This is pretty cool:
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6120132.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6113418.stm
I have to wonder... there's no tail (and therefore no rudder) and no flaps, so are the exhaust ports going to be able to provide enough stability in tighter maneuvers, or in turbulent conditions. Are they gonna be able to get this thing out of a tailspin?
quiet aircraft design
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Alynna Lis Eachann
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quiet aircraft design
"We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard... and too damn cheap." - Kurt Vonnegut
"Now if you remember all great paintings have an element of tragedy to them. Uh, for instance if you remember from last week, the unicorn was stuck on the aircraft carrier and couldn't get off. That was very sad. " - Kids in the Hall
"Now if you remember all great paintings have an element of tragedy to them. Uh, for instance if you remember from last week, the unicorn was stuck on the aircraft carrier and couldn't get off. That was very sad. " - Kids in the Hall
Improvements in airframe design have been heralded as the best way to increase fuel efficiency and reduce noise for a few years now and this seems like a well thought out design to me. Vectored thrust should be well capable of providing pilots with a 'virtual rudder' and might give them more control options than they have currently.
The unconventional control surfaces put me in mind of other 'flying wing' planes, like the B2 bomber, which are aerodynamically unstable. It sounds bad, but it just means that the plane requires a constant stream of tiny adjustments to keep it stable in the air, way too many for a human pilot, so such planes are completely dependent on their computer systems. These days it shouldn't be an issue; flight computers are always improving and they build planes with multiple redundancy up the wazoo anyway. I'm sure there are still some air passengers who won't be comfortable if the pilot can't lad the plane in the even of a computer failure.
The unconventional control surfaces put me in mind of other 'flying wing' planes, like the B2 bomber, which are aerodynamically unstable. It sounds bad, but it just means that the plane requires a constant stream of tiny adjustments to keep it stable in the air, way too many for a human pilot, so such planes are completely dependent on their computer systems. These days it shouldn't be an issue; flight computers are always improving and they build planes with multiple redundancy up the wazoo anyway. I'm sure there are still some air passengers who won't be comfortable if the pilot can't lad the plane in the even of a computer failure.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
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A. Because proper tea is theft.
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