Sky Whale

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2538651/The-future-air-travel-Three-storey-Sky-Whale-fits-755-passengers-virtual-reality-windows-self-healing-wings.html

Puckers my behind a little bit to think about flying in a plane that is designed to separate from its wings.  They talk about doing that for safety reasons in the event of a crash, but I'd rather see perhaps selective ejection of the fuel tanks, rather than a link between the fuselage and wings that is deliberately designed to fail or be separated by exploding bolts.

[Hawkmoon]

Typical of what you get when a "designer" starts drawing pretty pictures of something about which he knows nothing.

I don't think tilting the engines 45 degrees would in any way allow for short-runway landings or for VTOL. And I don't think those wings could possibly generate enough lift for what that thing would have to weigh. I also don't think three engines (based on engines available today) could generate enough thrust.

[Jamisjockey]

In a crash, wings tend to dig in and cause the fuselage to roll.  No bueno.

[Hawkmoon]

In a crash, wings tend to dig in and cause the fuselage to roll.  No bueno.

So you think withOUT wings it wouldn't roll?

Don't ... think ... so.

[Jamisjockey]

So you think withOUT wings it wouldn't roll?

Don't ... think ... so.

I think the idea is that they break off when they dig in.

[Tallpine]

modern-day version of the Titanic

Now there's a prophetic vision 

I think this guy is an artist and not an engineer.

Boeing has some designs on the board for a/c with integrated wings/fuselage, supposed to be more efficient because the fuselage is part of the lift.

But I think the reason that they haven't actually built something like that is that an a/c with a non-tubular fuselage would be problematic at current airport gates.  Not to mention that a cylinder with wings is probably cheaper to build.  AFAIK, nobody has even build a tapered fuselage since the Constellation.

[AZRedhawk44]

Imagine how long it would take to disembark 750 passengers from 3 stories of aircraft.  Ugh.  You'd need multiple jetways per plane.

[RevDisk]

Eh, wing thing isn't a big deal. I've worked with rotorcraft that had explosive bolts to remove stuff they wanted gone during a crash.  No biggie.

That said...  Near zero chance of it going into production. There's thousands of nifty aircraft that only fly on paper. Real world, there's a reason why all aircraft tend to look similar and usually boring.

[TommyGunn]

This reminds me of a plane featured on an old TV series I enjoyed as a kid; "Thunderbirds."  It was a huge plane with multiple levels of cabins -- the wings were big enough alos to be occupied, and the cockpit was on top of the "T" type tail secion.  It was hypersonic and ejected the fuel tanks in emergencies, plus, even better, it was plagued with problems giving Gerry Anderson's International Rescue guys plenty of opportunities to rescue it.

It was called the "Sky Flash,"  IIRC, which is a lot nicer sounding name than "Sky Whale," which makes me think of harpoons....for some reason....

[Jamisjockey]

Imagine how long it would take to disembark 750 passengers from 3 stories of aircraft.  Ugh.  You'd need multiple jetways per plane.

They already do that.

[AJ Dual]

NASA/Boeing have the big delta lifting body/blended wing airliner designs that are actually aerodynamically worthy, scale models have flown. But even then such designs are problematic. The main reason all airliners are tube-n-wings is that maintaining cabin pressure in anything other than shapes as close as possible to tubes or spheres is structurally difficult, and requires lots of extra webs, struts, braces etc. and all sorts of extra stress risers and shear points for cycling fatigue to set in.

Composites might free us from this, but so far only a little. The A380 has a more ovoid cross-section etc.

[BobR]

The craft matches advances in technology with a huge capacity of 755 passengers, making it economically viable for an airline.

Already lagging behind in capacity, and still on the drawing dream board. The A380 is certified for 853 people sardines in a single class configuration. Not that anyone is doing that......yet.


bob

[geronimotwo]

don't most airlines wanted smaller more efficient planes?  it's interesting in that it pretty much looks like a shark.  going with a time tested design!

[Tallpine]

don't most airlines wanted smaller more efficient planes?  it's interesting in that it pretty much looks like a shark.  going with a time tested design!

At least it might be better to try making a smaller version first .... 


Seems like there would be a market for an efficient VTOL aircraft that could carry 50-100 victims passengers 

[RoadKingLarry]

Already lagging behind in capacity, and still on the drawing dream board. The A380 is certified for 853 people sardines in a single class configuration. Not that anyone is doing that......yet.


bob

You could get pretty much most of the legislative and executive branch on such a plane.

[Gowen]

You could get pretty much most of the legislative and executive branch on such a plane.

modern-day version of the Titanic

One can only hope. 

[Sergeant Bob]

NASA/Boeing have the big delta lifting body/blended wing airliner designs that are actually aerodynamically worthy, scale models have flown. But even then such designs are problematic. The main reason all airliners are tube-n-wings is that maintaining cabin pressure in anything other than shapes as close as possible to tubes or spheres is structurally difficult, and requires lots of extra webs, struts, braces etc. and all sorts of extra stress risers and shear points for cycling fatigue to set in.

Composites might free us from this, but so far only a little. The A380 has a more ovoid cross-section etc.

This right here.

Puckers my behind a little bit to think about flying in a plane that is designed to separate from its wings.  They talk about doing that for safety reasons in the event of a crash, but I'd rather see perhaps selective ejection of the fuel tanks, rather than a link between the fuselage and wings that is deliberately designed to fail or be separated by exploding bolts.

That would most likely (IMHO) involve substantially increasing the weight of the acft, since the fuel tanks are generally a stressed structural member .

[vaskidmark]

Where the [expletive] are you going to find that many people at one time that want to go from Point A to Point B?  Especially when seated in Economy Class?

Back in the days of the great ocean liners they did not turn around within hours of docking.  I recall a few times when the QEII had been in port the whole time my dysfunctional family had touched base by rail in four European non-contiguous countries and then returned to Le Havre.  Plenty of time to accumulate enough bodies to fill up the berths.  It was also part of the grand adventure to travel from Point A to the embarkation port and play tourist for a day or more before finding out if you were suceptable to seasickness.  ("Skid, be a dear and take this weak tea and toast to Mrs. X's 13-year old) daughter.  And stay there and read to her for a while."  I was 14.  She apparently never upchucked her hormones.)

stay safe.

[BobR]

Where the [expletive] are you going to find that many people at one time that want to go from Point A to Point B?  Especially when seated in Economy Class?

The annual migration to Mecca comes to mind. 


bob

[Hutch]

Where the [expletive] are you going to find that many people at one time that want to go from Point A to Point B?  Especially when seated in Economy Class?

Asia.  Little folks, and looooots of 'em.

[230RN]

Flew around the country quite a bit in airliners at one point. Had a few hairies.

Also flew around  locally in small private planes from time to time.

Rather fly in the small planes, where when the plane bounced around and dropped and did other funny things, you could glance at the pilot's knuckles to verify that all was well after all.

Much more comforting.

You could never assess the knuckle-state of the commercial pilots while the stewardi voiced soothing blandishments over the PA system.

[Fly320s]

You could never assess the knuckle-state of the commercial pilots while the stewardi voiced soothing blandishments over the PA system.

We are asleep.

[Tallpine]

I don't even like trains, where you can't see what's in front of you.

[KD5NRH]

We are asleep.

I thought you were a pilot, not an engineer.

[Fly320s]

I thought you were a pilot, not an engineer.

Close enough.