Blended wing body research aircraft flies for the first time
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A triangular-shaped experimental aircraft designed to demonstrate improved fuel efficiency and reduced noise has completed a successful maiden flight.
The modified X-48C blended wing body (BWB) research aircraft flew for the first time on 7 August from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Designed by Boeing and built by Cranfield Aerospace in the UK, the unmanned X-48C aircraft took off at 07:56 PDT and climbed to an altitude of 5,500ft (1,676m) before landing nine minutes later.
According to Boeing, the X-48C is a scale model of a heavy-lift subsonic vehicle that forgoes conventional tube-and-wing aircraft design in favour of a triangular aircraft that blends the vehicle’s wing and body.
Boeing and NASA believe the BWB concept offers the potential over the long term of significantly greater fuel efficiency, consuming at least 20 per cent less fuel compared with conventional subsonic aircraft. The design of the BWB means also that it is 50dB less noisy on approaching an airport.
‘Working with NASA, we are very pleased to enter into the next flight-test phase of our work to explore and validate the aerodynamic characteristics and efficiencies of the BWB concept,’ said Bob Liebeck, a Boeing senior technical fellow and the company’s BWB programme manager.
‘In our earlier flight testing of the X-48B, we proved that a BWB aircraft can be controlled as effectively as a conventional tube-and-wing aircraft during take-offs and landings, and other low-speed segments of the flight regime,’ he added. ‘With the X-48C, we will be evaluating the impact of noise-shielding concepts on low-speed flight characteristics.’
The modified X-48C BWB research aircraft flew for the first time on 7 August from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California
The X-48C is a modified version of the X-48B aircraft, which flew 92 times at NASA Dryden between 2007 and 2010. The X-48C is configured with two 89lb thrust turbojet engines, instead of the three 50lb thrust engines on the B model; and wingtip winglets have been relocated in board next to the engines on the C model, effectively turning them into twin tails. The aft deck has also been extended about 2ft at the rear.
Engineers from Boeing Research & Technology will be working with NASA engineers during flight tests of the X-48C, which are expected to continue throughout 2012. As handling qualities of the X-48C will be different from those of the X-48B, the project team has developed flight control software modifications, including flight-control limiters to keep the craft flying within a safe flight envelope.
With a 21ft wingspan, the 500lb aircraft is an 8.5 per cent scale model of a heavy-lift subsonic aircraft with a 240ft wingspan that could possibly be developed in the next 15–20 years for military applications such as aerial refuelling and cargo missions.
Boeing and NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate are funding X-48 technology demonstration research. The effort supports NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation project, which aims to reduce the fuel burn, emissions and noise of future aircraft.
We’ve been made aware that some of you are having difficulty viewing the video of the X-48C’s maiden flight. The flight can be viewed by clicking here.
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Readers' comments (14)
John Harrison | 9 Aug 2012 12:44 pm
BWB article: "watch the video" link does not open a video but a still picture and article.
Would like to see a video of this thing flying.
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Editor's comments | 9 Aug 2012 12:44 pm
The link should've taken you to the part of the page where the video is embedded. This can sometimes take a moment or two.
Paul Reeves | 9 Aug 2012 1:01 pm
[Nice but it's just a lareg scale model]
Interesting as this is – and maybe ultimately this will give customers advantages such as larger less cramped cabins- but really what I and I suspect others want are both shorter journey times and a lower price for long/med/short haul flights. To do this the whole process of transportation needs to be re looked at, from door to door, say London/Preston to Beijing/Sidney/New York. This may involve reconfigured aircraft designs (eg containerisation) but just as important is the change in infrastructure to efficiently use these new designs (eg trains or buses that carry containers or passengers, or some as yet un thought of mechanism to avoid the tribulations of 20th Century airports; parking, queues at security/boarding). And does the mantra of sustainability and localism suggest that we must give up on Reaction-Engines type powered supersonic flight for very long haul?
Fosters/Boris Island could be a ‘new start’ to explore these transformative reconfigurations in both infrastructure and transport systems and be the beginning of a return the ambitious and world changing Engineering, rather than cars made out of hemp?
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Anonymous | 9 Aug 2012 1:12 pm
BWB article: "watch the video" link didn't open anything for me and I waited more than two moments.
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Editor's comments | 9 Aug 2012 1:12 pm
Thank you for your comment, Clark. The best thing to do is to scroll down the page to where the video's embedded and play it from there.
Tim Perry | 9 Aug 2012 1:22 pm
Excellent for freight and other heavy lift applications, but are not emergency passenger evacuation issues a problem with such airframe configurations?
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Editor's comments | 9 Aug 2012 1:22 pm
Thank you for your comment, Tim. You can read about this very issue at the following URL: http://preview.tinyurl.com/9o8yuva
O Pearson | 9 Aug 2012 2:00 pm
@Paul Reeves
Each to their own. Personally I would be happy for a journey to take a little longer if it meant I could take it in relative comfort. Being 6'2" and big boned I do not fit current aircraft seats. Hopefully aircraft like this mean more availability as the lower noise would allow it to be used on more airfields, closer to urban areas. The higher lift potential would allow shorter runways. The greater fuel efficiency bringing lower running costs.
I'm a fan I must admit.
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20 Cent | 9 Aug 2012 2:12 pm
I've waited the two moments, scrolled down the page and pressed play - Nothing except a black rectangle.
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Editor's comments | 9 Aug 2012 2:12 pm
We clearly have an issue this end that needs to be rectified. In the interim, the video can be viewed on Boeing's website at this URL: http://tinyurl.com/cxcqnog
M Bennett | 9 Aug 2012 2:20 pm
The elephant in the room must be pressurisation. Is the cabin full of strings holding the top and bottom skins together, or does it weigh a ton with beams to support the pressure load?
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Anonymous | 9 Aug 2012 2:29 pm
Plays OK from the "black rectangle" for me! Novel wait and see design.
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Keith Tremble | 9 Aug 2012 2:36 pm
I've watched the video,smart , but who flew it r/c ? or small pilot?
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Editor's comments | 9 Aug 2012 2:36 pm
The X-48C was remotely piloted.
Anonymous | 9 Aug 2012 2:39 pm
Good to see the BWB research is still progressing. When I first covered this back in the 90s, cabin pressurisation was a major issue - because the pax compartment wasn't a conventional cylindrical shape. Plus, the centre structure of a BWB would be subject to bending loads from the wings resulting in non-linear stresses. Other issues such as most pax not getting to look out of the windows was another glitch, which was going to be addressed by display screens. The emergency evacuation was considered to be more of a perceived problem rather than an actual safety issue. There are a lot of positives in this and other unconventional designs and they're well worth investigating.
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