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> They must carry huge payloads in order to make lots of money per flight from paying passengers. It would be great to have high aspect ratio wings on airliners

> They must carry huge payloads in order to make lots of money per flight from paying passengers. It would be great to have high aspect ratio wings on airliners, as the efficiency would slash fuel bills significantly. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to make them strong enough for such heavy-duty purposes. There simply isn’t room for the structure and material required. Are they going to try and squeeze some more seats onto the trusses? I'm sure they could fit at least one on each strut landing.

hinkley 3y ago
Wing tanks keep the fuel from occupying the fuselage. While in theory you could store things elsewhere, practically the logistics of loading and unloading a craft require containers that fit into the airplane. Which means those containers that fit into a cylindrical section. A small amount of space used by the stewards for supplies or storing carryons might work in limited amounts, say for first class.
- gardenfelder 3y ago
  Spreading the load a wing must lift along the wing is an important way to be able to make a lighter wing, owing to the fact that part of its load is now distributed along where the lift is being generated.
  - hinkley 3y ago
    Definitely. Liquid cargo has a really good property of being able to go around corners and through narrow passages, as long as the rates are reasonable. And they don't tend to jam, so you don't need to store them in human accessible locations. Of course they also slosh, which means you need some tricks to keep the sloshing from causing issues. This conversation does bring to mind the lifting body plane Boeing thought they were going to make. I wonder how they planned to load and unload that sucker? It would have taken multiple bays to do efficiently. And I don't know how you keep the crates from shifting. In a cylindrical craft the bulkheads and the ribs are right there to brace against.
aidenn0 3y ago
I think you are reading that backwards; the trusses allow lower costs, so can be more profitable with the same payload.

hinkley 3y ago

Wing tanks keep the fuel from occupying the fuselage. While in theory you could store things elsewhere, practically the logistics of loading and unloading a craft require containers that fit into the airplane. Which means those containers that fit into a cylindrical section. A small amount of space used by the stewards for supplies or storing carryons might work in limited amounts, say for first class.

gardenfelder 3y ago
Spreading the load a wing must lift along the wing is an important way to be able to make a lighter wing, owing to the fact that part of its load is now distributed along where the lift is being generated.
- hinkley 3y ago
  Definitely. Liquid cargo has a really good property of being able to go around corners and through narrow passages, as long as the rates are reasonable. And they don't tend to jam, so you don't need to store them in human accessible locations. Of course they also slosh, which means you need some tricks to keep the sloshing from causing issues. This conversation does bring to mind the lifting body plane Boeing thought they were going to make. I wonder how they planned to load and unload that sucker? It would have taken multiple bays to do efficiently. And I don't know how you keep the crates from shifting. In a cylindrical craft the bulkheads and the ribs are right there to brace against.

aidenn0 3y ago

I think you are reading that backwards; the trusses allow lower costs, so can be more profitable with the same payload.