With airports around the world looking to expand, noise pollution is one of the larger obstacles standing in their way. Beginning in 2003 with the Silent Aircraft Initiative, aircraft designers have begun focusing on noise reduction as a primary concern.
A team of 40 researchers from Cambridge University and MIT has spent the last three years working on a concept “silent jet,” which would sound about as noisy as a washing machine or other household appliance to people on the ground.
The Jet’s radical new design is being unveiled today in London and could potentially be in the air as soon as 2030. Roughly the size of a Boeing 767, this passenger jet was heavily influenced by stealth military jets like the B-2 bomber. However, instead of carrying bombs this passenger plane will carry 215 jetsetters.
Instead of the tube-and-wing model common today, the “silent jet” lacks the central vertical stabilizer common at the tail of current passenger jets, instead using a pair of stabilizers at the wingtips.
By squishing the plane into one huge wing, the plane has more lift is able to remain in the air at lower speeds, allowing it to cruise in for landing much quieter.
Some of the other more noticeable changes the MIT-Cambridge team made to reduce noise during take-off and landing was to remove the wing flaps and re-design the engine system.
By placing the jets in pods suspended under the wings, the silent jet uses three engines built into the middle of the plane, at the rear. They take in air from above the wing, which helps to insulate people on the ground from jet noise at take-off.
Reuters: "Silent Jet" could ease airport noise, scientists say
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
