Futuristic plane

[Oakey]

No thread on this?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/airbus-reve...

Is this going to be like when we all thought we'd be in flying cars by the year 2000?

[davepoth]

Pull the other one. The Boeing 747 is 40 this year. Given that the pace of plane development has slowed right down, I'd not be surprised if we were still flying in those if we're flying at all. It's most likely we'll be in a 1,000 passenger version of the A380.

[Simpo Two]

All you need is a marketing department and something to make computer graphics. Anything is possible, voila.

[Oakey]

davepoth said:

Pull the other one. The Boeing 747 is 40 this year. Given that the pace of plane development has slowed right down, I'd not be surprised if we were still flying in those if we're flying at all. It's most likely we'll be in a 1,000 passenger version of the A380.

Exactly what I mean, I can imagine 2050 and we're still flying the same planes. Although, I think this is a bit optimistic of Airbus really as we should all be dead from Climate bks by then.

[Zaxxon]

Wonder Womans glass glider

[Oakey]

Hey man, don't crush the dream, I want my glass plane. The passengers will love it when we hit some birds.

[mybrainhurts]

[Mojocvh]

davepoth said:

Pull the other one. The Boeing 747 is 40 this year. Given that the pace of plane development has slowed right down, I'd not be surprised if we were still flying in those if we're flying at all.

Amazing what you can get away with grandfather rules and a compliant regulator though isn't it.

[Oily Nails]

Why would you WANT to be in a glass roofed plane all you'd see is clouds?????

[Passenger of the future] "Ooooooh look a cloud.....and another...and another.....annnd another......"

[Passenger of the future + 8 hours] ".......and another.........and another...."


Now a glass floored plane I'd like......

[sidewayz]

Oakey said:

No thread on this?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/airbus-reve...

Is this going to be like when we all thought we'd be in flying cars by the year 2000?

Well I liked it.

The airframe structure is interesting as it's a bit like the approach favoured by Reaction Engines for the it Skylon project, and that has a glass skin as well ( sort of,it's a silicon based laminate that acts as a TPS). Reaction Engines took the idea from airship design as the truss design gives a lighter structure per enclosed volume allegedly.
The wings look similar to a Boeing study, Eric probably knows the details. The active interfaces we could do today but it would cost a fortune.

Not complete pants then, but I agree they will be parked up beside an Airbus A380 XXL in 2050

[NathanJones]

I thought we would all be using a network of these

http://current.com/technology/89042567_plans-for-a...

[Zad]

Such madness! It's not as if they make plane windscreens out of it... oh, wait...

[tank slapper]

These airliner concepts amuse me. The aircraft designers always put things like bars, pianos and putting greens, but the only thing airlines will ever do with more space is put more seats in it. I have yet to see any airliner other than a privately owned one that is anything other than a flying bus.

[Zad]

doogz said:

Know much about aircraft structures?

No?

Cool.

It could be done, but it'd rely on the strain being taken by the alloy members, and there'd have to be minimal (no) deflection or rotation, or the glass would crack. Which is bad news. Ever been on a plane in heavy turbulence and looked up the fuselage to see the whole aircraft twisting?

Now go try bend a pane of glass without breaking it.

Edited by doogz on Wednesday 15th June 17:19

Aside from the flexing of relatively thin products such as fibre optics and glass fibre composites, have you never seen a pane of glass flex under load? I suggest you watch James May's 20th Century, where he drops a Mini onto fairly ordinary skyscraper curtain wall glass. Now consider that we can already grow thin sheets of diamond. Imagine what sort of performance that might have in a laminate.

[dr_gn]

doogz said:

Zad said:

Such madness! It's not as if they make plane windscreens out of it... oh, wait...

Know much about aircraft structures?

No?

Cool.

It could be done, but it'd rely on the strain being taken by the alloy members, and there'd have to be minimal (no) deflection or rotation, or the glass would crack. Which is bad news. Ever been on a plane in heavy turbulence and looked up the fuselage to see the whole aircraft twisting?

Now go try bend a pane of glass without breaking it.

Edited by doogz on Wednesday 15th June 17:19

Where does it say it's made of 'glass' ?

[db]

doogz said:

Now go try bend a pane of glass without breaking it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHlQdfvdvUg
i wonder how much they've increased their knowledge of that in the last 4 years?

[rhinochopig]

dr_gn said:

doogz said:

Zad said:

Such madness! It's not as if they make plane windscreens out of it... oh, wait...

Know much about aircraft structures?

No?

Cool.

It could be done, but it'd rely on the strain being taken by the alloy members, and there'd have to be minimal (no) deflection or rotation, or the glass would crack. Which is bad news. Ever been on a plane in heavy turbulence and looked up the fuselage to see the whole aircraft twisting?

Now go try bend a pane of glass without breaking it.

Edited by doogz on Wednesday 15th June 17:19

Where does it say it's made of 'glass' ?

Exactly, I saw a documentary at the weekend where they made a whale tank out of clear 'aluminum '

[7mike]

Whenever I've flown long haul they come pestering you to shut the blinds so everyone will sit down, shut up and go to sleep making the cabin crew's job a little easier. Bet they'll just love this.

[tonym911]

New miracle stuff graphene could be the answer to this (and just about everything else). It's the strongest material ever tested. Nature mag says 'a hypothetical one-metre-square hammock of perfect graphene could support a four-kilogram cat. The hammock would weigh 0.77 milligrams, less than a cat's whisker, and would be virtually invisible.' I'm no engineer but graphene would seem to be more than up to the job of filling in the gaps between the 'bird bone' structure of this aircraft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online...

[rhinochopig]

tonym911 said:

New miracle stuff graphene could be the answer to this (and just about everything else). It's the strongest material ever tested. Nature mag says 'a hypothetical one-metre-square hammock of perfect graphene could support a four-kilogram cat. The hammock would weigh 0.77 milligrams, less than a cat's whisker, and would be virtually invisible.' I'm no engineer but graphene would seem to be more than up to the job of filling in the gaps between the 'bird bone' structure of this aircraft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online...

Great stuff carbon. Hurrah for Bucky balls and the like. All we need now is a space elevator and the future is here!