In aircraft applications, the operating acceleration of an unshrouded ballista is bound back tip speeds access the complete barrier at lower speeds than an agnate ducted fan. The best accepted ducted fan adjustment acclimated in full-sized aircraft is a turbofan engine, area the ability to about-face the fan is provided by a gas turbine. Turbofan engines are acclimated on about all airliners, fighters, and bombers. However, a ducted fan may be powered by any antecedent of shaft ability such as a reciprocating engine, Wankel engine, or electric motor. A affectionate of ducted fan, accepted as a fantail or by the brand name Fenestron, is additionally acclimated to alter appendage rotors on helicopters. Ducted admirers usually accept an odd cardinal of blades to anticipate resonance in the duct.
Ducted admirers are advantaged in VTOL aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, and added low-speed designs such as hovercraft for their college thrust-to-weight ratio.
Among archetypal aircraft hobbyists, the ducted fan is accepted with builders of high-performance radio controlled archetypal aircraft. Internal-combustion afterglow engines accumulated with ducted-fan units were the aboriginal accessible agency of clay a scaled-size jet aircraft. Despite the addition of model-scale turbojet engines, electric-powered ducted admirers abide accepted on smaller, lower-cost archetypal aircraft. Some electric-powered ducted fan airplanes can ability speeds of over 200 afar per hour
