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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...

EDWARDS AFB - Flight testing of an unusual aircraft shape that is intended to provide a more efficient means of cargo transport resumed last month at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The X-48B is a prototype scale model of a blended wing body aircraft - described as a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing - believed to offer greater fuel efficiency by providing more lift and better aerodynamics. The aircraft is shaped as an elongated triangle, with a smooth line from the fuselage extending out into the wings. The program is a joint effort of The Boeing...

Boeing is working with two potential customers to define a commercial freighter variant of its blended wing body large transport aircraft as it prepares to fly a subscale model of the flying-wing design at NASA Dryden in California. “We have been working with a couple of customers,” says George Muellner, president, advanced systems, for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. “We have a customer, we have finalised what they want, and it is now an issue of customer funding and our desire to invest.” Boeing has been working on the BWB concept for years, but the design is still at an early...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDWARDS AFB - NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is preparing to flight test a prototype blended wing body aircraft as part of a joint program with the Air Force Research Laboratory and The Boeing Co. This unusually-shaped aircraft design - described as a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing - is believed to offer greater fuel efficiency by providing more lift and better aerodynamics. The aircraft is shaped as an elongated triangle, with a smooth line from the fuselage extending out into the wings. The Air Force is interested in the technology, should it prove viable,...