Posted on 01/04/2020 12:35:32 AM PST by Olog-hai
Planes could soon by flying in V-shape formations like migrating birds in a bid to save fuel and emissions.
Airbus says flight technology is now mature enough to use the formation which would allow aircraft to effectively ride on the coattails of each other.
The tactic is often seen in cycling, where racers “draft” behind leaders of the racing peloton, following in their slipstream.
Within six months, two A350 planes will make a long-haul formation flight to prove the so-called “wake energy retrieval” can be accomplished, according to The Times.
Then early in 2021, an airline will pair two jets, with the second flying nearly two miles from the first, on a transatlantic passenger route.
Within five years, airlines will be encouraged to use the formation in a bid to save up to 10 percent of fuel, lowering costs, as well as lowering carbon emissions. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“Flight shame”
For crying out loud, why would anyone care what some dweebs on social media say. Flight shame, fat shame, gender shame, shame is bad, blah, blah, blah, everything but actual shame which seems to be nonexistent.
Flight 587 from JFK went down from wake turbulence, or the pilots’ handling of that turbulence. 260 people died.
I suppose this proposal suggests reaching formation at a much higher altitude, and expecting and being prepared for any turbulence.
5 miles
Not everything that is possible is a good idea.
Huh?
Okay, youse got this one plane in the middle that is saving, what? a little bit of fuel? Then you gots these four planes in front that are all using a lot of fuel because they is blasting through the friction and all dat. On tops of dat, youse got five planes flying when all you needs in one.
How does that save fuel?
Are not those cyclists starting at the same place, using the exact same route & finishing at the same finish line???
IF the lead place went down, would the rest follow it???
How stupid are these people ???
How about every business that has employees be MANDATED to ASSIGN a designated time in which employees are ALLOWED to go to the bathroom & then they go in groups—line up—and only FLUSH the toilet when the 5th person is done with their business???
No one can flush the toilet until 5 have done their duty, and that would save 4 flushes!!! Or 8 !!! In a 3 gallon toilet, it would take 2 flushes, but it would still save water!!!
Airlines like Frontier & Southwest built their entire business serving smaller markets. IF planes are ONLY allowed to fly in formation & go between largest cities, how will passengers get to their destinations? Dems/Liberals want no more fossil fuels & cars. Don’t know how many people would have to learn to ride a horse or drive a buggy to get to their real destinations.
This would leave smaller airports without customers & all those jobs would be lost.
I swear-—there isn’t a single politician who can think beyond the end of the next hour or beyond the end of their own noses.
I wouldn’t let them plan & build a lemonade stand or organize a Girl Scout cookie drive.
I thought this was satire! If it isn’t, we’re dealing with mentally disturbed people here.”””
I don’t know a single Liberal / Democrat that isn’t already severely mentally challenged.
I retired for the FAA but not as a controller. Probably used to know that.
aerodynamics
Drafting or slipstreaming is a technique where two vehicles or other moving objects are caused to align in a close group reducing the overall effect of drag due to exploiting the lead object's slipstream.Wikipedia
Even if there is an 'explanation' it's still a stupid idea - for too many ways to bother listing...
Formation flying by large commercial aircraft with very little exterior vision from the cockpit? What could possibly go wrong?
Wake turbulence is a substantial problem to overcome.
Also, different aircraft with different weight loads will react differently to the same patch of atmospheric turbulence. Some more intense than others. This greatly increases the safety risk for collision. Formation flying by the military generally avoids this risk since formations consist of same type of aircraft with each having nearly same weight.
A few minutes? It’s more like 40 seconds. Sitting in a restaurant overlooking the runway having lunch as I awaited my flight, I tomed them taking off. And it was a double runway so sometimes 2 took off at the same time.
I know what you mean! You’ve probably forgotten more than most GA guys will ever know. :)
I doubt I could recite the exact number for separation from clouds.
My point.
Wonder what the plan is for getting all the pilots together to practice with their teammates? Oh, no teammates, but a new formation to join every time...sounds like a winner.
Oh, no teammates, but a new formation to join every time...sounds like a winner.
= = = = = = = = = = =
There you go, putting common sense into a scenario drawn up by the best eggheads in the business.
Few years back there was a ‘joint meeting’ on what to do evacuation wise in case of a nuclear attack.
Some ‘young brain’ had been hired to draw up the package and was paid a handsome sum for his effort.
He suggested taking all the Buses in the area and jam them as full as possible and send them off to relocate in West Virginia. He laid out an elaborate plan as to how they could all be assigned different routes and distribute the people.
Then came the ‘questions’.
How are the new towns going to handle thousands of new people?
Just how many city buses do you think we have...
After a lot of blank looks and vacant stares the end was near as he had suggested the drivers of the buses would be able to come back and pick up more passengers.
Hmmm Fight thousands of cars going the OTHER way, and what makes you think that ANY of the drivers will drive back into ‘hell’....
A ‘weak’ well that is there job sort of finished the meeting.
Flight 587.
This wins the award for dumbest idea of the week.
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