Will you ride in a biplane in a decade?
NASA makes a deal to develop next-gen jetliner technology
It started with Orville and Wilbur Wright. They built what engineers call a “braced biplane structure” that took to the air. The two-winged flying machine became a weapon in the skies during World War I, proving its aerodynamics. Could a version of a braced plane make a comeback creating more efficient, more sustainable flight?
NASA has decided to spend nearly a half-billion dollars of taxpayer money to see if it and Boeing can test and prove technology that could be part of a new version of 737 or Airbus 320, the most used aircrafts in the world.
NASA (second letter stands for aeronautics) has long funded and explored cutting-edge technologies. Ride a modern jetliner and look out on the wings. If you see a winglet, that upturned end of the wing, you are looking at NASA technology that makes aircraft more efficient.
Because so many of us ride those single-aisle jetliners to vacation or to visit family, NASA thinks that size aircraft is where new technology can cut emissions by boosting efficiency.
Meet the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD). NASA asked for proposals and the concept Being has been working on for years is the winner. It’s called a Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTWP) aircraft. The wing is thinner and longer and placed high on the fuselage. Because of those characteristics the wing has two braces that meet at the bottom of the aircraft. The thiner wings are more efficient and the braces also provide lift, which is where my nod to biplanes fits. The design will allow more efficient engines to be used.
For Robert Pearce, the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics division, this is a significant endeavor. “For someone who has spent his entire career in aviation, aeronautics, this really is a seminal moment, I believe, for the future of aviation,” he said at a news conference last week.
While NASA is spending $425 million for Boeing’s work, the jet-maker is throwing in $725 million to develop this technology and fly a test aircraft by 2028. Why couldn’t Boeing do this on its own?
“This is high-risk technology, and together by partnering between NASA and industry together we can go further and take on higher risks than industry can do on its own,” Pearce said.
While this technology is intended for an aircraft the size of a 737, Boeing and NASA indicated the test aircraft will be built using a smaller airframe, most likely a Boeing 717, which was originally designed as the MD-95. The key will be that thinner and much wider wing. New materials and technology will help the effort.
“The challenge is, how do you build that wing? How do you get the structure to work without adding a lot of weight?,” Pearce said, adding, “We see the brace as part of that.”
NASA and Boeing say if this technology works it could improve efficiency of those most-used single-aisle aircraft by 30%. That would be dramatic for airlines that say they are on the road to net-zero emissions.
I asked Boeing if this is the new 737. The company representative didn’t answer directly, but Todd Citron did say this technology, “could shape future generations of single-aisle airplanes with breakthrough aerodynamics, fuel efficiency gains, and drastically lower emissions.”
If the tests work, you might be flying a biplane, or a TTWP, in a decade.