Here comes the Boeing 797?

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Member for

19 years 4 months

Posts: 664

Will it really hold 1000 pax? Find out HERE :rolleyes:

Original post

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,190

Interesting.....but........Boeing is commited to the 747-800..........and a BWB is one HUGE leap in equipment.....not sure if the public (or airlines ) will go for it.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 9,683

They've been talking about the BWB for years. There was one flying model that was prop powered and had a 17 foot (I believe) wingspan then another that was to be jet powered and 30 or so feet across and was to have an X-plane designation but never heard anything more of it.

"NASA is developing a 35-foot wing span, remotely-piloted research aircraft based on the BWB design. The vehicle is called the Blended Wing Body-Low-Speed Vehicle (BWB-LSV). The primary goals of the test and research project are to study the flight and handling characteristics of the BWB design, match the vehicle's performance with engineering predictions based on computer and wind tunnel studies, develop and evaluate digital flight control algorithms, and assess the integration of the propulsion system to the airframe.

The Blended Wing Body research project is a partnership between NASA's Aerospace Vehicle Systems Technology Program and the Boeing Company. Funding and workforce for the project comes from both sources. In addition, the Flight Research Base Program at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., and Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va., are partners in the testing phase of this project.

Over the past several years, wind tunnel and free-flight tests have been conducted to study certain aerodynamic characteristics of the BWB design. At the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., researchers tested three wind tunnel models of the BWB-LSV to evaluate the design's stability and control and spin/tumble characteristics. Data obtained during these tests were used to develop flight control laws and helped to define the flight research program. The researchers will incorporate all of the wind-tunnel (and later flight) data into simulations of the BWB-LSV and a full-scale BWB to evaluate the plane's flying characteristics.

BWB-LSV Description

The BWB-LSV is a 14%-scale version of the 450-passenger study aircraft. Built primarily of composite materials and weighing about 2,500 lb., the platform features a wide arrowhead-like body that blends into tapered wings swept aft. Flight control surfaces, or elevons, span the trailing edges of the wings while the rudders are located in winglets on each wing tip.

Three 240-lb thrust turbojet engines, from Williams International Corporation, Walled Lake, Mich., will be mounted on low aerodynamic pylons across the rear portion of the center body. All three engines will operate from a single fuel tank located near the vehicle's center of gravity. The maximum speed of the BWB-LSV will be about 165 mph.

Electric actuators in the flight control system link the exterior control surfaces with a central digital fly-by-wire flight control computer carried in the center body of the aircraft. The aircraft will be flown by a NASA research pilot sitting at a cockpit station in the remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) facility at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Instruments and displays in the RPV cockpit will provide the pilot with the same systems and performance data commonly displayed in conventional research aircraft cockpits.

Two small video cameras will be installed on the BWB-LSV. One, behind the mock cockpit windscreen, presents a forward-looking view on a large video screen in the RPV cockpit station. The NASA project pilot will use this view, along with the cockpit instrument array, to fly the vehicle. The second camera will be mounted atop the rearward portion of the center body, to view external areas of the vehicle during flight.

Numerous sensors installed throughout the vehicle will measure aerodynamic loads, air pressures, temperatures, engine performance, and other important test and research parameters during each flight. Data will be automatically transmitted to the Dryden mission control center and monitored during flight by project engineers and other members of the test team.

A spin recovery system built into the test aircraft will allow the vehicle to be flown to its maximum angle of attack and as slow as its stall speed. The system will be used to deploy a parachute if the vehicle begins an uncontrollable descent, such as an unrecoverable spin. The parachute attach line would be cut, separating the vehicle from the canopy as soon as stabilized flight could be resumed.

Construction of the BWB-LSV began in early 2000 and is scheduled for completion in late 2002. Integration and ground testing of the vehicle will continue through 2003, followed by the test flight program. When assembly of the BWB-LSV is completed at the Langley Research Center, it will undergo three months of wind tunnel testing at the Old Dominion University (ODU) Full-Scale Wind Tunnel Facility in Hampton, Va.

