Evening all,
very interesting thread.
I concur on the BWB question... because that's the planform this whole question of windowlessness relates to in my view; not tubes with wings.
If I may tell a story, many years ago, found myself in a media conference with one Randy Tinseth of Boeing.
I asked him why they hadn't made a BWB (no brainer, fuel, range etc). and he said it was all down to customer perceptions.
Yes, Bob Liebeck back in the Douglas days had done a lot of work on the BWB, but at the end of the day, passengers would get airsick in turns, and who wants to sit in a seat with no windows?
To which I say, bull****.
The reality is a BWB fuse is going to carry pax broadly in the centre section... maybe two or three traditional circular or ovoid fuse widths out from the centre line at the max?
They're not going to be out near the winglets... please.
Now, what's the max angle of bank that a large airliner will fly when manoeuvring in the TMA?
I'm not smart enough to do the sums, but really???!
Is a passenger going to get that airsick?
If that's a risk, then why not design the airways and approaches to large airports so that your ultra-heavy Boeing 818 BWB doesn't exceed a certain angle of bank?
I reckon on the surface of it, it's down to the windows issue - and the reality is, on long haul, all most people do is watch movies or sleep.
Very occasionally, they look out the window.
But the real reason is that mother Boeing doesn't want to make her whole product line obsolete in one fell swoop, by building a lovely big flying wing, that is an order of magnitude more efficient than the 787.
Maybe some engineers can offer their views here?