UH-1 still in production.

[Horsham558]

https://news.bellflight.com/en-US/201087-bell-begi... 1st flight back in October 1956 and they're still making them. I appreciate that the airframe and engines are several generations on but I thought it is still an impressive achievement. Quick Google suggests that only the Hercules surpasses it in terms of earlier production date and still being churned out today.

Edited by Horsham558 on Monday 19th July 23:00

[Psycho Warren]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! springs to mind.

The core basic shape and architechture works so why change it? Same with the Hercules and also the AH1Z attack helicopter that uses the same mechanicals as the good old huey.

[GliderRider]

The Americans did extremely well out of their first turbine helicopters from the early 1960s. The UH-1 (Huey/Iroquois), the OH-58 (Jet Ranger/Kiowa), the OH-6 (Hughes 500/Cayuse) and the CH-47 (Chinook) have all been built in their thousands, developed over the subsequent decades and exported worldwide.

[Teddy Lop]

Has there been any breakthroughs in aircraft design in say 50 years though? 737, 747, F15 all old beasts now but continue to compete with newer designs

A380 is impressive as is stealth tech and all sorts of reifinements and improvement in build tech but neither are what I'd call game changing in terms of aircraft.

[GliderRider]

Teddy Lop said:

Has there been any breakthroughs in aircraft design in say 50 years though? 737, 747, F15 all old beasts now but continue to compete with newer designs

A380 is impressive as is stealth tech and all sorts of refinements and improvement in build tech but neither are what I'd call game changing in terms of aircraft.

Most of the changes are not obvious to the casual viewer. For example:

• Changes to stronger lighter materials. Aluminium/lithium, metal/glass composites (GLARE), carbon fibre structures, sintered titanium for landing gear bogies, etc.

• Aerodynamic improvements - Gust alleviation, super-critical aerofoils, reduced stability - by pumping fuel to the tail it reduces the aerodynamic downforce required and therefore less drag for most of the flight.

• Computerised systems which allow smaller components with better usage of onboard resources, e.g. ELMS - Electronic Load Management Systems, and on the Boeing 777, ultrasonic fuel gauging, which is more accurate, thus allowing smaller margins when calculating reserves.

Better understanding of materials and the physical loads they will see, also allows reduced margins and thus reduced weight and greater payload.

All the fancy flying wings and other odd shapes of aircraft are likely to require substantial changes to airport infrastructure. Even the A380 may have needed stronger and wider runways, taxiways and stands. in some airports.

The next big change is likely to be a move to electric or hybrid power on shorter range aircraft and hydrogen power for long haul. These may by necessity result in a significant change of airframe shape. There is a heck of a lot of research, experimentation, design, development and testing to be done first though.

[Krikkit]

Teddy Lop said:

Has there been any breakthroughs in aircraft design in say 50 years though? 737, 747, F15 all old beasts now but continue to compete with newer designs

Incremental rather than step-changes (stealth aside of course).

e.g. the 747 - the 747-100 had a MTOW of 333.4t, range 8560km and a cruise of ~490kt. The 747-800 447.7t, range 14,320km and 504kt cruise.

So over a hundred tons of increased TOW available and 67% further range over its lifetime. Not to mention avionics and other internal changes.

[Leon R]

Teddy Lop said:

Has there been any breakthroughs in aircraft design in say 50 years though? 737, 747, F15 all old beasts now but continue to compete with newer designs

A380 is impressive as is stealth tech and all sorts of reifinements and improvement in build tech but neither are what I'd call game changing in terms of aircraft.

Stealth tech I would say was game changing.

[peter tdci]

Teddy Lop said:

Has there been any breakthroughs in aircraft design in say 50 years though? 737, 747, F15 all old beasts now but continue to compete with newer designs

A380 is impressive as is stealth tech and all sorts of reifinements and improvement in build tech but neither are what I'd call game changing in terms of aircraft.

For commercial aviation, I'd say that the current 'look' can't be developed much further.

All the recent developments seem to have been geared towards fuel efficiency: engines and composites (used in fuselages/wings = less weight).