Whatever Happened to the Blended Wing?

..um wrong!

I dont sway that just to be contrarian either. Give me a ticket to anyway for 20% less then any other airliner and Ill gladly sit 50 feet from a window. As will most any other people that choose an isle seat instead of working our way in to look out one of those anemic portholes. All you can see for 90% of the trip is white anyway..

A little ad blits, some cool toys on board, an no one would care one wit. And that bears out from a small 10 person sample Ive taken around the office here.

I agree w/ mystixa... I recall a recent popsci article about hypersonic jets that won't have windows, and you didn't seem to think there was a problem there... Cameras on the outside are still possible, right?
Aren't 747s often set up with five-seat rows between the aisles?
And anyway, isn't it still possible to have windows in the floor and ceiling? Is there a structural problem with that? Or are we going to assume that people are too scared to even consider it.

I have an idea, that if a tanker when loaded, can propel itself out at sea. Give me feedback!

I do not understand the big problem with no windows. First thing I do is shut the dang thing if I'm sitting anywhere near it and in looking around I am not alone in that as most the windows on my last flight were closed most if not all of the flight. Put a camera somewhere and dedicate a channel on the tv to it and call it good. The cabin will be big enough that claustraphobics might not even notice being enclosed

Geez, who writes this stuff? Show yourself! :)

Pure opinion. Zip for sources. Popular NonSense.

I would travel with whatever plane if they coul promise me a fair chance to sleep.
I have eagerly followed this aviation concept for years, and is very disappointed that it is probably gonna die a slow death. Like other marvelous ideas, the freeöenerhy, and the electric car it will one day revive itself.

Must be technical issues with the plane design. I mean In flight entertainment systems are already advanced enough to give external views to passengers. Either that or the funding is tight for Boeing with the 787 and this will come out later once that is done. There is a project Yelowstone to eventually replace all Boeing planes. (Search Boeing Website)

JetBlue has videoscreens in front of each passenger to allow entertainment of sorts (TV, music, movies, trivia games). As part of the "where the heck are we now" screen where it shows a map view of your GPS location, just add another series of screens to show your front view (this would be super cool at take off), left view, right view, rear view (like a video game), and for the brave (a bottom view). Just set up the different cameras. 5 or 6 cameras are chump change to an airline if they are saving huge $$ for fuel. Just for fun show a camera view of the pilot's console/control panel (or a computerized rendition -to maintain privacy for the pilots).

When people aren't looking out the window they are looking at TV shows, working on their laptops, reading, or snoozing. Worrying about whether people want a window or not is short-sighted. People would adjust like they did when they got on their first airplane.

The only significant hurdle is adding more exits and elbow room. I'm sick of sitting next to the overweight guy whose arms hog the arm rests and encroaches on my ability to type on my laptop.

Cheers and jeers!

Cameras on the hull shouldn't be a problem. As far as getting out in a hurry, Why couldn't they put inflatable slides into the floors? They will have to go through the cargo area but they should be able to position them in such a way that interfere with too much.

what if you put hydraulics (possible sp error) to the chairs and have them be lowerd in sets through the bottom? (besieds obvious bulky seats and weight issues. and you could move the cargo area ontop like an attic.) just brain stroming............

I would be happy to fly without this type of aircraft, as long as it's faster and cheaper. As mentioned before, even with current aircraft, you arn't likely to have a window seat. I think they just need to think about a new way of laying out the seats in the aircraft. I think if we are creative about placement of seats it could work well, people may have more leg room. Also, even on a normal aircraft it's a problem finding fast ways of getting everyone off the airplane.

For a 25% saving on my ticket, I'd stare at a blank wall on a flight. Windows are so small, and most seats can't use them anyway, the idea of no window seats being the killer to building blended wing planes is just not true!!

NACA (yup that isn't a mispelling), it's just what NASA was called b4 rockets, worked out the basic aerodynamics of "lifting bodies" as they were called then back in the fifties. The main problem then was stability. The successful miltary aircraft developed so far that use this type of design, including the space shuttle (AKA the Flying Brick by its pilots), rely very heavily on computers to actually do the flying. Although current generation jumbo jets are capable of being flown from takeoff to rolling stop at their destination by their autopilots, this is not a feature that many passengers want to be aware of, and this is probably the main reason blended wing commercial jets havn't happened yet. While astronauts and test pilots are used to being flown around by computers, the average person feels safer know there is a human being with his hands on the controls. Lets not tell them that the last few generations of commercial aircraft have been "fly by wire", where all control signals are passed on by digital electronics :)

re: pic 5 "The blended-wing design doesn't allow for windows or for easy exit access," is it ever easy to exit an airplane?

Biggiesmalls

I can see blended wing designs in the private market, I know I'd readily fly one. It makes more sense for a private consumer, because it's more fuel efficient