December 31, 1968 the legendary Soviet took off on its first flight Tu-144 aircraft, which became the world's first passenger supersonic airliner. The first, but not the last. And even though such flights have now stopped, the idea of traveling faster than the speed of sound has not faded away. And this review of ours is dedicated to history supersonic and hypersonic aviation, as well as her future.
The Bell X-1 is an experimental aircraft built in the United States specifically to explore the possibility of supersonic flight. This flying vehicle was equipped with a rocket engine, and was lifted into the air by another, larger device. The Bell X-1 was the first to break the sound barrier. It happened on October 14, 1947.
Even now, the Tu-144 can be called the most beautiful and stylish creation of domestic aviation. This aircraft became the world's first passenger airliner designed to fly above the speed of sound. Unfortunately, his story was quick and tragic. It carried passengers for less than a year - two high-profile accidents cast serious doubt on the reliability of this vehicle, and the profitability of flights was very negative. But the Tu-144 appeared in the film “Mimino” - it was on it that the main character of the film flew, becoming a civil aviation pilot. But the plane was cut out from “The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia.”
The fate of the French Concorde aircraft was much more successful. This supersonic airliner took off just two months later than the Soviet one, on March 2, 1969, and operated on passenger airlines from 1976 to 2003. The reason for decommissioning is still the same - a high-profile accident and unprofitability. The crisis in the air transportation markets after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as the development of online communications, also had an impact.
But the history of supersonic passenger aviation did not, apparently, end with the death of Concorde. After all, it is expected that in 2017 the QSST (SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport) aircraft from the famous American company Lockheed Martin will make its first flight. This airliner is designed for only twelve passengers - it is intended for charter business transportation.
Recently, the idea of hypersonic passenger aviation has become increasingly popular. It involves the creation of aircraft that will be able to ascend into suborbital orbit and fly there at speeds that are unthinkable in the atmosphere (5 Mach and higher, where M is the Mach number, a relative value exceeding 1000 kilometers per hour).
Until now, the idea of hypersonic flights looks like a fantasy in the minds of most ordinary people. However, the first aircraft to break the hypersonic barrier was launched back in 1959. We are talking about the American rocket plane North American X-15, which for 50 years held the record for altitude and flight speed among aircraft. These characteristics were 107.96 km and 7274 km/h, respectively.
The famous American research company DARPA conducted two tests of the Falcon HTV unmanned aerial vehicle in 2010 and 2011. Raised into the upper atmosphere using launch vehicles, Falcon HTV-1 and Falcon HTV-2 accelerated to a speed of approximately Mach 20, which became an absolute record for man-made objects. True, both launches ended unsuccessfully - the devices lost flight stability and crashed into the ocean. And they had nothing to do with civil aviation - the project was rather military. However, DARPA has proven that hypersonic flight has a great future, and the record, which lasted about fifty years, can easily be broken several times at once.
But there are also projects in the world for passenger hypersonic aircraft. The most famous and well-developed of them is the SpaceLiner device, work on which has been carried out at the German Aviation and Space Center since 2005. Like other similar projects, SpaceLiner implies that it will rise to its flight altitude not independently, but by means of a rocket. And only after reaching a mark of several tens of kilometers, it will be able to begin to pick up speed, which, by the way, according to the authors’ plans, will reach Mach 28. This will allow you to travel from London to Australia in just 90 minutes. The technology seems to be taken from a science fiction film, but very real existing devices use a similar lifting principle.
People have always strived to conquer the sky, and it seemed that not a single person was given the ability to fly like a bird - one only has to remember the myth of Icarus. Since the advent of the Wright brothers' first gliders at the beginning of the 20th century, aircraft designers have repeatedly crossed technological boundaries and created revolutions. Today we no longer consider the massive use of unmanned aerial vehicles or aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen to be science fiction. But new technologies need to be backed by unconditional guarantees of safety and security, and companies around the world are working hard to win the support of their passengers.
