Future Of Aircraft

Future of Aircraft

David and Clay

Past Aircraft

Things have changed a immensely from when heavier then air aircraft started flying such as:

Jet propulsion

Commercial use

Airframe

Flight time

Improvement to modern aircraft

Modern aircraft include changes to older designs but not outright redesign, changes include:

4. New airfoils

3. Lighter structures

2. Control systems

1. Better propulsion

Better propulsion

Piston engines were used first.

Now gas turbines also known as jet engines are used

Control systems

Then: To control old aircraft a pilot must shift his weight.

Now: Everything is fly-by-wire, meaning that it is computer or cable controlled.

Lighter Structures

Airplanes were made out of wood and canvas until the 1930’s modern equivalents are:

Aluminum alloys and materials with reinforcing fibers

New Airfoil Designs

Future aircraft will have many changes and will most likely look nothing like today's planes just as ours do not look like the Wright flyer.

These types of designs will become the next generation of flyers, but they are not truly the future of aircraft.

Airfoil Designs...

Not only this future aircraft will have the ability to….

Repair Themselves

This will be possible because of new building ideas, imbedding resin that oozes into cracks on demand.

This is currently in prototype and it mimics nature in how it heals it self.

Access to Space

New designs are making what once seemed impossible possible.

The Space shuttle now becoming obsolete.

Replacing the Space Shuttle

The X-33 is a single stage orbiter that is 1/10th as costly to send into space as a space shuttle. The project was shut down.

Sources

• http://www.livescience.com/technology/080520-selfrepairing-aircraft.html

• In a world that is flat communications among people are getting better. This creates new designs and breaks all barriers.

• http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/futureac.html

• http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchHighlights/Timelines/Aircraft/LighterStructures.htm

More on the Horizon

No prediction of the future is ever correct but as seen the future of aircraft is a bright one.