View Full Version : Better hone up your formation flying
green granite
25th Oct 2011, 07:15
From todays Torygraph:
Jets 'should copy birds to save energy'
Passenger jets should fly in V-shaped formations like flocks of birds to save power by taking advantage of the airflow generated by the plane in front. , experts have suggested.
Full article: Jets 'should copy birds to save energy' - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8846224/Jets-should-copy-birds-to-save-energy.html)
dixi188
25th Oct 2011, 07:59
The only thing that might happen is the Blended Wing. The rest are just "Pie in the Sky". They are just not going to be commercially viable.
How do you schedule enough flights on the same route for formation flying?
I suppose the Atlantic could work and I'm sure the automatics can be developed to do it, but there would be wake turbulence to think about.
However if it keeps British jobs in the research game there must be some good in these ideas.
Thinks! Where do I get funding to research "Flying Pies"???
Just my thoughts!
Lone_Ranger
25th Oct 2011, 08:00
Straight out of Viz's Top Tips that one..........
Thanks for sharing, brightened my morning right up :)
UK019
25th Oct 2011, 08:39
The article also refers to:
The ''aircraft carrier'' system in which a large aircraft carries individual units that can be released over a destination and float down to the designated area where the passenger needs to go
While they’re at it, perhaps they’d design one that will float straight to Guantanamo Bay carrying the guy who, this summer, couldn’t wait for the forward toilet to be vacant so he peed straight onto the galley floor :mad:, and the oafs who managed to break my cabin crew’s fingers when she tried to intervene to stop them fighting . Come to think of it, the whole toilet could be detached and sent to Alcatraz as soon as someone smokes in it ……
Tourist
25th Oct 2011, 08:57
dixi188
"I'm sure the automatics can be developed to do it, but there would be wake turbulence to think about"
.........yes, we had better make sure that the vortices coming off the wings of the aircraft in front don't interfere with our attempt to use the vortices coming off the wings of the aircraft in front........erm...doh!
:rolleyes:
Been done before!
http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp121/Tourist_photos/CUL1.jpg
FE Hoppy
25th Oct 2011, 12:00
This story comes around about every 15 years like flared trousers. Neither stay around very long.