Extraordinary looking Synergy aircraft - fundraising via Kickstarter

[fernytickles]

It would be cool to see this fly one day.....

Synergy Aircraft Project (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/launchsynergy/synergy-aircraft-project/widget/video.html)

The Double Box Tail Configuration:
Catalyst for Efficiency

Half futuristic sailplane, half fighter jet, the roomy five-seat Synergy aircraft is the first example of an exciting new technology for fast, roomy, fuel efficient airplanes. Harmonizing six proven technologies for drag reduction at low cost, including Laminar Flow, Wake Propulsion, Open Thermodynamics, and Subsonic Area Ruling, Synergy achieves both high speed and low induced drag in a structurally robust, lightweight form.

http://synergyaircraft.com/images/imgRendering4.jpg

[Genghis the Engineer]

From their website:

Q: Have any peer review studies been conducted by credentialed scientists?

A: Not yet. Publication of technical papers is planned for after flight test demonstration. However, at least nine respected aeronautical authorities received an early look at Synergy under formal confidentiality agreement. Their opinions, while not purchased for publication, were positive.

Reactions varied initially, as most thought we had 'another box wing.' Upon walking them through the design and our technical library, all but one agreed that the premise and its execution have significant merit. No one raised any issues not already considered, and the consensus was that the work will succeed and will speak for itself.

Since our unveiling, the acclaim has been universal, even though little can be evaluated. Extreme interest has been expressed for getting the full scale prototype flying! Most engineers can't add much to the body of research we have produced to date without it.

= We didn't actually have anybody qualified in aircraft design involved in this project, but hope it'll work out fine. After all, it looks really pretty.

I am full of admiration for anybody prepared to try and design and build their own aeroplane, and hope one day to do so myself. But there are people called Aeronautical Engineers who are trained to do this stuff, and I am naturally very skeptical of any design team which doesn't have any.

G

[fernytickles]

I wonder if people said that of Dick VanGrunsven or the Klapmeiers, or Ivo Boscarol and Bojan Sajovic, to name just a few? None of them show "aerospace engineer" on their online info. Yet so far, they are all pretty successful at creating practical, useful, marketable aircraft.

What I am finding fascinating is the hubbub increasing online around the support they are looking for through Kickstarter, and how so many people are coming forward with financial help.

Hopefully it isn't just a bubble that fizzles & disappears. It would be amazing to see this in the air.

[Maoraigh1]

The video was rather off-puting. No suggestion of WHY this was better, as opposed to sexier. And the end of the video definitely pushed me towards investing in Greek Bonds instead.

[FullWings]

Looks good to me. If you unfold the wings, it becomes a high aspect ratio, large span machine. Diesel engine, pusher prop, very laminar design - all should help. He's hinting at some sort of active boundary layer control, too.

I'd wait and see what the prototype delivers before writing the whole thing off. Even if it was no better than what's on the market now, it seems to be ergonomically designed and pleasing to the eye: that should sell some airframes on its own.

As far as formal qualifications go, I don't think the guy who designed and built my glider has any at all but his latest project won the World Championships on its first outing and currently has the highest lift/drag ratio of any airframe.

[ChrisVJ]

Just personally I think it flashes a couple of red lights vs regular aircraft.
1) Because of the configuration it is essentially very close coupled indeed.
2) The unfolded length of the wing is unhelpful, the upper part has to act as tail and tails have to have negative lift of the aircraft is unstable. (But I'd be interested to see what the reverse, ie, a coupled canard, looks like.)

There was an interesting single seater sea plane shown a while ago with a similar configuration but I don't know if it got off the ground, financially or actually.

[1800ed]

They think they can develop a new, non-conventional, aircraft with $65k?

[JetNomad]

I backed them , and am happy to see that Synergy has sparked a discussion even here at PPRuNe.
Fortunately for us all, the phenomenal response to the Kickstarter campaign, and all the interest this truly innovative design has generated everywhere means the day is coming soon when we will see the prototype take to the sky. The subsequent fight testing will confirm what John has been quietly trying to help us understand all along.


As an MIT grad put it: …” This project is doing groundbreaking aerodynamic work in a garage. It's what America is all about. The science is sound and based on real designs and concepts that have been studied at places like NASA but never implemented due to the risk averse hyper conservative nature of incremental airframe design and certification barriers to entry inherent to the aviation industry. This project is worth backing. John has the goods.“


Besides, I like to think that if we can’t spent the time to delve deeper into this intriguing concept, we can all afford to donate even a token amount, to give this the benefit of the doubt and watch Synergy become airborne to speak for itself !


For those that might be interested in some sources with some additional information:
Check their website FAQ's,
or chk an interesting little piece on youtube : "This Concept Plane Gets Better Gas Mileage Than Your Car",

or Gizmag dot com see bottom under "Most Commented Articles"

[what next]

Hello!

Check their website FAQ's...I did. Still not convinced. Too old to believe in miracles. Disappointed too many times. Spent far too much time (almost 10 years, ph.d. included) studying aerospace engineering "the conventional way" to be able to "think out of the box", as garage-miracle-inventors use to call it. But I may donate 25 Euros or so just to show that I really like people who have not lost their ability to dream!

Good luck to them (test pilot included!),
max

[stickandrudderman]

I think it looks marvellous!
Many years ago I completed an apprenticeship with a prestige car manufacturer and armed with my HNC in motor vehicle engineering I walked off into the sunset believing that I knew all there was to know about cars and started my own business.
Then I realised that I had a bit more to learn.
After a few years I went and bought a race car, safe in the knowledge that I now really did know all there was to know about cars.
At the race track I met an awful lot of guys for whom cars were their hobby and had no recognised training but boy was I impressed at the level of knowledge and expertise that they had.
Finally it dawned on me that there are many, many ways to learn if one has the desire and it's not necessary to have to tread the acedemic path in order to achieve excellence.
Good luck to them. Whether it works financially or not is immaterial.They have a dream and instead of sitting at their computers telling the world why everything is bound to fail, they are getting of their arses and doing something creative.:D:D:D