Video game controls
Technology for civil aircraft Active Stick, developed in 2018 by BAE Systems, is used on the Gulfstream G500 business jet, where it provides haptic feedback to the pilot's systems. Active Stick gives him the ability to literally physically feel his car instead of relying only on instrument readings.
BAE Systems- UK defense company. It is one of the top 10 global arms companies.
Gulfstream G550 is a twin-engine business jet aircraft manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation.
Image: Gulfstream
Fly-by-Wire (FBW)- a system that replaced the previous manual (mechanical) aircraft control circuit with an electronic one - one of the wonders of modern aerospace technology. Previous generation aircraft were controlled using a huge number of cables, cables, pulleys and hydraulics, which significantly made the aircraft heavier. However, according to experts, using a computer joystick reduces the actual experience of flying to the level of a video game.
Fly-by-wire control system (EDSU, Fly-by-Wire)- an aircraft control system that ensures the transmission of control signals from the controls in the cockpit (for example, from the aircraft control stick, rudder pedals) to the actuators of aerodynamic surfaces (rudders and takeoff and landing mechanization of the wing) in the form of electrical signals. It was first used in the American Vigilante bombers in 1961.
Boeing, like BAE Systems, is experimenting with an automated approach to control. The company introduced a new computer control function in models Boeing 737 MAX 8 And MAX 9. It avoids stalling, which can occur if the aircraft's nose is raised too much. However, experts warn that during emergency situations this tool may not work correctly and simply send the plane into a dive even with manual control. The manuals for the new planes did not mention that Boeing's control could change during an emergency, and airline officials are somewhat confused by the company's lack of comment. Moreover, some experts fear that it was this new feature that led to the Java Sea disaster.
On October 29, 2018, a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff. The plane crash killed 189 people.
Due to the emergence of a huge number of new technologies in the aircraft industry, the question inevitably arises about the safety of using artificial intelligence and autonomous computer solutions. To ensure the safety of the SkyGrid airspace, a blockchain system in which all data on the flights of unmanned aerial vehicles will be stored. Artificial intelligence will analyze large volumes of data. The neural network will also be able to transmit all information about flights to state aviation dispatch systems.
Ultrafast and unmanned aircraft
In June of this year, Boeing Corporation presented at a conference in Atlanta a project for a hypersonic aircraft that would fly from New York to London in two hours and from New York to Tokyo in three hours. The speed of the Boeing aircraft should be five times higher than the speed of sound: it will exceed 6 thousand km/h. For comparison, the maximum speed of the supersonic passenger plane Concorde was twice the speed of sound. According to Boeing estimates, it will take at least 20–30 years to create a hypersonic aircraft.
Image: Boeing
"Concord"- British-French supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS), one of two (together with Tu-144) types of supersonic aircraft that were in commercial operation.
Concorde was created through a merger in 1962. A total of 20 aircraft were produced. The first flight of the prototype took place in 1969, and entry into commercial service occurred in 1976. Over 27 years of regular and charter flights, more than 3 million passengers have been transported.
On July 25, 2000, one plane crashed while taking off from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 people. This disaster suspended Concorde flights for a year and a half. In subsequent years, work was carried out to modify the aircraft fleet. But after the resumption of flights, a series of incidents followed, the most notable of which were the failure of one of the rudder sections and a fuel leak, which resulted in an engine shutdown.
On April 10, 2003, British Airways and Air France announced their decision to cease commercial operations of their Concorde fleet.
In Russia, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) is developing a project for a hypersonic passenger aircraft with liquid hydrogen engines. TsAGI General Director Kirill Sypalo said that the appearance of domestic hydrogen aircraft is scheduled for 2030–2031. It is planned that hypersonic aircraft will carry out passenger transportation throughout Russia.
Image: TsAGI
In three years Airbus, Rolls-Royce And Siemens will conduct the first flight tests of the E-Fan X hybrid aircraft. The design will be based on the BAE 146 passenger aircraft. Engineers will replace one of the four BAE 146 turbofan gas engines with a hybrid engine. Its operation will be ensured by batteries and an on-board generator running on aviation fuel.
