Graviman,
Your point about additional wings is well taken. I think a very wide wing is better than two skinny wings for a number of reasons. But for very slow flight and hover wings become useless of course. I figure for an ultralight, about 3lb/sq/foot wing loading best for slow flight on the wing and a powered lift rotor-prop for slower flight .
Dave,
I see you are thinking about rotorcraft basic physics. Me too.
I agree that hover is needed for just a few seconds and therefor an efficient craft would be optimised for cruise (fixed wing) rather than optimised for hover as in the case of a helicopter. Look at birds, they only flap hard for a brief hover landing to save energy. Your observation that a fixed wing can use the mass of the whole airplane for a slower glide descent rate is interesting. That's why I think a powered lift fixed wing would be safer in the hands of a sport pilot.
Stored energy..... I will think about that. I was thinking about adding another engine for powered lift simply because I thought it might be simpler.