Video: Airbus Offers a Peek at the Translucent Future of Passenger Air Travel

Since we're being ridiculous, why 2050? Why not 2015? A fantasy is a fantasy.

"airbus isn't sure what it would be made of yet.." let alone how most of their features would be technologically possible. I'm thinking 3000 to be a more realistic release year.

My Dad gave 23 years of his life to the U.S. Air Force and when he says that the Airbus is a flying rattletrap I believe him. How many wrecks has this monstrosity had since it's debut? No thank you!

What Is Science but A Continual Lesson of The Challenge To Studying The Entire Known Existence of Everything.

-Truth-

Rather than translucent walls, the aliens up frequency the light outside so that it can traverse the metal hull. Then they down frequency it so that the passengers can see the outside.

Also, these types of airplanes are obsolete considering we have the reverse-engineered alien spacecraft that use space-time curvature for lift and teleportation.

In fact, the simple teleportation devices will make airplanes obsolete. You step into the device in New York City and step out in Paris. The one Basiago talks about goes from New Jersey to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The wormhole teleportation elevator goes from earth to Mars.

Not to mention that the price for teleportation will be prohibitive. Only few can afford plus failures can happen and might be deadly. Teleporting network hacking is a real threat also.
No need to do groceries no more just use : TeleMart : Instant customer satisfaction. Shop only and we will teledeliver anywhere on the continent.

I'd rather have an air liner made of pods that are self sealing in the case of an accident, can eject themselves, parachute down and float. They would essentially be rollbar cages and would prevent loss of everyone on the plane.

Then again, the view would be cool...

@TruthIsMyName

Oooohhhh your father was in the airforce 23 years. So that instantly makes him the most knowledgeable person on the earth when it comes to airplanes. Oh wait, pretty sure alot of people working on the airbus have been or are still in the airforce, or are professional engineers. What planes did your dad work on? The F-4 Phantom? How many crashes do you think that got in before they got it right? The A4 Skyhawk? The A6 Intruder? How many times have each of these planes had errors or crashes... either during testing, or while in normal flight. How many OTHER modern passenger jets had the same experience and work just fine...

No plane is perfect when it first rolls out, thank you for your opinion, but just because daddy says so doesn't mean that he knows exactly what is going on with this plane.

I see humans more in a virtual reality environments in 2050. With nanotechnology where the computers implanted directly into our blood stream, brain and nerveous system. Virtual reality will feel like reality.

Travel anywhere feel anything at any moment. Artificial Intelegence and real humans will act exactly the same where there really won't be any distinction between the two.

I HATE AIRBUS! Computers are the pilots of these planes and most of the computers decision of fight cannot be overridden and if they can be overridden, they are very slow to respond, i.e. " Oh, you wish to pull up because of a mountain or the ground coming up to fast, I will comply maybe 30sec or 60secs or several minutes later. I also know that the pilots that fly these things hate the idea of the computer flying it too. If a computer dies, it does not care. If a pilot about to die, at least he a interest in his own life as well as his passengers. I enjoy electronics and computers, but it’s humans who should be making all the decisions.

@Siromar

Fantasy? Maybe to you for now. In 1750, people thought motor powered car were fantasy. In 1850, people thought air travel fantasy. In 1950, both of those "fantasies" were reality.

@TruthIsMyName

Thanks for your completely absurd input. Not to insult you or your father, but I agree with Scubasdsteve87. Just because he was in the air force doesn't mean he know anything at all about airbus. And if you call this a monstrosity, you shouldn't be on this site in the first place. Read the article too. The plane hasn't even gotten to the stage of deciding the materials of which to build the thing, and you think they are already flying prototypes? No way! And, yes, it will probably crash the first few prototypes. But everything ever made has failed before it was perfected.

@Siromar
As far as I can tell, none of this is too extreme in technological terms, with the possible exception of the frame itself, although I wouldn't be surprised if a carbon composite could handle that kind of strain nicely. With the acceleration of technological advancements, I would probably place this as commonplace by 2050, with it first appearing around 2030 or so, as a conservative guess. After all, don't forget that, a decade ago, World War I was fought on horseback whilst World War II was ended with the atom bomb. In half a century, mankind went from primitive motor cars & basic biplanes to landing on the moon. 40 years for this kind of improvement? As I said, I'd give it 20.

@Joeyjam
... A century ago. WWI & WWII were early 20th century, not 21st... :P :$

@wltstab1 and joeyjam

Thinking that we'll be flying in such aircraft in 2050 is a complete fantasy. We've been using the same planes for how long now? 40 years? Come on.