Aurora Flight Sciences, a subsidiary of aircraft developer Boeing, launched the first solar-powered unmanned aircraft in 2019. The Odysseus unmanned scientific aircraft is designed for continuous flight and climate and atmospheric research. The creators claim that Odysseus will be able to fly for several months at a time and produce zero carbon dioxide emissions. Boeing will mainly use the drone for weather monitoring, but the range of possible applications is much wider - communications, reconnaissance, science. Boeing specialists note that they can reprogram Odysseus depending on the tasks.
Norway is moving in the same direction - organizing environmentally friendly flights. Falk-Petersen, head of the state-owned Norwegian company Avinor, said that to begin with, airlines will test “transitional technologies” - biofuels and hybrid engines. Avinor also plans to organize a tender to launch a commercial flight using a small aircraft designed for 19 passengers. The first flights of the aircraft should take place in 2025. From 2040, all short-haul aircraft in Norway will switch to electric propulsion.
Avinor AS is a public limited company that operates the majority of civil airports in Norway. The Norwegian state, through the Ministry of Transport and Communications, controls 100% of the authorized capital.
The first mass-produced electric aircraft to go on sale was the Alisport Silent Club single-seat glider in 1997. It was driven by a 13 kW engine.
Since May 2015, Slovenian manufacturer Pipistrel The Alpha Electro model is a two-seat all-electric aircraft designed for training.
Lockheed Martin has already announced the completion of the “drawing” stage of aircraft development X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) and the beginning of its immediate production. The first test flight is scheduled for 2021.
Long-term cooperation between Lockheed Martin and NASA suggested the goal of creating the X-plane QueSST - testing technologies that will eventually make it possible to obtain a low-noise commercial supersonic aircraft that does not create problems for city residents.
The X-59 QueSST will fly at an altitude of 17 thousand meters at a speed of 1,512 km/h, while the noise at the moment of breaking the sound barrier will not exceed 75 dB, which corresponds to the loudness of a bang when closing a car door.
Russia has already undergone flight certification tests of two new passenger aircraft. MS-21-300. During testing, they will be subjected to repeated loads simulating at least 180 thousand flights. The uniqueness of this airliner lies in the wing made of polymer composites, the first in the world created for aircraft with a capacity of over 130 passengers. Thanks to this design, operating costs for operating the MS-21 will be 12–15% lower than those of its analogues. The share of composites in the MC-21 design is over 30% and is unique for this class of aircraft.
In 2018, Russian developers presented a new turbine engine TV7-117ST-01. Its characteristics generally increase the efficiency of the entire almost fully automated system. It has already been installed on the Il-114-300 passenger aircraft, which will be intended for operation on local airlines. The engine will increase, compared to the Il-114, the flight range with a full permissible load to 1,900 km.
Flying cars and a backpack on your back
Technical Director Rolls-Royce Paul Stein named three categories of aircraft that will be the first to switch to electric propulsion. The first category includes air taxis - small aircraft designed for one to four passengers, with a cruising range of no more than 120 km. “For such vessels, the batteries are almost ready,” Stein said. This probably explains the increased popularity of the idea of creating and putting into operation flying cars, which is what small air taxis are now called. Guardian cites Chinese Geely-owned startup Terrafugia as examples, as well as Slovenian company Pipistrel. Airbus is also developing its version of the air taxi together with specialists from Audi and its subsidiary Italdesign.
November 27 this year air taxi concept Pop.Up Next was presented in Amsterdam at the annual drone week, where it successfully demonstrated all the functions included in it.
The concept has an important feature - it is modular, thanks to which it can transport passengers both by land and by air. Pop.Up Next consists of three separate modules. A 60 kW (80 hp) electric chassis is attached to the passenger capsule, thereby forming an electric vehicle. At the same time, passengers, using a special application, will be able to call a flying module at any time (for example, hopelessly stuck in a traffic jam) and, having connected with it, arrive by air at their destination.
