Design of Future Aircraft NASA

An 18-month NASA research effort to visualize the passenger airplanes of the future has produced some ideas that at first glance may appear to be old fashioned. Instead of exotic new designs seemingly borrowed from science fiction, familiar shapes dominate the pages of advanced concept studies which four industry teams completed for NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program in April 2010.

Look more closely at these concepts for airplanes that may enter service 20 to 25 years from now and you’ll see things that are quite different from the aircraft of today. Just beneath the skin of these concepts lie breakthrough airframe and propulsion technologies designed to help the commercial aircraft of tomorrow fly significantly quieter, cleaner, and more fuel-efficiently, with more passenger comfort, and to more of America’s airports.

You may see ultramodern shape memory alloys, ceramic or fiber composites, carbon nanotube or fiber optic cabling, self-healing skin, hybrid electric engines, folding wings, double fuselages and virtual reality windows. “Standing next to the airplane, you may not be able to tell the difference, but the improvements will be revolutionary,” said Richard Wahls, project scientist for the Fundamental Aeronautics Program’s Subsonic Fixed Wing Project at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. “Technological beauty is more than skin deep.”

In October 2008, NASA asked industry and academia to imagine what the future might bring and develop advanced concepts for aircraft that can satisfy anticipated commercial air transportation needs while meeting specific energy efficiency, environmental and operational goals in 2030 and beyond. The studies were intended to identify key technology development needs to enable the envisioned advanced airframes and propulsion systems.
NASA’s goals for a 2030-era aircraft, compared with an aircraft entering service today, are:

• A 71-decibel reduction below current Federal Aviation Administration noise standards, which aim to contain objectionable noise within airport boundaries.
• A greater than 75 percent reduction on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection Sixth Meeting, or CAEP/6, standard for nitrogen oxide emissions, which aims to improve air quality around airports.
• A greater than 70 percent reduction in fuel burn performance, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of air travel.
• The ability to exploit metroplex concepts that enable optimal use of runways at multiple airports within metropolitan areas, as a means of reducing air traffic congestion and delays.

The teams were led by General Electric, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northrop Grumman and The Boeing Company. Here are some highlights from their final reports:

• The GE Aviation team conceptualizes a 20-passenger aircraft that could reduce congestion at major metropolitan hubs by using community airports for point-to-point travel. The aircraft has an oval-shaped fuselage that seats four across in full-sized seats. Other features include an aircraft shape that smoothes the flow of air over all surfaces, and electricity-generating fuel cells to power advanced electrical systems. The aircraft’s advanced turboprop engines sport low-noise propellers and further mitigate noise by providing thrust sufficient for short takeoffs and quick climbs.
• With its 180-passenger D8 “double bubble” configuration, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team strays farthest from the familiar, fusing two aircraft bodies together lengthwise and mounting three turbofan jet engines on the tail. Important components of the MIT concept are the use of composite materials for lower weight and turbofan engines with an ultra high bypass ratio (meaning air flow through the core of the engine is even smaller, while air flow through the duct surrounding the core is substantially larger, than in a conventional engine) for more efficient thrust. In a reversal of current design trends the MIT concept increases the bypass ratio by minimizing expansion of the overall diameter of the engine and shrinking the diameter of the jet exhaust instead. The team said it designed the D8 to do the same work as a Boeing 737-800. The D8’s unusual shape gives it a roomier coach cabin than the 737.
• The Northrop Grumman team foresees the greatest need for a smaller 120-passenger aircraft that is tailored for shorter runways in order to help expand capacity and reduce delays. The team describes its Silent Efficient Low Emissions Commercial Transport, or SELECT, concept as “revolutionary in its performance, if not in its appearance.” Ceramic composites, nanotechnology and shape memory alloys figure prominently in the airframe and ultra high bypass ratio propulsion system construction. The aircraft delivers on environmental and operational goals in large part by using smaller airports, with runways as short as 5,000 feet, for a wider geographic distribution of air traffic.
• The Boeing Company’s Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research, or SUGAR, team examined five concepts. The team’s preferred concept, the SUGAR Volt, is a twin-engine aircraft with hybrid propulsion technology, a tube-shaped body and a truss-braced wing mounted to the top. Compared to the typical wing used today, the SUGAR Volt wing is longer from tip to tip, shorter from leading edge to trailing edge, and has less sweep. It also may include hinges to fold the wings while parked close together at airport gates. Projected advances in battery technology enable a unique, hybrid turbo-electric propulsion system. The aircraft’s engines could use both fuel to burn in the engine’s core, and electricity to turn the turbofan when the core is powered down.

