4 ms·

I wonder when we will move away from the current plane designs, they all look the same for decades now! I think a change like the one in automotive industry in

I wonder when we will move away from the current plane designs, they all look the same for decades now! I think a change like the one in automotive industry in the last century would be welcome. I'd personally love to see some more 'edgy' shapes with less curves (ala F-117).

AlgorithmicTime 9y ago
You know the reason the F-117 is "edgy" is to reduce radar cross section? And that there are better ways to do that - look at the B-2, F-22, or F-35.
pdelbarba 9y ago
There's a reason the F-117 is the only airframe that looks like that. It had the aerodynamic efficiency of a brick. The fact is, current airliners have reached a balance of a number of factors resulting in them all looking the same. Ever wonder why the old DC10 style tri-jets went out of favor? Too hard to maintain the tail engine. Concorde? Burned too much fuel, excessively high landing speed/distance (11,800 ft 0_o) because of it's short wings needed for supersonic flight. Why are there no flying wing B-2 style airliners like Popular Science prophetizes about every few years? Nowhere to put windows. Also, tubes lend themselves better to the pressurization cycles that airliners experience. The fact is, it turns out given current market constraints the optimal design is two engines, tube fuselage, narrow swept wings. Style has absolutely no influence over the economics of airline operation.
cmurf 9y ago
The F117 is an inherently unstable aircraft, which is why it's also maneuverable. Passenger planes are designed to be dynamically and statically stable, they're harder to stall, easier to recover from a stall, are not prone to stall spins, etc. Whether the main wing or the horizontal stabilizer stalls first, the plane is recoverable (including with a failed powerplant). That's not a given with other designs. As soon as you go with a candard design, you have to ensure the canard always stalls first or you've got an unrecoverability problem. Existing designs are less complex is what it comes down to.
- pdelbarba 9y ago
  Side note: in the case where you can allow the canard to stall before the wing without significant design compromises, this lends itself to a much less violent stall behavior. IIRC a good example of this is the Rutan Long EZ
thenextman 9y ago
The shape of the F117 is a result of the limitations of computer technology at the time http://luckyrobot.com/limitations-shaped-stealth-fighter/ http://luckyrobot.com/limitations-shaped-stealth-fighter/

AlgorithmicTime 9y ago

You know the reason the F-117 is "edgy" is to reduce radar cross section? And that there are better ways to do that - look at the B-2, F-22, or F-35.

pdelbarba 9y ago

There's a reason the F-117 is the only airframe that looks like that. It had the aerodynamic efficiency of a brick. The fact is, current airliners have reached a balance of a number of factors resulting in them all looking the same. Ever wonder why the old DC10 style tri-jets went out of favor? Too hard to maintain the tail engine. Concorde? Burned too much fuel, excessively high landing speed/distance (11,800 ft 0_o) because of it's short wings needed for supersonic flight. Why are there no flying wing B-2 style airliners like Popular Science prophetizes about every few years? Nowhere to put windows. Also, tubes lend themselves better to the pressurization cycles that airliners experience. The fact is, it turns out given current market constraints the optimal design is two engines, tube fuselage, narrow swept wings. Style has absolutely no influence over the economics of airline operation.

cmurf 9y ago

The F117 is an inherently unstable aircraft, which is why it's also maneuverable. Passenger planes are designed to be dynamically and statically stable, they're harder to stall, easier to recover from a stall, are not prone to stall spins, etc. Whether the main wing or the horizontal stabilizer stalls first, the plane is recoverable (including with a failed powerplant). That's not a given with other designs. As soon as you go with a candard design, you have to ensure the canard always stalls first or you've got an unrecoverability problem. Existing designs are less complex is what it comes down to.

pdelbarba 9y ago
Side note: in the case where you can allow the canard to stall before the wing without significant design compromises, this lends itself to a much less violent stall behavior. IIRC a good example of this is the Rutan Long EZ

thenextman 9y ago

The shape of the F117 is a result of the limitations of computer technology at the time http://luckyrobot.com/limitations-shaped-stealth-fighter/ http://luckyrobot.com/limitations-shaped-stealth-fighter/