A separate direction in the development of civil aviation is JetMan - jet backpacks that will allow a person to fly in the future. The aircraft is controlled only by shifting the center of gravity. The backpack can reach speeds of up to 300 km/h, the maximum flight range is ten minutes.
The trend towards mobility of aircraft capable of moving even within a metropolis, unmanned technologies and hypersonic speeds already today reflects the future situation of civil aviation. Movement in three dimensions is the future of transport, which, according to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, is within 20–30 years. But perhaps all these inventions are unnecessary if soon we will only need a backpack on our back to cover a distance of a thousand kilometers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, watching the first flight of the new Tu-160 bomber in Kazan, invited aircraft manufacturers to think about creating a supersonic passenger aircraft. The iz.ru portal recalls the history of such aircraft, which were already in operation in the USSR, France and Great Britain. The future belongs to aviation, to combat aviation, in order to ensure the country's defense capability, and to civil aviation too. But we, as we have just discussed, need to think about the civilian version of such aircraft. With such a huge territory as ours, the flight from Moscow to New York is not much longer than to Vladivostok. Therefore, I am sure that this will be in demand,” said the head of state, commenting on the resumption of serial production of the Tu-160 bomber at Kazansky The first thing to note is that discussing the proposed proposal straightforwardly, in the option of creating a supersonic passenger aircraft directly on the basis of a multi-mode missile-carrying bomber with variable wing geometry, is a rather difficult task. This is not only an expensive solution due to the complexity of the design that is unreasonable in civil aviation. The cruising speed of the Tu-160 is subsonic - 850 km/h, which, by the way, is 30–60 km/h lower than that of conventional modern wide-body aircraft, which casts doubt on even such a narrow hypothetical niche as a business jet for billionaires. Let us also recall that the cruising speed of both supersonic aircraft that were in commercial operation (Tu-144 and Concorde) exceeded Mach 2 and was about 2200 km/h. “Of course, we are not talking about creating an aircraft based on the Tu-160. Currently, several projects of supersonic business jets are being developed in the world, some of them were studied with the participation of Russian research centers,” Vedomosti quotes a top manager of one of the aviation industry enterprises in this regard. The issue of resuming the program of a fundamentally new supersonic passenger aircraft is an independent complex topic for discussion by specialists in the design and operation of aircraft. In the event that a sufficiently capacious market niche is found for the aircraft, which covers the costs of its creation and maintenance costs, the issue will move to the second stage, namely, the search in Russia for a design team capable of solving the problem. At the moment, the country is implementing two programs of fundamentally new aircraft (Superjet and MC-21), and the industry is also integrating into the Chinese CR929 wide-body airliner project. In fact, they are all built around Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Irkut (Engineering Center named after A.S. Yakovlev), which, as part of the proposed model for reforming the United Aircraft Corporation, will be merged into a centralized company dealing with commercial aircraft. In the meantime, let's try to remember how the fate of previous supersonic airliners turned out. First second
The design of supersonic passenger aircraft in the world began in the late 1950s. The Soviet Union, concentrating its resources, made the car first - in just five years that passed from the moment the decision to begin development until the first flight, which took place “under the Christmas tree” on December 31, 1968. The machine was extremely innovative for the domestic aviation industry (especially the civilian one); a lot of innovations were introduced into it. There is a front horizontal tail retractable into the fuselage (used during takeoff and landing), a liftable nose that covers the pilot's cockpit glazing at high speed, and interesting examples of on-board equipment. The aircraft was actively promoted to foreign markets, but it was never released abroad. The plane crash in June 1973 during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show also gave the car bad publicity. I had to look for a place for her only within the USSR. However, even with new engines (in the Tu-144D version), the vehicle, which, according to the technical specifications, was designed for a non-stop flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk, could