Yeah.....I feel safe already!
Posted on 10/19/2020 2:35:23 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Man has long tried to imitate birds in building all types of aircraft, to varying degrees of success. A new concept aircraft from Airbus, now in its second stage of testing, is taking biomimicry to a whole new level.
... AlbatrossONE, the scale model concept from Airbus, which comes with longer wings that can bend at the tip, thus allowing for more efficient flight. More efficient flight means less fuel consumption, which, in turn, means less emissions and, of course, optimized costs.
The aircraft has semi-aeroelastic hinged wing-tips, so they flap freely, alleviating wing loads and avoiding tip stalling. The flapping tips don’t transfer bending loads to the main wing and allow the aircraft to surf through gusts of wind.
“This requires less material, such as carbon-fiber reinforced polymers, to make the wing strong enough to withstand gust loads,”
(Excerpt) Read more at autoevolution.com ...
Not falling through your roof...yet.
A scale model.
The price of the toys is all that seperates the men from the boys.
And this bunch are having a good time... funded with Euro tax $$$
Yeah.....I feel safe already!
Albatross or goonie bird?
I think this is pretty cool. Such innovation will allow more efficient flights further driving down costs and the concept has long been shown to minimize turbulence.
Good on them. It’s not like Boeing is not also studying this and can implement it when the concept is proven correct.
I agree. It’s another control surface so why not use it. Just put the right computer and the right algorithm in charge and you’re in business.
I wish them luck and hope they succeed.
I’m not interested in riding in a plane that has to fly upside down.
This will have issues when scales up. The hinges will have incredible stress and the momentum on the wingtip from hard changes in pressure from gusts. Will probably need to be mechanically controlled to protect the wing, unlike what is seen in the model.
As a 747 Captain I can say with confidence that it’s just stupid. Sorry.
Do the passengers have to ride upside-down?
Hahahahahahahaha! Blast from the past!
“Albatross!”
Yesterday I stumbled upon a very interesting YouTube channel
called “Wintour Pilot” (made by a commercial airline pilot) that covers this and numerous other technical things about commercial aircraft from an airline industry perspective.
His latest explains why much of what the public thinks they know about winglets is wrong, exactly what the technical problem is, and some of the potential solutions. Many aspects to this would not be readily apparent to people outside the airline industry.
If interested, take a look:
I think this is pretty cool.
YES!
And if an industry is not advancing, they are mostly roadkill.
“why most commercial jets have “winglets” of various designs on their wing tips.”
The ‘winglets’ have a fun history all of their own.
IIC it was written up in the WSJ some years back?
Looking around , Wiki has an interesting article on winglets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_device
And this:
Active wingtip device
Tamarack Aerospace’s active wingtip device
Tamarack Aerospace Group, a company founded in 2010 by aerospace structural engineer Nicholas Guida, has patented an Active Technology Load Alleviation System (ATLAS), a modified version of a wingtip device.[36] The system uses Tamarack Active Camber Surfaces (TACS) to aerodynamically “switch off” the effects of the wingtip device when the aircraft is experiencing high-g events such as large gusts or severe pull-ups. TACS are movable panels, similar to flaps or ailerons, on the trailing edge of the wing extension.[36][37] The system is controlled by the aircraft’s electrical system and a high-speed servo which is activated when the aircraft senses an oncoming stress event, essentially simulating an actuating wingtip. However, the wingtip itself is fixed and the TACS are the only moving part of the wingtip system. Tamarack first introduced ATLAS for the Cessna Citation family aircraft,[36][37] and it has been certified for use by the Federal Aviation Administration and European Union Aviation Safety Agency.[38][39]
Ask Joe.He knows all about scientific stuff.
Hmmmm - longer wings with some flex...now they’re going back to the B-52 drawing board.
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