The future of air travel: Nasa and Boeing test radical triangular plane (just don't expect a window seat)

Through a wind tunnel: The plane will be able to soar through the air at 138 miles per hour and can reach an altitude of 10,000 feet

  • Boeing says we have ‘reached the limit’ on how efficient traditional fixed-wing planes can be
  • New triangle design sacrifices window seats for increased capacity and higher fuel efficiency
  • NASA hopes plane will become dominant design within a few decades

Nasa has successfully demonstrated a working prototype of the ‘plane of the future’ – although it may be a step back for travellers who love a window seat.

The British-built plane is a radical re-design of the traditional ‘fixed-wing’ plane shape which has seen us through 50 years of passenger air-travel, with NASA and Boeing saying we have reached the limits in terms of speed and fuel efficiency with current models.

Nasa yesterday took a scale replica of the plane for a ‘test fly’, and hopes the plane will become the next universally adopted design within the next two decades.

The X-48C is a ‘hybrid wing-body’ plane, which offers greater internal volume for passengers and cargo, and the triangle-shaped plane, reminiscent of spy planes, cuts through the air more efficiently.

 

With a 21-foot wingspan, the 500-pound aircraft is an 8.5 percent scale model of a heavy-lift, subsonic airplane with a 240-foot wingspan that could be developed in the next 15 to 20 years for military applications and potentially consumer flights.

The model X-48C can fly for 35 minutes and has a top altitude of 10,000 feet. Yesterday’s test-run was only nine minutes long, but it was long enough for NASA to deem it a ‘successful’ test, with the space agency planning to test the plane again later this week.

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