Posted on 07/28/2015 2:36:31 PM PDT by the scotsman
KLM's sleek and streamlined AHEAD aircraft is one of many proposed aircrafts that could radically change the way we fly
'The plane of the future could well be a sleek and streamlined aircraft with a “blended wing” if proposals by the Delft University of Technology in Holland and Dutch carrier KLM come to fruition.
A blended wing is one that is seamlessly connected to the plane rather than attached separately to the fuselage and it’s one of a number of innovations that has been mooted as a result of the AHEAD study the two organisations collaborated on. Standing for Advanced Hybrid Engine Aircraft Development, the study saw academics, manufacturers and aviation experts consider how higher-tech aircraft could be developed and the aviation experience enhanced.
The prototype plane’s proposed silhouette would minimise drag and so reduce fuel consumption. A totally new engine design would provide better efficiency too, with a hybrid engine and other complicated technological amendments further finessing performance.
More precise details can be found in KLM’s report on the development, but the general public is unlikely to see the results of this study in reality until about 2050. Though a long way off, it is the latest ambitious proposal for a radically different type of commercial aircraft.'
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Winglets and directional thrust engines, I would presume.
Oh. that is sexy!
How does one land in a cross wind with no rudder?
We have basically been refining the last commercial plane design of the 747 for 45 years, since it went into service in 1970.
Except for the Concorde from 1976-2000, there have no radical advancements in commercial aircraft design.
When you look at the aviation progress from 1945 to 1970, it was a revolution of design in just 25 years.
Since then, not so much.
I look forward to the future.
It is tiresome to sit in a tube like cattle.
It killed the Starship (among other things) - having the complexity (and weight) of a variable sweep canard to get the stall speed down and landings shorter.
You crab into the wind and take out the correction in close. I don’t fly heavies, but I think that is the technique for the 737, even with a big tail.
Few windows, carries 800 people. Probably all standing up crammed together. Yup, that’s the future.
I wouldn’t say there hasn’t been any advancement, but the price structure of commercial flying isn’t going to support cutting edge aviation development. Basically we have seen a transition to two engines, winglets, and manufacturing with composites. To me the most exciting thing in a while is the shape of the 787 wing. If you study it, it looks more like a bird wing than anything I’ve seen.
Looks like the Enterprise J.
How do you correct yawl WITH NO RUDDER?
You have to have fly by wire flight controls that use a combination of the control surfaces you do have to correct for yaw.
You can use a combination of spoilers and ailerons/flappers a. The B-2 and UCAV vehicles are already doing it. It does require fly by wire to convert the pilots desired inputs into appropriate control inputs. Even with no pilot inputs, the flight control system will be constantly working to keep the aircraft flying straight.
Vincent Burnelli, was the inventor of the lifting body, winglet and a number of other important progressions was he not?
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