NASA did not specify future commercial air transportation needs as domestic or global. All four teams focused on aircraft sized for travel within a single continent because their business cases showed that small- and medium-sized planes will continue to account for the largest percentage of the overall fleet in the future. One team, however, did present a large hybrid wing concept for intercontinental transport.

All of the teams provided “clear paths” for future technology research and development, said Ruben Del Rosario, principal investigator for the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “Their reports will make a difference in planning our research portfolio. We will identify the common themes in these studies and use them to build a more effective strategy for the future,” Del Rosario said.

These are some of the common themes from the four reports:

• Slower cruising — at about Mach 0.7, or seven-tenths the speed of sound, which is 5 percent to 10 percent slower than today’s aircraft — and at higher altitudes, to save fuel.
• Engines that require less power on takeoff, for quieter flight.
• Shorter runways — about 5,000 feet long, on average — to increase operating capacity and efficiency.
• Smaller aircraft – in the medium-size class of a Boeing 737, with cabin accommodations for no more than 180 passengers – flying shorter and more direct routes, for cost-efficiency.
• Reliance on promised advancements in air traffic management such as the use of automated decision-making tools for merging and spacing enroute and during departure climbs and arrival descents.

The teams recommended a variety of improvements in lightweight composite structures, heat- and stress-tolerant engine materials, and aerodynamic modeling that can help bring their ideas to reality. NASA is weighing the recommendations against its objective of developing aeronautics technologies that can be applied to a broad range of aircraft and operating scenarios for the greatest public benefit.

“This input from our customers has provided us with well thought-out scenarios for our vision of the future, and it will help us place our research investment decisions squarely in the mainstream,” said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for aeronautics research at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Identifying those necessary technologies will help us establish a research roadmap to follow in bringing these innovations to life during the coming years,” Shin said.

The next step in NASA’s effort to design the aircraft of 2030 is a second phase of studies to begin developing the new technologies that will be necessary to meet the national goals related to an improved air transportation system with increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. The agency received proposals from the four teams in late April and expects to award one or two research contracts for work starting in 2011.

NASA managers also will reassess the goals for 2030 aircraft to determine whether some of the crucial technologies will need additional time to move from laboratory and field testing into operational use. The four teams managed to meet either the fuel burn or the noise goal with their concepts, not both.

A companion research effort looked at concepts for a new generation of supersonic transport aircraft capable of meeting NASA’s noise, emissions and fuel efficiency goals for 2030. NASA envisions a broader market for supersonic travel, with aircraft carrying more passengers to improve economic viability while meeting increasingly stringent environmental requirements.

Teams lead by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin evaluated market conditions, design goals and constraints, conventional and unconventional configurations, and enabling technologies to create proposed road maps for research and development activities. Both teams produced concepts for aircraft that can carry more than 100 passengers at cruise speeds of more than 1.6 Mach and a range of up to 5,000 miles.

Afriqiyah Airlines plane crashed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli

CAIRO The plane crash struck the Libyan-owned airline today. Reportedly owned airline Afriqiyah Airlines plane crashed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.As reported by the Associated Press, Wednesday (12/05/2010), the plane carrying the 104 people known when the accident occurred.

