vagabond

Excerpted from Reuters:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A radically redesigned passenger jet could alleviate a major complaint of people who live near major airports — the deafening sound of planes taking off and landing.

A team of 40 researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University spent three years working on the wide, streamlined jet, which they plan to unveil in London on Monday.

The “silent jet,” which from outside an airport would sound about as noisy as a washing machine or other household appliance, would carry 215 passengers and could be in the air by 2030.

Reducing noise in recent years has been a focus of makers of planes, such as Boeing Co. and Airbus, and jet engines, including General Electric Co. United Technologies Corp. and Rolls-Royce Plc.

While their efforts have mainly involved tweaks to existing technologies, the MIT-Cambridge team set out to redesign the plane from the ground up, with a focus on quiet.

Instead of the tube-and-wing model common today, the Silent Jet is a flying wing, evoking current “stealth” military aircraft. It lacks the central vertical stabilizer common at the tail of current passenger jets, instead using a pair of stabilizers at the wingtips.

The proposed plane has a 222-foot (68-meter) wingspan and is 144 feet (44 meters) long from nose to tail, comparable in size to a Boeing 767.

The design allows the plane to remain in the air at slower speeds, which would allow it to cruise in for a landing more quietly. The plane does not use wing flaps, which are common on today’s passenger jets and create much of the landing noise.

ToiletDuck

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...ts/4158802.stm

Pic.... Took 40 people to draw that? Not to mention 26yrs to build it.... I mean damn the SR71 came out in what? 18months?

Slice

It would probably be cheaper to relocate the whiners who moved near the airport that was already there. Ever see the homes on final to HPN? Amazing...

ryane946

This is a dumb design. In engineering, there are always tradeoffs. We can build a Mach 6 passenger jet. The tradeoff?? Cost and fuel burn. Likewise, we can build an airplane that consumes less gas than a small car. The tradeoff?? It would be very slow. We can build a lot. What you have to realize is that engineering is all about OPTIMIZING.

Sure, we can build an incredibly quiet airliner. But the tradeoff's will outweigh the benefits. Why would you ever design an aircraft WITH NO FLAPS?!? That is stupid. You are trading a little decrease in noise for a HUGE decrease in safety, TO/Landing distance, etc...

Flying wings will be the airliners of the future. Ever since Jack Northrop envisioned his YB-49 in the late 1940's, the flying wing concept has had a place in aviation. There are many problems with a flying wing. Stability is a huge one. Glen Edwards (The guy who Edwards AFB is named after), learned this the hard way. Stalling/spinning the aircraft was downright dangerous. Infact, it took about 50 years and tons of modern computing power before this concept could be practically used. The only flying wing flying today costs about $2.1 billion dollars per aircraft. It is the B-2. We need to do a lot of research and development to make a flying wing cost feasable.

I guess these MIT researchers have never heard of the word optimize.

ToiletDuck

Well I doubt the civilian version will need to dodge radar, mid-air refuel, or drope a nuke. So some of those cost could probably come down a little.

FlyerJosh

Uhhh... yeah. Right up until the airlines put the seats at a 32" pitch and there's 33 of them to a row. It's bad enough now sitting in the middle of a row of 3 seats. Can you imagine the panic attacks that some people would have if they couldn't even see the windows?

Sorry bub... that "cinema" that folks are so used to doesn't travel at 500 knots and bounce around in turbulence.

Also, last time I checked, wing flaps, and fuselage design wasn't the big factor in aircraft noise... It was the 150 dB engines that are mounted on the plane. Looks like this aircraft has 4 of them... how does that help things?

FlyerJosh

Oh. And one other thing... it's not the worlds first completely silent aircraft... those have been around for a long time:

vagabond

For the geeks and nerds and owners of pocket protectors, I am sure this airplane has a lot of design deficiencies. All I care about is whether it has adequate space for those of us who would like to join the Mile High Club.

favila008

I agree, this aircraft does not look people friendly. Imagine crosing a line of 30people to go to the restroom.

Phantom Works is the advanced research and development unit at Boeing and the catalyst of innovation for the Boeing enterprise. By the looks of it they are also working on what they call "Blended Wing Body Concept". They are really concentrating on the low speed takeoff's and landings. Imagine taking off with one of those things at the speed a cessna take's off, kinda scary . I guess it's the future, at least we will be the pilots and we wont have to ride in this futuristic cinema.

An interesting question would be how fast could they seat 250 people in this thing, and were would they all put their carry on luggage?

I guess it's going to feel like that sucky ride "star wars" in disneyland, CA. There's going to be allot of pucking, especially when the wing hits turbulence.

On the other hand, I would actually like to pilot this things. It looks interesting.

Here's the link for the Boeing Project: http://www.boeing.com/phantom/news/2...61027b_nr.html

favila008

"Yes, the Mile High Club is currently working on intalling special facilities on these blended wing design aircrafts to accomodate members of the "MHC"."

"The Mile High Club cares about its members, and will always strive to fulfill their needs"

I read this on the Mile High Weekly, I guess there will be adequate space for you. Hope it help's.