Clean engines, wings that fold: Boeing dreams of futuristic jets
When Boeing names an airplane design after a Muppet, it must be pretty different.
Two small teams at the company are re-imagining the airplane in futuristic configurations that sprout wings, tails and engines in unexpected shapes and places.
The research, illustrated in internal documents obtained by The Seattle Times, aims in two directions: low-cost airplanes, and environmental-friendly planes that will be quieter, use much less fuel and leave fewer pollutants in the upper atmosphere.
In the latter category is the "Kermit Kruiser," a low-noise concept airplane with main wings radically swept forward rather than back, and miniature wings on the front.
Then there's the "Fozzie." It has a "Pi-tail" — two vertical tails joined by a piece across the top, and sips fuel because it flies slower using open-rotor jet engines that resemble old-style propellers.
The concepts are "intended to help us focus technology on a future out beyond the horizon," said Dan Mooney, Boeing vice president of product development, who directs both research teams.
The documents show Boeing has looked at other concepts as well: a supersonic business jet; a megasize freighter; airplanes that use biofuels or hydrogen; and even a "reduced crew" airliner — one with no windows in the cockpit, judging by a sketch in the Boeing documents.
But of all the potential concepts, Boeing has prioritized the "low-cost" and the "green" planes for further research this year. Both teams have begun work with engine companies on the various propulsion alternatives.
Mooney gave a glimpse of some of these designs late last month at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Washington, D.C. But attendees didn't get copies, and these images have not been published before.
The Boeing documents include assessments of very similar research projects that its rival Airbus has sketchily mentioned at scientific conferences.
In an interview, Mooney declined to discuss proprietary details of the designs but offered insight into what his research teams are up to.
He said the latest airplanes being sold today, such as the 787, are designed to meet airlines' projected requirements for about the next two decades. Designers strike a balance among cost, fuel efficiency, capacity, range and other factors based on those projections.
His concept teams, however, think "out beyond 15 or 20 years," where fuel costs, noise or other factors may become more important and reshape what airlines want.
"We need to be developing technology today to allow us to be ready for those uncertainties in the future."
Continue reading this story from the Seattle Times:
Clean engines, wings that fold: Boeing dreams of futuristic jets
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#2927 - Brian
Boeing must be drinking some of the magic juice if they think their 787 is going to make it in an oil starved world. The airline industry is about to face the same horrible facts that American auto manufactures have been facing. Fuel efficiency is key, as are alternative fuels altogether. When they make a plane fly exclusively with biodiesel, or hydrogen (preferrably hydrogen), and then get them quickly into the market, then they'll be ahead of the game. As fuel prices rise higher and higher, they will get to a point where they will not be able to pass the cost on to consumers because people will refuse to pay it, and will not fly. That's the true crash of the airline industry. I give it 5 years, if that.