According to the local authorities, aircraft type Airbus A-330 arrived after a journey from Johannesburg, South Africa. The plane crashed while about to land.Unknown number of casualties in this accident, the details regarding this accident is still not clearly known.

volcanic eruption in Iceland on Thursday ,volcanic eruption in Iceland on Thursday

volcanic eruption in Iceland on Thursday spread out across Europe and resulted in travel chaos on a scale not seen since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US.Thousands of passengers were stranded at Mumbai’s Sahar international airport with their eyes glued totelevision screens for updates. Many were clueless about the reason behind the cancellations and were seen inquiring at other airline counters for flight options. Some passengers were provided accommodation by airlines, others asked to fend for themselves.

A hassled Ruud De Boer, 56, was furious. “I was told that my flight was cancelled after waiting for more than two hours on Thursday. The airlines did not bother to explain the reasons for the cancellation or tell us about the volcanic eruption,” lamented Ruud.

Ruud, managing director of a private firm in Netherlands, was then scheduled to fly by Delta Air Lines flight DL-239 Mumbai-Amsterdam at 8pm on Friday. But he was seen struggling to hire a prepaid taxi outside the terminal late in the evening.

“I got to know that the flight was cancelled when I reached the airport at 5pm. I don’t like the manner in which the airline has handled the issue. They gave us hotel accommodation till Friday and said we would have to stay back at our own expense,” said Ruud. He has now booked tickets for a Swiss Air flight, which plans to take a different route.

Air India passengers Bruce Gery, 25, and Rosie Hanley, 25, however, are glad that the airline provided accommodation. The two were on a two-week holiday in India and were set to return to the UK on Friday. “We left Goa at 5am by train to catch our afternoon flight to London from Mumbai.” said Rosie.

Though the AI0131 flight was cancelled, Bruce said, “We were lucky that the airline gave us hotel accommodation. We want nothing more.”There were chaotic scenes at international airports too. Airports in much of Britain, France and Germany remained closed and flights were set to be grounded in Hungary and parts of Romania as well. Airlines and travel operators were losing hundreds of millions of dollars over the grounded flights due to the ash from the eruption of volcano Eyjafjoll in Iceland. The volcanic ash poses a threat to safety because it can get sucked into jet engines and cause them to cut out. The World Health Organisation in Geneva said that the ash could also have potential health impacts if it settles.

Dutch Airlines had Start flying the aircraft

Amsterdam  One by one airline in Europe began to be done, following the cessation of bursts of volcanic ash from the mountain in Iceland, which last week led to the European aviation paralyzed. Three flights started from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam on Monday (19/4/2010) evening for Shanghai, Dubai and New York by airline KLM.”Three flights scheduled to leave tonight”, said a spokesman for the airline KLM, Saskia Kranendonk as reported by AFP on Tuesday (20/4/2010). The plane left the airport around 8:30 pm local time or 18:30 GMT.According to Saskia, is the type of aircraft flown by Boeing 747 each carrying 275 passengers, and the Airbus 330 can carry 243 passengers.

Previously, airlines in the Netherlands closed on Thursday, April 15, 2010 because of volcanic ash clouds from Iceland disrupt the flight path the country windmills.Previous Dutch Minister of Transport has also announced that the plane will be landing at Schiphol, Amsterdam on Tuesday (20/4/2010) morning.KLM airlines reported losses due to flight delays are between 5-10 million Euros (U.S. $ 6,7-13,4).

17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday due to the dangers posed for a second day by volcanic ash from Iceland

A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spread out across Europe on Friday causing air travel chaos on a scale not seen since the September 11 attacks.About 17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday due to the dangers posed for a second day by volcanic ash from Iceland, aviation officials said. Airports in Britain, France, Germany, and across Europe were closed until at least Saturday.”I would think Europe was probably experiencing its greatest disruption to air travel since 9/11,” said a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Britain’s aviation regulator.”In terms of closure of airspace, this is worse than after 9/11. The disruption is probably larger than anything we’ve probably seen.”

