comfortable ... That's the Hummingbird.

Special Equipment
Autopilot and computer navigation systems can fly the craft to any destination, as long as the destination is programmed into the computer and satellite navigation systems can be accessed. The autopilot makes all manuevers at skill Pilot (Vector Thrust) 5. Mini-computer act as the Laptop computer in Cyberpunk 2020, a wet-bar, complete environment control, cellular visiphone, satellite uplink, telefax, radio, television, document shredder, fire extinguisher, radar, thermographic sensors, radar detector, laser detector and on-board ECM systems.

Game Notes: The Hummingbird is a tilt-wing, not a tilt-engine design. It is actually a very short Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft. Landing it without a runway is a Difficult task; the airplane's size requires a minimum of a 20 meter radius to land it without harming the wing-mounted engines. The Hummingbird requires a 150 by 40 meter runway, or a catapult assist to take off. A crazed pilot could take off from a skyscraper roof, by taxiing over the edge and plummeting to gain speed! This is a Very Difficult task, and requires at least 100 meters of fall to build up speed.