only perform it with a minimum load. As a result, passenger service on this route never began, and two aircraft were transferred to the Moscow-Alma-Ata line. The cost of a ticket for the flight was 82 rubles. For comparison: a flight on a subsonic car on the same route cost 62 rubles, and for a similar price (83 rubles) you could fly by regular plane from Moscow to Irkutsk. Passenger flights of the Tu-144 were conducted only from November 1977 to May 1978. Aeroflot tried with all its might to get rid of an expensive and capricious car that did not completely meet its requirements. Taking advantage of the crash of an experimental Tu-144D aircraft that occurred near Yegoryevsk on May 23, 1978, regular supersonic passenger traffic in the USSR was stopped in favor of the Il-62. For some time they were used for urgent delivery of small cargo to the Far East. The Tu-144 program was finally closed in 1983 after the launch of the first domestic IL-86 wide-body aircraft into serial production. No agreement The Tu-144 became the first supersonic passenger aircraft to take off, but the British-French Concorde, whose first flight took place in March 1969, entered commercial operation earlier. Since the development was a joint Franco-British one (Concorde translates as “consent”), the car was received by British Airways and Air France (seven units each). Concorde performed its first flights in January 1976, these were the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio de Janeiro routes (with an intermediate stop in Dakar). Subsequently, the plane was used for flights to the USA: to Dulles Airport (in the suburbs of Washington), but mainly to New York. Planes also flew from London to Barbados, Toronto, Miami and Singapore, and from Paris to New York, Mexico City, and Caracas. The planes were expensive and could not compete with the economical transatlantic “heavy-lift” aircraft, such as the Boeing 747. The Concorde actually crossed the Atlantic in half the time: 3.5 hours instead of 7. But it consumed twice as much fuel as the 747s (and three times as much as the newer ones). Boeing 777), at the same time, had four times less passenger capacity and required special maintenance, which, moreover, could not be saved due to the small number of aircraft in the series. As a result, the key indicator - fuel consumption per 100 km of flight in terms of one passenger - reached 17 liters, with a similar indicator for wide-body competitors ranging from 2.5–3.5. Even the optimistic design figure for the total operating cost per passenger back in 1972 was estimated to be twice as high as that of contemporary 747s. Spare parts were also produced in small series, almost to order, and incurred incredible overhead costs for the operator. At the same time, the plane did not carry side cargo (except for very small ones), which further reduced the opportunity to earn money on a transatlantic flight. An expensive, stylish car, a symbol of a bygone era, was maintained only by high ticket prices. The widely held opinion about unprofitability is incorrect: it brought operating profit because there were enough people with a lot of money to pay for a status flight. Cars on the New York–London main line departed with an average of 70–80 passengers on board out of 100 seats, and the flight paid for itself with only 35 tickets sold. At the end of the operating period, the press wrote that British Airways extracted up to $30–50 million a year from its Concordes, Air France much less - up to $3 million. The main difficulties of the companies were that they spent enormous effort on maintaining a fleet that Moreover, they received it partially through government support. The British received two of their seven aircraft for the symbolic price of 1 pound, and the French took three for 1 franc each. In addition, until the mid-1980s, governments heavily subsidized airlines, financing up to 80% of their operating costs. There were no prospects for expanding the business; the aircraft remained a narrow niche offer for very rich people, an element of prestigious consumption. In the spring of 2003, both airlines made a joint decision to stop using the aircraft; the last flights took place in November of the same year. The 2000 disaster near Paris, where a French Concorde with 109 passengers and crew members crashed, dealt a strong blow to supersonic vehicles. The reasons also included the general crisis in the air transportation market after September 11, 2001 and the rising cost of service. In addition, the machines continued to fly in the technical form of the late 1970s, and the project to modernize their on-board equipment (in particular, cockpit electronics) required significant money and effort to organize the production of small batches of products. As a result, airlines decided that they would make more profit from the business classes of conventional airliners. Konstantin Bogdanov
aircraft factory.