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York, U.S. airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services.

Vulcanologists say the ash could cause problems to air traffic for up to 6 months if the eruption continues, but even if it is short-lived the financial impact on airlines could be significant.The fallout hit airlines’ shares on Friday with Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Berlin, Air France-KLM, Iberia and Ryanair down between 0.8 and 2.2 percent.The International Air Transport Association said only days ago that airlines were just coming out of recession.

“LIMITED COMMERCIAL SIGNIFICANCE”

The flight cancellations would cost carriers such as British Airways and Lufthansa about 10 million pounds ($16.04 million) a day, transport analyst Douglas McNeill said.

“To lose that sum of money isn’t a very pleasant experience but it’s of limited commercial significance as well,” he told BBC TV. “A couple of days like this won’t matter too much. If it goes on for weeks, that’s a different story.”The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 6 to 11 km (4 to 7 miles) into the atmosphere.Officials said it was still spewing magma and although the eruption could abate in the coming days, ash would continue drifting into the skies of Europe.

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverized rock that can damage engines and airframes.

In 1982 a British Airways jumbo jet lost power in all its engines when it flew into an ash cloud over Indonesia, gliding toward the ground before it was able to restart its engines.The incident prompted the aviation industry to rethink the way it prepared for ash clouds.

Of the 28,000 flights that usually travel through European airspace on an average day, European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said it expected only 11,000 to operate on Friday while only about a third of transatlantic flights were arriving.The British Meteorological Office showed the cloud drifting south and west over Europe. Eurocontrol warned problems would continue for at least another 24 hours and an aviation expert at the World Meteorological Organization said it was impossible to say when flights would resume.”We can only predict the time that flights will resume after the eruption has stopped, but for as long as the eruption is still going on and still leading to a significant eruption, we cannot say,” said Scylla Sillayo, a senior official in the WMO’s aeronautical meteorology unit.

AIRSPACE CLOSED

Britain’s air traffic control body said all English airspace would be closed until 8 p.m. EDT on Friday although certain flights from Northern Ireland and Scottish airports were being allowed to take off until 1800 GMT.”When the experts give us the all-clear we’ll get the operation back up and running,” Paul Haskins, head of safety at National Air Traffic Service, told BBC radio.

There were no flights from London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, which handles some 180,000 passengers a day, while officials at Germany’s Frankfurt airport, Europe’s second busiest, said flights would be suspended from 2 a.m. EDT.Around 2,000 people slept overnight at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a spokeswoman said, adding they did not expect airspace in the Netherlands to reopen soon.

Eurocontrol said airspace was closed over Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the north of the Czech Republic, northern France including all Paris airports, and at airports in northern Germany, Austria and parts of Poland.

Polish officials said if the disruption continued, it might force a delay in Sunday’s funeral for President Lech Kaczynski and his wife who were killed in a plane crash last Saturday.Airlines across Asia and the Middle East have also canceled or delayed flights to most European destinations.

However, as the ash plume drifted south over Europe, Irish officials said most of the airspace over Ireland had reopened.The air problems have proved a boon for rail companies. All 58 Eurostar trains between Britain and Europe were operating full, carrying some 46,500 passengers, and a spokeswoman said they would consider adding services if problems persisted.(Reuters)

Mexico Cargo Aircraft Falling , Killed Five Crew

Monterrey, A cargo plane fell into the street while trying to land in the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico. Accident that killed five crew and someone at the scene.Local civil defense Director Jorge Camacho Rescue, Wednesday (14/4/2010), said that all the crew were killed and one more person died in a car crushed the aircraft. He said only three bodies were found Wednesday the crew that night. Emergency teams still seeking two other crew.

