Looking at this brings back memories of my Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate capstone project. We were tasked with putting together a conceptual design of an

Looking at this brings back memories of my Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate capstone project. We were tasked with putting together a conceptual design of an airliner-type aircraft. Inevitably some of the projects end up going for "innovative" configuration born out of lack of experience and understanding for WHY the tube+wing design has completely dominated the airliner market since the 1940s. The feedback from industry experts ends up being a great learning experience, which is why it makes for an excellent school project. Not sure about a viable engineering company though.... Few things: > the patent-pending ‘SE200′ concept features a lightweight tri-wing layout to enhance lift over drag Weird statement. Generating lift is the extremely easy. You don't need 3 wings to do this. Doing so while minimizing drag as much as possible is what's hard, as more lift results in more drag. Looking at all that extra wing surface tells me the parasite drag is going way up. You'd be much better off placing that same surface to extend the wing length, which would reduce tip vorticity drag. Also having three-wings in a horizontal line like this is going to dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the rear wings. Wings produce downwash in the airstream that negatively impacts performance of any surface downstream. This is why canard designs have to be designed VERY carefully. So right away the "will minimize drag" claim is pure fantasy. > Fuel is stored on top of the fuselage in self-sealing bladders, and not in the wings. This really reminds me of something an undergraduate would put in their capstone project borne out of their lack of knowledge. Fuel stored in the wing is a good thing, as it alleviates bending stress due to lift and helps dampen aero-elastic phenomena. Also, this way the fuel mass (which changes during flight) doesn't significantly move the center of gravity, thus changing the stability and control characteristics of the aircraft, and not creating more trim drag. Just a first pass analysis to distract me from work. I hope some more people here can pick this apart more. With a bit more time, I'd like to examine the stall characteristics on this vehicle (which I imagine are just atrocious) .