Boston-based Spike Aerospace has been working on a supersonic business jet for several years. The company recently announced that it will soon conduct flight tests of the new S-512 Quiet Supersonic Jet. The experiment to prove the performance of the SX-1.2 concept will primarily focus on testing the stability and controllability of the aircraft. If everything goes well, then in the future Spike Aerospace promised to conduct a number of more dynamic and spectacular flights: the aircraft, capable of carrying up to 22 passengers, accelerates to a speed of Mach 1.6 (approximately 1900 km/h).
Supersonic transport: dream or reality?
According to company president Vik Kachoria, the test drone with a rigid wing will fly out of a “place in New England”, the exact coordinates of which have not yet been disclosed. Spike Aerospace has made no secret of its interest in improving supersonic aircraft technology, but now the firm has finally announced its planned development timeline. A second, larger demonstrator aircraft has already been built, while a third is still in the design stage. Flight testing is scheduled for mid-2018, and the S-512 itself will be tested in 2021, provided that all demonstration and test flights go well and the aircraft is reliable. The first flight of a full-size transport with real passengers on board is planned for 2023.
The S-512 is a mystery aircraft, around which many incredible rumors are swarming, which have not yet been refuted or confirmed by official representatives of the company. In theory, this model will be able to fly over land at supersonic speeds, which is currently prohibited by the FAA due to noise pollution. NASA designers are working on an experimental supersonic engine that operates with much less noise and prevents the impact of sound waves on the aircraft, which makes being in it quite comfortable. But the space agency hopes to conduct the first tests by 2020 at best, and Spike Aerospace already says the S-512 engine will generate 75 dBA at ground level - meaning from the ground it will be no louder than a normal hand clap. However, engineers are in no hurry to reveal details and exactly how they plan to reduce noise levels.
Instead of portholes, there are huge screens broadcasting the surrounding landscapes in real time.
The maximum flight range of the S-512 is 10,000 km, and the flight promises to be very comfortable. Of course, supersonic aircraft do not have windows, but Multiplex Digital Cabin technology allows you to replace them with screens that can broadcast a real view outside the aircraft in HD quality, and if desired, they can be used as a regular plasma panel.
The future of supersonic aircraft
Currently, Spike Aerospace is far from the only company developing supersonic passenger aircraft. For example, Denver-based Boom Supersonic, backed by Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic, is currently building a 1:3 scale demonstration model of a 50-passenger passenger jet capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 2.2. The model, called XB-1, will be equipped with a two-seat cabin, and its first test flight is scheduled for 2018. Another company, Aeron Corporation, has teamed up with Airbus to create another prototype supersonic vehicle, which will begin testing in 2020.
Spike Aerospace itself has also received support from a number of manufacturers and aerospace centers around the world: Quartus Engineering in the USA, Siemens in Germany and Aernnova in Spain, to name a few. Thanks to this, unlike competitors, the British are ready to provide customers with a fully operational aircraft and establish flights by the mid-2020s. But these are only optimistic promises, and we just have to be patient and wait for practical tests.
For more than a year now (he took off on March 9, 2015) he has been “finishing” his trip around the world, one might think that the development of passenger aviation has stopped or is even going in the opposite direction. Of course, Solar Impulse 2 is not the future of aviation, but modern aircraft are slower than supersonic ones Concords flying 30 years ago. New aircraft models generally differ from old ones only in greater fuel efficiency. Airbus is not even going to develop a new aircraft for the 2020s. However, everything is not so hopeless. The most promising projects in aeronautics are described below, demonstrating that the development of aviation is still ongoing.
Electric airplanes
Airbus-E-FanAirbus is testing a small but all-electric aircraft, the Airbus-E-Fan. The latest achievement of the aircraft is the flight across the English Channel. So far, this model cannot be used for any long flights, even by one person.