Wasn't it a couple of months ago when popsci had an article on the planned new generation of airplanes due in the late 20s early 30s? Those were closer to industrial chicken farms than the craft in the video. And that makes more sense. Airlines want as many people as possible in as cheap a plane as possible. It has nothing to do with my inability to imagine technological advancements.

And on a side note. When did this become a conspiracy website? We can't have one article without a bunch of comments on secret alien technologies?

@ bubbagump while at the current technological state I do agree a human pilot is better, make no mistake computer piloted vehicles are the future of our species and will be a drastic life preserver in the long run. There was around 34,000 auto deaths last year alone, and computer systems can have multiple back ups and if possible would need to be off the grid so it couldn't be hacked, but I think it is completely doable and google has already started rolling out automated cars. Imagine how seamless an AI or multiple AI's for back up effect could thread and seam in traffic together. It would know where every car is in the city, and adjust accordingly to avoid traffic jams, adjust lights and speeds, etc.

" So perhaps it’s no surprise that the search giant is the latest enterprise to pursue a future where cars drive themselves via complex, decision-making artificial intelligence software. Over the weekend it was revealed that Google has seven test cars that have driven 1,000 miles each without any human intervention whatsoever."

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-10/googles-driverless-cars-have-logged-140000-miles-minimal-human-intervention

Hopefully the stewardesses will get outfits that match the plane.

I don't know why so many people hate Airbus so much. I mean, they're finally showing their colors with this concept. They've certainly attracted me. I trust Boeing since I've flown in their 747 and 777 and if I was going somewhere, I would certainly trust Airbus. People didn't trust Boeing's tech in the early days when they built the B-47 and B-29. They featured new tech that seemed space age back in the day. The B-47 had bicycle undercarraige with two outboard wheels on the wingtips and it was very difficult to fly, but pilots loved it. The B-29 had a pressurized cabin and other things that were never tested before and was also difficult. It was prone to engine problems, but Boeing today, is as safe as can be, now that it has a ton of experience. Airbus just has to warm up, and who knows? They might come up with crazy stuff like Boeing did back in the day and maybe, just maybe, people will finally warm up to them.

Well Scuba, my "daddy" was a hard worker that spent his life doing his duty to his country and fellow countrymen. He passed away last year and I can tell you that he had a ton of knowledge under his belt about aircraft. Oh, and by the way, the airbus is made in France not the U.S.

What Is Science but A Continual Lesson of The Challenge To Studying The Entire Known Existence of Everything.

-Truth-

@VeganOverlord
I like it, but I hope to god they fire all the old lady stewardesses who have stuck around since the 60s and hire based on strict booby criteria.

None of their ideas are impossible and I dare say they will be accomplished in different tech well before 2050, but... this plane is not getting built till 2100. Airlines are businesses and this plane is a dumb financial move - too few seats, too much bullshit, way too much overhead. I would love this plane to be around by 2050 but look at the crap we fly in now... all the planes we use are old as the stewardesses who work in them. This is b/c planes are complicated, expensive to design, worse to test, and virtually impossible to get certified by agencies such as the FAA. Cool idea AirBus, but why not get rid of one row and one column of seats in every plane, make everyone a little more comfortable and save on fuel costs...?

k

"in the future, air travel--like society--will know no class"

BS statement right there.

unless we become a utopian society i can never see this happening. one because of money,2. power and 3. the need to have a lower class to slave for the upper class. and i dont see this ship happening till 2100 because governments spend to much time in war and politics and the money they profit over it.

LOL @ 2050

c'mon... everyone knows we'll be living in outer space by then and have no need for airplanes... duh...

*rollseyes*

Who needs a VIRTUAL bar?
LOL

This is kind of weird. Around 2 years ago, I had this very odd dream and the pictures of the airbus are almost identical to the airplane I was in during the dream. So I just saw this and it kind freaks me out. There was a war while I was flying in one (in my dream). Believe it or not, the glasslike material they made it out of didn't survive missiles (in the dream, of course).

if some people just pulled there heads together, this could be atshivable in less then 10 years i belive, i mean they make this videos about stuff like this but we never see any results..

looks surprisingly similar to what a kiwi came up with back in 1990's; chris sacatos designed "hyperion"
c. sacatos built a few models & tested in his own wind tunnel;
he had the idea of building out of similar materials kiwis used for making world class "americas cup" destroying yachts;
mr sacatos had an article published about ideas in local book, called "inventions from the shed" about kiwis inventing stuff & using what is locally called no;8 fencing wire smarts.
good idea though of making planes more user friendly; rather than having porthole sized windows; have more cruise liner type set ups;

The translucent skin will be transparent aluminum - they just have to talk to Scotty

Why would you want to play GOLF in an airplane!