Great video. I don't understand why they're looking at transonic speeds and calling it a transonic demonstrator. Airlines travel slower these days to save fuel costs.
Edit: also, why does this have to be a full-sized demo? Can't a half-size demo do a sufficiently good job?
I assume smaller braced wing planes have already been made in the past, so making another similar scale one wouldn’t tell you anything new? Presumably the engineering challenges here are related to the scale of the craft now rather than other issues?
Speaking of future aircraft - what's interesting to me is they do not seem to be planning on any more composite barrel aircraft after the 87. Even 777x is only graphite wings, no graphite barrel, which seemed to me like the natural next step. I wonder if it is manufacturing capability related, or if they regret the amount of R&D it took to get the 87 barrel to viability, or some other reason?
The A350 has composite panels and one barrel component iirc, which is a step above what the 777x is doing.
I know BA had a Next Generation Aircraft project looking at a fully composite 737 replacement, but that didn't proceed anywhere either. The braced wing design is pretty wild, but at least they will have plenty of room to make the engines larger...
1. price. Carbon fiber is a lot more expensive than aluminum
2. The wings are the parts that need the most strength, and where the flexibility of design helps the most.
3. Making a giant tube of aluminum is a lot easier than with carbon fiber, but the complex shape of a wing evens the cost more
4. Carbon fiber advantages shrink with larger aircraft since making the ovens for really big carbon fiber parts is ridiculously expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if smaller planes go to all carbon fiber before bigger ones.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 37.1 ms ] thread[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm5LYkGHkTc&t=704s
Edit: also, why does this have to be a full-sized demo? Can't a half-size demo do a sufficiently good job?
The A350 has composite panels and one barrel component iirc, which is a step above what the 777x is doing.
I know BA had a Next Generation Aircraft project looking at a fully composite 737 replacement, but that didn't proceed anywhere either. The braced wing design is pretty wild, but at least they will have plenty of room to make the engines larger...
1. price. Carbon fiber is a lot more expensive than aluminum
2. The wings are the parts that need the most strength, and where the flexibility of design helps the most.
3. Making a giant tube of aluminum is a lot easier than with carbon fiber, but the complex shape of a wing evens the cost more
4. Carbon fiber advantages shrink with larger aircraft since making the ovens for really big carbon fiber parts is ridiculously expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if smaller planes go to all carbon fiber before bigger ones.