But many aircraft manufacturers have no doubt that electric aviation is the future. To begin with, it is planned, as in cars, to make a hybrid engine. Airbus intends to test a “more electric aircraft” as part of the DISPURSAL project in 2022. The contribution of the electric fan motor to the total thrust should be 23%.
NASA in 2016 announced the start of development of the X-57 Maxwell aircraft equipped with 14 electric engines. It will be a small four-seater aircraft. According to engineers, the introduction of electric motors will significantly reduce operating costs. The agency does not say when the aircraft will be created.
German startup Lilium Aviation has received funding to create an electric private jet that can take off and land without an airport. The plane will need only 225 meters to take off and land. The company has already created a prototype and plans to introduce a full-size version at the end of 2018.
Supersonic aircraft
Aerion AS2
The Aerion AS2 is the first supersonic aircraft from Airbus in a very long time. This is a private jet designed for 12 passengers. $4 billion will be invested in its development, and release is planned by 2023.
In early March, NASA announced the development of an almost silent supersonic aircraft, QueSST. The main reason for banning supersonic passenger aircraft (besides fuel economy) was the excessive noise when going supersonic. NASA has developed methods to get rid of the noise and expects to build a prototype around 2020.
Aviation startup Boom, backed by Virgin Galactic, is working on a supersonic plane. The startup plans to use the new aircraft to fly over the Atlantic 2.5 times faster than conventional aircraft. The $2 billion investment should allow the company to build a prototype by the end of 2017.
According to its creators, the Skylon aircraft will be able to reach any point in 4 hours at a speed 5 times faster than the speed of sound. To create it, British engineers are testing a new type of engine. They announced the first tests for 2019. However, this project, despite an investment of 60 million euros from the British government, is the most long-term and difficult to implement of all
New passenger aircraft
The largest aircraft manufacturers believe that aeronautics is already a miracle and, although a new aircraft appears every 5-10 years, there is no need for any breakthrough improvements. More details in the table.Airplane table
| Boeing 737 MAX
|
The Boeing 737 MAX has already received 2,500 orders and could become the market leader. Its claimed superiority over the existing leader, the Airbus A320neo, is that it consumes 4% less fuel. The first deliveries to customers will begin in 2017. | ||||||||
| MS-21
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The new Russian MS-21 aircraft will have a completely Russian engine. Putin stated that it would be in no way inferior to its foreign counterparts. Rogozin told reporters that mass production will begin in 2020. | ||||||||
| Mitsubishi Regional Jet
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Japan will build the first modern passenger jet airliner in its history. It is small and does not pretend to be anything. Planned start of operation in 2018. | ||||||||
| Comac C919
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But the first Chinese passenger airliner in a long time, Comac C919, is going to break the duopoly of Boeing and Airbus in the market. True, so far there are 500 orders for it, mainly from Chinese carriers. Release date: 2018. | ||||||||
| E2
|
The Brazilian company Embraer is not even going to create a new airliner, but is simply modernizing the current model and calling it the second generation. New engines and better fuel economy are expected. Nevertheless, contracts have already been concluded for more than 300 deliveries of these aircraft. Deliveries to customers - since 2018. | ||||||||
| SSJ 100SV (Stretched Version)
|
The extended Sukhoi Superjet will have up to 120 seats and will be released in 2019. In other characteristics, it will be almost like the current superjet and will probably be inferior to the Boing 737 MAX, and in 2020 the Boing 777X will also be released... in general, the main thing is that it will fly and will be extended, Aeroflot their will purchase. | ||||||||
| Bombardier Cseries
|
The aircraft of the Canadian company Bombardier exceeded expectations. The manufacturer promises that the aircraft will consume 10% less fuel than the Boeing 737 MAX and MC-21. Commissioning is expected in 2016.
The champion in terms of minor improvements will be the new Boeing 777X, scheduled for release in 2020. It will have a 5% stronger engine, 12% lower fuel costs and CO2 emissions, 17 tons more payload and 18% more seats.
