4 ms·

> If you want to fly from Germany to the Canarian Islands for 50 EUR round trip then you're going to end up with unstable airframes. How does B follow from A?

• neuronic 8y ago
  B follows from A because in part A makes B economically possible. Reductions in fuel consumption factor greatly into ticket prices. It's easy to reduce services (luggage, refreshments, leg space) but reducing fuel consumption is entirely up to the aircraft manufacturers.
  • usrusr 8y ago
    But you don't need instability to get fuel economy, all you need is an airframe that actually matches the current engines instead of a relic from the 1960ies that was designed for tiny inefficient low-bypass engines. A plane designed for the new engines could be perfectly benign without sacrificing efficiency. Even a more properly adapted 737 that had the changes required to solve the problems aerodynamically instead could be fuel efficient.
    • neuronic 8y ago
      Oh that's true, except a new airframe leads to new everything, including certifications and training for pilots. Those do not come free.
    • inferiorhuman 8y ago
      Things that lead to instability can help, look at Boeing's MD-11. The horizontal stabilizer was made smaller than the DC-10 for fuel efficiency but resulted in a plane that was a handful to land safely.