According to Camacho, the Airbus A300 plane was trying to land in the middle of the rainy weather at about 11 pm, local time Tuesday, when the accident happened on the road to the international airport in the city’s third-largest in Mexico. The plane belongs to Aerotransportes de Carga Union, based in Mexico City that take off from Mexico City.Wreckage strewn around the scene. Nose and both wings were torn, while the remaining portion of the fuselage lying in between two lanes of the road.

airlines that leave passengers stranded on a tarmac in a delayed plane for three hours or more can face a hefty fine under new rules adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation

airlines that leave passengers stranded on a tarmac in a delayed plane for three hours or more can face a hefty fine under new rules adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.If carriers don’t let passengers out of the plane before the three-hour mark, the agency can fine them up to $27,500 per customer.

At least three domestic airlines have announced plans to avoid the penalties. But that won’t necessarily cut down on delays.US Airways and Continental Airlines have both unveiled procedures to return the plane to the gate if it can’t take off before the three-hour limit.American Airlines Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said his carrier the nation’s second-largest has modified a previous plan to unload passengers stranded four hours or longer.

US Airways, the sixth-largest domestic carrier, announced its plans in an employee newsletter last week.For example, if a US Airways flight is delayed 90 minutes, the crew offers drinks and snacks to avoid a fine that applies if fliers are delayed for two hours without food and water.

After 2 1/2 hours, the airline’s operations center makes a decision: Either return the plane to the gate or, if a takeoff is imminent, keep it in line on the tarmac.In 2009, US Airways alone had 193 flights that were delayed more than three hours. If each had an average of 200 passengers, under the new rules the fines could add up to more than $1 billion.It is unclear what happens to a flight after it returns to the gate, but American’s Arpey predicted bad news for passengers: “Most certainly, it will result in more cancellations.”

Costliest city is still New York

If you can afford to stay in New York, you can afford to stay anywhere.The 2010 rankings for the most expensive cities for business travelers put New York at the top again, with the average daily cost for food, hotel and a car rental totaling $622.The results came from the annual survey of hotel, restaurant and car rental costs by the Business Travel News, a publication for business travel managers, of 100 U.S. travel destinations. New York topped the list last year and in 2008 as well.

White Plains, N.Y., and Detroit inched up in the list, with hotel and car rental prices rising in both cities.Las Vegas, on the other hand, dropped on the list.Last year, Sin City ranked as the nation’s 30th most expensive city to visit. It fell to 45th this year, below such cities as Oakland, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.Honolulu ranked ninth in the 2009 survey but dropped to 20th this year, below Minneapolis, Austin and Detroit.

Most hospitality experts blame what they call the “AIG affect” for the drop in hotel and restaurant prices at cities with a reputation for luxury and frivolity.After the insurance giant American International Group Inc.took a federal bailout in 2008, it hosted a junket for senior executives at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort and was then stung by public outrage. Since then, image-conscious executives have avoided holding corporate meetings in places known for fun and opulence.

“There is still a huge residual from the AIG affect,” said Carl Winston, the director of the hospitality and tourism management program at San Diego State University.Los Angeles dropped to 16th on the list this year from 13th in 2009, based on cheaper car rental rates.Prank tells guests to break windowYou are asleep in a hotel room, and a frantic caller warns you that the building is on fire, instructing you to pull the fire alarm and break the window.

The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. has issued a warning, telling hotel guests to think twice before following such instructions. Prank callers have been victimizing hotel guests in California, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Nebraska, the trade group warned.The group advises hotel guests who get such a call to phone the front desk to see if the emergency is legitimate.In Orlando, Fla., the victim of such a prank busted a hotel window with part of a toilet after his wife took the call. “When I broke the window, I got suspicious,” the hotel guest told the Orlando Sentinel. “It didn’t seem right, but she was panicking, so I continued.”