The Bombardier Global 8000 business jet for 8 passengers will be able to fly a record 14,600 kilometers without refueling at an average speed of 956 km/h. The company plans to begin sales in 2019 at a price of approximately $65 million. The aircraft will also compete with the Gulfstream G600 - new business jets also going on sale in 2018-2020. The planes will cost from $35 million to $55 million.
The new Cobalt Co50 Valkyrie private jet is cheaper than the competition ($600K) and the fastest in its class, but its main design innovation is that it looks exactly like Bruce Wayne's plane. It can carry up to 5 passengers at a time. Release date: mid-2017.
The SkiGull private amphibious aircraft will be able to land not only on water, but on any surface (grass, snow, ice). It made its first flight in November 2015 and will go on sale soon
Another seaplane, the two-seater Icon A5, is capable of taking off from and landing on water, can also recover from a spin, and is equipped with a parachute for the entire aircraft. It is recognized as so safe that you don’t even need a pilot’s license to be allowed to fly, just 20 hours of practice. It costs $250,000 and is already in production. The first 7 aircraft were assembled in 2016, but 1,850 orders have already been made for the aircraft.
The Cirrus Vision SF50 business jet may be the first mass-produced personal jet. It will be capable of carrying up to 7 passengers and should be significantly easier to operate than a conventional private jet. It will also have a parachute for the entire aircraft. 4 prototypes were built and the first aircraft was delivered to the customer in June 2016. In total, more than 600 of these machines have already been ordered at a price of $2 million.
The British single-seat e-Go is unique with its low price of just $70,000. Cheaper than many cars. The first buyer received the aircraft in June 2016.
At the other end of the price spectrum is the $3 million Epic E1000 six-seat private jet. The aircraft will be capable of flying at class-record speeds of up to 600 km/h over a distance of more than 3,000 kilometers and can climb to altitudes of up to 10 km. The prototype of the aircraft is currently undergoing testing, but more than 60 orders have already been placed for it. VTOLEver since the advent of the helicopter, people have wanted to create a vehicle that was as fast as an airplane, but could fly and land anywhere like a helicopter. This vehicle even received the working name VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) or simply a vertical takeoff aircraft. The persistent but unsuccessful attempts to create this device are captured in the infographic “wheel of misfortune”.
The VTOL must be “capable of everything a bird can do in the air” and fly at least 3 times faster than a conventional helicopter
Formally, the Italian company AgustaWestland came closest to creating a VTOL transport with the AW609 tiltrotor. It is indeed capable of landing vertically and flying further than conventional helicopters, but in speed (509 km/h) it is still significantly inferior to airplanes. So far, tiltrotors have been produced only for the needs of the American military. But the AW609 will be a civilian transport for businessmen and the oil industry. Certification is expected in 2017 and 70 orders have already been received.
DARPA has announced a competition to finally create a vertical take-off aircraft () and 4 large corporations (Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences Corp, Sikorsky Aircraft Co and Karem Aircraft) will present their full-size prototypes for testing in February 2017.
Another attempt is an electric VTOL from the startup Joby Aviation. The company says it will cost $200,000 apiece, but doesn't give a release date.
An alternative to creating a VTOL is to simply increase the speed of the helicopter. This is what Sikorsky aircraft achieves. Their new S-97 Raider helicopter is capable of flying at speeds of up to 450 km/h. The first test flight was made in May 2015. Initially, only the military will be able to use this model. Helicopters also have not stopped developing (especially military ones, but we are not talking about them here). Promising models in development are described in the table below: Helicopter table
Bottom lineTo summarize, we can note at least 3 trends in the development of aviation. Developments of electric aircraft, the return of supersonic and the creation of a hybrid aircraft-helicopter (VTOL). The implementation of at least one of these developments will be a big breakthrough for the industry. In addition to these revolutionary changes, airplanes and helicopters are gradually improving with the release of new models (more fuel efficiency, more composite materials, cheaper operation, more automation, etc.),Tags: Add tags |
