Vertol vs Helicopter

[thrash]

Best I can tell from a description, the V-22 takes advantage of its fly-by-wire system to make it handle like a helicopter at a hover and like an airplane in forward flight. In GURPS terms, the pilot should really be qualified for both, although you might let the character get away with Pilot (Heavy Airplane) and a perk (V-22 Qualified).

Similarly for quadcopter RPVs: the aerodynamics are rotary-wing, not vertol, so that's the skill I would require. The throttle vs. collective (which usually includes an automatic throttle control) difference isn't that significant. You can fly a helicopter with just the throttle and cyclic, though it's a pain in the ass and only used for certain emergencies (stuck right pedal).

Real vertols (AV-8 Harrier, for instance) are very different animals with their own aerodynamics and quirks. From what I understand, flying one in hover mode is more like piloting the Apollo Lunar Module than a helicopter. Just one example to illustrate: helicopters hang from their rotor systems; vertols stand on top of their thrust.

At some point, higher technology and fly-by-wire will flatten out a lot of the differences. I always imagine that spacecraft, etc., capable of hovering handle like helicopters (cyclic, collective, and pedals), but only because that's what I know. There was a station in the SIMNET combined flight simulator at Fort Rucker in the late 1990s that was primarily intended for observers (i.e., it didn't simulate a real aircraft). The "flight" control was a ball on a fixed stick: twist for roll, pitch, and yaw; push for lateral movement.

Edit to add: The FAA has an airplane category for pilot licensing called "powered lift":

Originally Posted by 14 CFR 1.1

Powered-lift means a heavier-than-air aircraft capable of vertical takeoff, vertical landing, and low speed flight that depends principally on engine-driven lift devices or engine thrust for lift during these flight regimes and on nonrotating airfoil(s) for lift during horizontal flight.

So there's some justification in creating a new category and using it for Harriers as well (but not Cyberpunk's AV-4, which doesn't have wings).