Research in ODU's massive 30 by 60-foot wind tunnel will include operating the engines and the external flight control surfaces at various air speeds. Data from this research will give engineers and designers a better understanding of the aerodynamics associated with the BWB's unique design prior to flight, as well as a unique opportunity to test the same vehicle on the ground and in flight."

Never heard another word.

I guess I shoulda known to go here first. . .

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/x-48.html

Member for

17 years 11 months

Posts: 46

Hi Guys

I did a research Project into the BWB and its suitability for Heathrow and JFK, as you know planning process in the UK ios very dfficult and from the research done It would mean Heathrow will most definetly need a third Runway and a 6th terminal and can someone remind me how long did it take before T5 was approved.

As for the BWB I for one believe it will go ahead as Having spoken to peopple at Boeing there is talk of Tests being carried out by 2012 and the BWB come into service by 2015, so how many do you think China and India will buy of these Ugly Looking things.

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20 years 5 months

Posts: 10,625

The need for Airbus' much fanfared A380 with 550 average seat count has been less than spectacular, popular with the usual suspects yes, but its not setting records in appeal is it?

I see no need for a 1000 seater BWB. Smaller variants perhaps, it could be the way to go in the future for 767/330/777 sized aircraft.

Also Boeing are on record as saying that they see the VLA market as pretty small, hence the lack of an A380 competitor. Besides, Boeing's product strategy for the last 10 years has been geared towards smaller, more fuel efficiant jets. And it continues to be so wit hthe 787. Boeong are so far finding the demand for such jerts to be more or less spot on with what the they predicted in the 80s.
It would be insanity to commit what will undoubtedly be a vast sum of money to develop a super huge BWB and throw all the hard work out of the window. And it will cost a heck of a lot. This is a new approach to Aircraft design and construction, let alone an entirely ne way of fitting passengers inside. The BWB will require a whole new way of certification and governing. All this will take many years and a lot of dollars.

It would perhaps makes sense if the A380 was selling in vast numbers, indicating a very hungry need for VLAs, but that just isn't the case.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 9,683

This in today:

" Media Invited to Blended Wing Body Wind Tunnel Test

(Source: NASA; issued April 26, 2006)

HAMPTON, Va. --- The future meets the past as researchers from NASA, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force test what could be the shape of some airplanes to come. Engineers have installed a small-scale blended wing body prototype in an historic wind tunnel that once hosted some of America's greatest aviation pioneers, including Orville Wright, Howard Hughes and Charles Lindbergh.

Designated the X-48B by the U.S. Air Force, the prototype was developed by Boeing Phantom Works, St. Louis, Mo. It is being tested in the Langley Full- Scale Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The 21-foot wingspan aircraft, designed and built to Boeing specifications by Cranfield Aerospace, Cranfield, England, is an 8.5 percent scale version of a blended wing body concept. A blended wing body looks like a modified triangular-shaped wing and different than traditional tube and wing airplanes.

Technicians from Old Dominion University in nearby Norfolk, Va., which operates the wind tunnel, are putting the X-48B through a series of tests in the huge 30- by 60-foot test section. Engineers from Boeing and NASA want to assess the prototype's aerodynamic characteristics and use the wind tunnel data to better predict how it will react during flight tests later this year at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base. Calif.

The Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, has partnered with NASA and Boeing in the research effort. The Air Force is interested in the blended wing body concept's potential as a multi-role military aircraft that could be used for many different missions. "

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,228

technically possible and a great freighter/tanker/airlifter idea....I would put the certification as the 'challenging' point........how on earth do you get people out of that thing quick enough? on the ground? during a successful ditching? Will people go for a cabin with VERY few windows? will they accept 'synthetic' windows?? Another point, given the width of the cabin in a bwb, passengers will experience noticeable acceleration during rolling manouveres, with consequent added tilt.........you will be able to look across the cabin in either the up or the down direction.........hmm drinks trolleys stowed for that i reckon!! Otherwise flat turns could be SOP.......take ages to go anywhere.....we were talking about this at lunch......the lack of doors would seem to be the show stopper at the moment. If people really want a 1000 seats single class, presumably for the indian and chinese market, the 380 can be stretched for that requirement as far as I know.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 9,683

