The civil aeronautics industry, beset by concerns about noise, emissions, safety and security, air traffic control delays and inefficiencies, and high fuel prices, cannot survive in its current form. But new technologies could reinvent human flight from the ground up.
HAMPTON, VIRGINIA -- Civil aeronautics is in the midst of becoming a “mature” industry, with all the drawbacks that this entails. For decades, technological advances have been essentially incremental, and the industry remains largely based on long-haul transport aircraft, with an emerging small jet component and a legacy of general aviation markets and products. But it has become increasingly clear that the industry cannot survive in this form.
The problems bedeviling the industry include pollution from emissions, increasing competition (particularly from communications technology, which has made business travel less necessary), air traffic control delays and inefficiencies, expanding noise restrictions, safety and security concerns, and an overall business environment highly dependent on fuel prices. Solutions for all of these problems will probably require a complete reinvention of airplane technology.
The greatest hope is to be found in the ongoing information, Bio-, Nano-, Energetics, and Quantum technology revolutions. The IT revolution and associated “swarm” technologies enable the foremost solution: a “digital airspace” that is wholly automatic in terms of air traffic control, navigation, and vehicle operations. Automatic aircraft operation is already becoming commonplace – especially in the military – but further increases will require a similarly automatic airspace.
A digital airspace would in turn enable a complete revolution in personal mobility. Together with new technologies enabling Super-Short Takeoff and Landing (superSTOL) a digital airspace would put safe, quiet, affordable, street-in-front-of-your-house personal air vehicles within sight. So-called flying HumVee’s (high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles) would create a superb transportation system for areas lacking intercity roads, and eventually would supplement – or perhaps supplant – automobiles.
The variety of machines currently under study is accessible at
www.roadabletimes.com
. The estimated worldwide market for such vehicles is in the range of $1 trillion, and their use would erode the scheduled domestic airline customer base by enabling 300 kilometer “commutes” and providing huge cost avoidance for roads and bridges.
Nevertheless, even given eventual development of an affordable, safe, fly/drive, airport-independent personal transportation system, there would still be a need to re-invent long-haul transport, especially for transoceanic flights. The current machines of this genre are direct descendants of the Boeing 707, and, after many decades of evolutionary improvement, this design approach simply lacks the scope to address the many problems that must be solved.
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There are several alternatives, such as the blended wing body and strut/truss braced wings, which offer major potential increases in lift-to-drag ratio and improvements in structural weight fraction. Such improvements in these parameters would provide design margins to address most of the current problems, with the exception of emissions.
The issue of water emissions can be addressed by designs that enable long-haul aircraft to cruise below 9,000 meters. Such designs could be enabled by using circulation control for high lift and employed at cruising altitude for ride quality. The resulting STOL (short takeoff and landing) performance could also improve airport productivity.
On the other hand, emissions of carbon dioxide can be reduced simply by using biofuels, made from plants whose carbon dioxide “price” was paid via uptake of the very same gas from the atmosphere during their growth. Reductions of other greenhouse gases, such as nitric oxide, are attainable through clever combustor design.
Given the number and severity of problems currently plaguing civil aeronautics, the conventional approach of evolutionary changes to current paradigms is no longer sufficient. Instead, the industry must re-invent itself. With the advent of a digital airspace, and with appropriate research support, success would be both possible and likely.
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No matter how committed Donald Trump and his oligarch cronies are to a tax cut, the laws of arithmetic cannot be repealed. If only a handful of Republican lawmakers keep their promise not to increase the US budget deficit, there is no way that the incoming administration can enact its economic agenda and keep the government running.
points out that no amount of bluster or strong-arming can overcome the laws of arithmetic.
The US president-elect's signature policies will do almost nothing positive for less educated Americans or significantly improve the lives of most others. The rich will get richer, the richest will get a lot richer, and everyone else will contend with higher inflation, cuts to public services, and the effects of runaway deregulation.
explains why reality is unlikely to come close to matching the US president-elect's rhetoric.
HAMPTON, VIRGINIA -- Civil aeronautics is in the midst of becoming a “mature” industry, with all the drawbacks that this entails. For decades, technological advances have been essentially incremental, and the industry remains largely based on long-haul transport aircraft, with an emerging small jet component and a legacy of general aviation markets and products. But it has become increasingly clear that the industry cannot survive in this form.
The problems bedeviling the industry include pollution from emissions, increasing competition (particularly from communications technology, which has made business travel less necessary), air traffic control delays and inefficiencies, expanding noise restrictions, safety and security concerns, and an overall business environment highly dependent on fuel prices. Solutions for all of these problems will probably require a complete reinvention of airplane technology.
The greatest hope is to be found in the ongoing information, Bio-, Nano-, Energetics, and Quantum technology revolutions. The IT revolution and associated “swarm” technologies enable the foremost solution: a “digital airspace” that is wholly automatic in terms of air traffic control, navigation, and vehicle operations. Automatic aircraft operation is already becoming commonplace – especially in the military – but further increases will require a similarly automatic airspace.
A digital airspace would in turn enable a complete revolution in personal mobility. Together with new technologies enabling Super-Short Takeoff and Landing (superSTOL) a digital airspace would put safe, quiet, affordable, street-in-front-of-your-house personal air vehicles within sight. So-called flying HumVee’s (high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles) would create a superb transportation system for areas lacking intercity roads, and eventually would supplement – or perhaps supplant – automobiles.
The variety of machines currently under study is accessible at www.roadabletimes.com . The estimated worldwide market for such vehicles is in the range of $1 trillion, and their use would erode the scheduled domestic airline customer base by enabling 300 kilometer “commutes” and providing huge cost avoidance for roads and bridges.
Nevertheless, even given eventual development of an affordable, safe, fly/drive, airport-independent personal transportation system, there would still be a need to re-invent long-haul transport, especially for transoceanic flights. The current machines of this genre are direct descendants of the Boeing 707, and, after many decades of evolutionary improvement, this design approach simply lacks the scope to address the many problems that must be solved.
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At a time when democracy is under threat, there is an urgent need for incisive, informed analysis of the issues and questions driving the news – just what PS has always provided. Subscribe now and save $50 on a new subscription.
Subscribe Now
There are several alternatives, such as the blended wing body and strut/truss braced wings, which offer major potential increases in lift-to-drag ratio and improvements in structural weight fraction. Such improvements in these parameters would provide design margins to address most of the current problems, with the exception of emissions.
The issue of water emissions can be addressed by designs that enable long-haul aircraft to cruise below 9,000 meters. Such designs could be enabled by using circulation control for high lift and employed at cruising altitude for ride quality. The resulting STOL (short takeoff and landing) performance could also improve airport productivity.
On the other hand, emissions of carbon dioxide can be reduced simply by using biofuels, made from plants whose carbon dioxide “price” was paid via uptake of the very same gas from the atmosphere during their growth. Reductions of other greenhouse gases, such as nitric oxide, are attainable through clever combustor design.
Given the number and severity of problems currently plaguing civil aeronautics, the conventional approach of evolutionary changes to current paradigms is no longer sufficient. Instead, the industry must re-invent itself. With the advent of a digital airspace, and with appropriate research support, success would be both possible and likely.