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Since people
have appreciated the advantages of air transport, the need for it has
constantly been growing. It is mostly true for long distance flights. Experts
believe that in the following twenty years the demand for
air-transportation will grow more than two times. Airlines have to
increase their flying stock. In the result, airports can no longer
manage the increased flow of passengers and freight. There is simply no
room for planes both on land and in air.
An aircraft, which
would carry lots passengers and at the same time make non-stop flights,
could solve the problem. Flying without intermediate landing will save
place and money.
The idea itself is
not new. Aircraft designers have for years been trying to realize it. Each
time, however, the planes they constructed were too big and needed a
very long take-off and landing strip - no less than three kilometers. It
meant that only high-class airports could accept them. That is why
aircraft designers at Moscow State Aviation Institute decided that the
new aircraft should fit in with the already existing infrastructure of
airports. The basis of the project is the so-called "flying
wing" scheme with the integrally joined degenerated fuselage, i.e.
when the cabin of the aircraft is well integrated into the wing.
Why does an
aircraft without a fuselage attract designers? First, if there is no
fuselage, then it causes no resistance, when frontier air layers meet. Second,
the whole surface of such an aircraft creates the carrying capacity
more effectively. Aero dynamical load is evenly distributed on the wing
surface and favorably influences the work of the aircraft power
elements.
In the result, an
aircraft, which meets all the mentioned demands, has been designed. It
can fly over one third of the globe at a speed of 900 km/h and with the
maximum load of 90 tons without making an intermediate landing. It can
carry 614 passengers at one time (if it is a three-class variant) or
even 800 people (if it is an economic variant). It is not big (its
length is 65 m, the height is 23 m and the wing-spread is 80 m) and
does not need a long landing strip, so it can easily fit in with the
existing infrastructure. It means that such an aircraft can base even
in A-class airports, i.e. the majority of airports are able to accept
it.
Maybe, if someone
tries to realize the idea of Moscow aircraft designers, then in the
near future straight non-stop flights to Australia or America won't
take much time and money.
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