With the thing being as wide as it is maybe you could put some emergency "slides" that go through the floor? Still though can you imagine being on the furthest starboard seat and the thing does a 30 degree (or whatever the highest they normally do is) bank???? Better make sure you don't have a fear of heights :eek:

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19 years

Posts: 1,190

And hope the thing is still on its landing gear if you have to evacuate........

Member for

18 years 6 months

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With the thing being as wide as it is maybe you could put some emergency "slides" that go through the floor?

Either that or you could have 'ejector seats'...lmao. :D:D:diablo:

Personally, I don't think it will happen cos it does not look aesthetically pleasing, and also would require lots of investment, not only on the aircraft itself, but also for airport improvements to accomodate it!

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19 years 8 months

Posts: 741

If you thought that A380 hit every branch on the ugly tree while on a steep decent...then the proposed/future design concept 797 hit every branch on the bounce back up!

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19 years 1 month

Posts: 742

And hope the thing is still on its landing gear if you have to evacuate........

This thing will need UP and DOWN escape hatches... Maybe also exits through the leading edges or through constant height tunnels towards the rear...

Why do we necessarily assume that the BWB cabin will allow all-through unimpeded view from one lateral extreme to the other? Maybe the cabin will eventually just look/feel to the pax like three or four widebody cabins sitting side by side...

When a conventional airliner lands rough on the ground usually landing gears are ripped off, maybe even the wings, what about a BWB airliner? How would this thing crash, like a wakeboard? In the end is this design safer or more dangerous?? Will the engines pods be jetisonable? would the BWB glide if it ran out of fuel?

When compared to the A-380 would it have higher or lower weight pressure over the pavement/tarmac? how many wheels and bogeys must it have, how will it turn on the ground?

Many interesting issues!

Comments?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,887

So they restarted it? This picture had been going round the web already since before the sonic cruiser and god knows how many proposed 747 derivatives.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 9,683

The thing has been around for a LONG time. IIRC it originated with McDonnell Douglas's Phantom Works. BTW why would they need to jettison the engines, they're on top?

Member for

24 years 2 months

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the engines are big and move very fast! great for chopping up passengers.......besides them being rather hot. Jettisoning would improve your options, in fact it would become a decent glider if you could trim the cg shift out, if you jettisoned in the air.......the c-shape wingtip would make for a big wingtip joint, and you can do without weight at the wingtip because of the inertial forces generated by gusts...........whilst you may only ever feel 3g max in the fuse, the wing tip can be whipping about at around 14g (IIRC for the 380).

you could improve the escape system by jettisoning the rear end of the fuselage using explosive bolts around a couple of the fuselage frames.

interesting design but I think it is destined for the military as a C-5 replacement when the time comes.

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19 years

Posts: 1,190

I think the BWB is a long ways off.....but...........if there ever IS a 797.......could it possibly be a narrow body 737 replacement? I mean.......the basic 737 design is OLD. How much longer can it be competative? Could Boeing go for a narrowbody with 787 tech?

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,228

these concepts get more appealing with size. Personally, I would think Boeing would go for a 787 Junior.

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18 years 11 months

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the engines are big and move very fast! great for chopping up passengers.......besides them being rather hot.

:rolleyes: How would they be any different than those on current aircraft? Or the L-1011 and DC-10/MD-11 for that matter?

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24 years 2 months

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plenty different, for a start there is more than one engine.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 9,683

plenty different, for a start there is more than one engine.

How bout a 727? How bout that British thing with 2 on each side on the back? :rolleyes:

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,202

BWB is a sound idea technically. Could be an option for a 737 replacement even. As this could offer a 747 3+4+3 or 2+4+2 seating layout, which would not be totally alien to passengers.