MIT Developing Planes That Land Like Birds

[grieve]

i dont see the purpose of this.

next week they are inventing dehydrated water?

 

[jodrummersh]

[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]i dont see the purpose of this.next week they are inventing dehydrated water?[/citation]

Yeah, really. File this along with the remote that changes the channel when you fart...who gives a $h!T

 

[RichR]

[citation][nom]jodrummersh[/nom]Well, allow me to nit-pick. Passengers no longer have drinks in their hands during a landing, and you cannot check email on a plane.[/citation]

I was joking about pilots who fly drunk or miss their airport because of distractions.

 

[jodrummersh]

[citation][nom]RichR[/nom]I was joking about pilots who fly drunk or miss their airport because of distractions.[/citation]

Oh good point! Yeah, if they can make that type of error, should we really trust them to pull off this type of maneuver?

 

[boxmann_69]

"next week they are inventing dehydrated water?"

Probably not, but I have heard of a product called "dry" water. It's a gel that slowly releases its water to plants. I think it's used in desert climates.

 

[amorrison0903]

A bird just smacked into my outside window. Crap I cant stop laughing. I hope thats not what MIT is basing their project on...

 

[captainnemojr]

I hate flying enough as it is...I'd hate to look out at the wings as we land and all of a sudden see them flap.

 

[skylanemurf]

What's with so many people adding the "S" at the end of the word aircraft to represent the plural of the word. Referring to multiple aircraft is still just the word aircraft. There is no separate plural version of the word. It refers to one or many without the "S".

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

Love the other posts here. I agree with most of them.

 

[shades_aus]

Just say Planes instead.

 

[shades_aus]

Just say Planes instead

 

[Nuke_Meltdown]

Why reinventing the way our planes are landing when the actual technique works and whats the purpose, landing on a shorter track. Even there you'll need the same lenght for a takeoff.
Adding more mecanism to the plane so your landing can fail more easily, sorry but i don't see it...I'm in the same boat as grieve.

 

[jeffk464]

[citation][nom]Nuke_Meltdown[/nom]Why reinventing the way our planes are landing when the actual technique works and whats the purpose, landing on a shorter track. Even there you'll need the same lenght for a takeoff.Adding more mecanism to the plane so your landing can fail more easily, sorry but i don't see it...I'm in the same boat as grieve.[/citation]

Agree, the new direction in plane design is primarily focused on fuel efficiency not all this other stuff. More people, for less fuel, and less CO2 output.

 

[cybr]

as if riding on a plane doesnt lurch your belly enough...

more bags sold for the seats?

 

[pythy]

Did anyone watch the movie Space Cowboys? There's a scene where a pilot performed a safe landing (simulated) from a stalled aircraft.

 

[zachary k]

will this make it harder to find my gate?

 

[beayn]

If you land it on a wire, how are you going to get out of it?

 

[jv_acabal]

[citation][nom]beayn[/nom]If you land it on a wire, how are you going to get out of it?[/citation]

Excellent question! =D

That is too much to imitate from nature.

 

[jv_acabal]

Passengers, please take the exit tree to the right. Someone will be there soon to take you down. Hehehe..

 

[kingnoobe]

Just because this seems useless doesn't mean it is. What they are trying to do, may very well lead to something 1000x better. You people do realize that most of the knowledge and tech we have today came from sciencetist trying to do something completely different.

 

[blackbeastofaaaaagh]

Actually the idea is not so crazy as it sounds and is hardly new. Almost all of modern aviation design works along laminar fluid flow while nature has used turbulent flow in ingenious ways. The king of all-round flight, arguably the dragon-fly, entirely uses turbulence/stalled flight.

Aircraft wings aren't nearly as complex as those of birds due to limitations of metals and flap mechanisms. However, all this may change with future availability of shape changing nano-machine based materials.

Long runways take up valuable real-estate and often have big ecological impacts. Air travel is only going to exponentially increase and some are even predicting the ubiquitousness of small commuter aircraft taking over the role of buses. The ability to land in confined spaces may turn out to be just as high on the economic chart as fuel efficiency. It's priority may turn out to be even higher than the latter if the vision held by the proponents of cheap/clean bio-algae fuel becomes a reality.