E-2C Hawkeye aircraft crashes into Arabian Sea

One person is missing after a US navy radar plane supporting operations in Afghanistan ploughed into the Arabian Sea.The E-2C Hawkeye aircraft “was returning from conducting operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” when it malfunctioned, the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement.The crew “performed a controlled bailout” from the plane when it went down in the northern Arabian Sea on its way to the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

The navy says three crew members were rescued and have returned to the carrier “alive and well”.”Search and rescue efforts are continuing for the missing aviator and are expected to continue through the night or until he or she is found,” said public affairs officer Lieutenant Matthew Allen.The crash is under investigation.The US navy says the E-2C is used to provide “all-weather airborne early warnings, battle management and command and control functions”.Based on US aircraft carriers, the E-2C is also used for “ground surveillance, strike coordination and communications relay”.According to the US navy website, an E-2C costs $US80 million.

Boeing Co. aircraft manufacturers will accelerate the increase in the production of two of his wide-body aircraft

CHICAGO Boeing Co. aircraft manufacturers world number two, will accelerate the increase in the production of two of his wide-body aircraft. This step is done in order to fill orders Boeing has entered the last two years. “Improved market and conservative management approach to production has put us in a position to accelerate the increase of production aircraft,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Albaugh Boeing was quoted as saying by Reuters on Saturday (20/3/2010).

Boeing explained, the production of the Boeing 777 aircraft will be increased to seven per month from the previous five per month. Previously, Boeing plans to accelerate the production of this aircraft in early 2012 but brought forward to mid-2010.

United States aircraft producers are also increasing production of two Boeing 747 aircraft per month from the previous 1.5 aircraft per month. In the initial planning, the acceleration of the Boeing 747 production will be performed in mid-2013 but then became mid-2012.

Acceleration of the production increase will affect the 2010 financial statements. Boeing said the year 2010 was a year of global economic recovery and the company will return to record profits in 2011. Improving the condition of the airline industry made a plan to cut production of Boeing Boeing 737 was canceled. Global airline industry was shaken by the weakening global economy triggered by the crisis. Travel demand plummeted so airlines cancel or postpone orders aircraft.

Last week, the International Airlines Association (IATA) estimates of 2009 the airline industry suffered a loss to USD9, 4 billion. However, flights have been recovered from the crisis with the return of passengers and higher spending power. “We see the outlook for improved commercial flights. Demand is back. We see increased traffic,” said Alex Hamilton, senior aerospace analyst CK Cooper & Co..

Airbus will reduce its exposure to the troubled A400 military transport plane project

MADRID Airbus will reduce its exposure to the troubled A400 military transport plane project unless the governments that ordered it reach a decision soon on financing cost overruns, an official said Thursday.Airbus Military spokesman Jaime Perez-Guerra said time is of the essence because Airbus parent company EADS presents its 2009 earnings on March 9.He said EADS needs a decision so it can book its share of the cost overruns in its 2009 financial results, rather than carry over uncertainty into the first quarter.”We are squeezed, absolutely squeezed,” Perez-Guerra told The AP.

Perez-Guerra said EADS is not setting a new deadline for a decision but insists one must be all but completed very soon. If not, he said the company will take measures that could include diverting money, personnel and equipment to other projects.”EADS really has to see that an agreement is practically sealed,” he said.Airbus CEO Tom Enders gave the warning Wednesday as he met with union leaders during a visit to an Airbus plant outside Madrid, the spokesman said.

France said this week the seven nations that have ordered the plane have agreed to commit an extra euro2 billion ($2.75 billion) in funding. France is proposing that governments make available an extra euro1.5 billion in reimbursable loans. The project is nearly four years behind schedule.EADS has reduced its demands for extra funding to euro4.5 billion – but the government proposal still falls euro1 billion short.The four-engine turboprop military plane had its maiden flight in December. The price tag for the 180 planes ordered was fixed at almost euro20 billion in the initial contract in 2003. Germany is the biggest costumer with 60 aircraft ordered, and France wants 50.The A400M is seen as occupying an important niche market between the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, which carries only half the payload, and Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III, which is larger, costlier, and less tactically versatile.The countries that have ordered the planes are Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.(AP)