Passenger plane design set to evolve in the name of efficiency and emissions control

A flying saucer shape is one option to be investigated by the CleanEra group in its push for cleaner, greener and more efficient aircraft body shapes.

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July 31, 2007 The standard aircraft design with which we have all become so familiar throughout the 20th century is headed for the scrap heap. Despite its ubiquitous nature, the traditional shape is set to be superseded in the push towards cleaner, greener aircraft that can transport people around the globe using less and less fuel. We wrote recently about Boeing’s Blended-Wing Body (BWB) aircraft, currently in testing – and now a new research group at a Netherlands university has been formed with the explicit goal of consigning the current shape of passenger airliners to the history books. The CleanEra project will investigate BWB, high-tech propeller engines and even UFO-style body shapes in their efforts to produce a light, efficient airliner model that produces less noise and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50% over current designs.

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