Planes taking off from moving runways and flying in formation like geese may be the future of aviation.
Should we feel guilty about flying? Greenpeace says air travel creates ten times the pollution of an equivalent train journey. It’s dirty, noisy and – with rising fuel prices and air taxes – increasingly expensive.
All of this has led aircraft manufacturer Airbus to ask some pretty searching questions. Its Smarter Skies project is a vision of air travel in 2050. The company’s engineers are putting their faith in rapid take-offs, glided landings, renewable biofuels and – weirdest of all – planes flying in formation, like a flock of geese.
Charles Champion, head of engineering at Airbus, says: ‘Our engineers are continuously encouraged to think widely and come up with “disruptive” ideas which will assist our industry in meeting the 2050 targets we have signed up to.
‘These and the other tough environmental targets will only be met by a combination of smarter aircraft design and optimising the environment in which the aircraft operates. That is why our Smarter Skies concepts focus on not just what we fly but how we might fly in 2050 and beyond.’
Aircraft waste a lot of fuel by slowly climbing to their cruising height. Airbus wants to sit them on a moving platform that can be propelled down the runway to give them an extra boost during take-off. This will mean a much steeper climb, which will get planes airborne with less waste.
Once they’re in the air, the planes take a cue from nature. One reason birds fly in formation is to save energy. Flying in the slipstream of calmer air behind the bird in front of you takes less effort than flying solo and engineers say this applies equally to aircraft.
The idea is for planes to rendezvous in mid-air and follow the same flight path – when crossing the Atlantic, for example – and then break formation to continue to their individual destinations. In its simulation, planes stay up to one nautical mile apart and still receive some benefit from ‘flocking’. Journey times would be reduced by an average of 13 minutes, saving around 9million tonnes of fuel and 28million tonnes of CO2 a year.
Landing is equally important. Planes descend slowly and use up fuel with engine thrusts and air braking. Airbus proposes steeper, computer-assisted landing, allowing aircraft to glide rapidly down, saving time and fuel and reducing noise. Free gliding approaches also slow a plane down earlier, which means shorter runways, reducing the need for miles of new asphalt.
The plans are not just about saving fuel but also replacing it with cheaper and greener renewable biofuels made from plant and animal matter. Biofuels have been around for decades, but it is only recently that they’ve become advanced enough to make jet fuel.
However, there is a debate that growing crops to produce biofuels may produce more greenhouse gases than it saves. If scientists can crack that problem, Airbus believes it’s possible to have locally grown biofuels serving airlines in a sustainable way.
In the meantime, the cost of air travel is continuing to climb both in terms of fares and damage to the environment. Climate change campaigners would prefer we cut down on flying for all but the most essential journeys, but the lure of foreign travel is as great as ever. Even if the Airbus blueprint is the future of air travel, its solutions are still decades away.
Eco-climb: An assisted take-off mechanism would mean shorter runways and lighter aircraft. This steep take-off would be cheaper, quicker and quieter.
Express skyways: Planes flying like flocks of geese would encounter less drag and so use less fuel and thereby cut emissions. ‘Intelligent’ aircraft would also be able to calculate the quickest and most fuel-efficient route in advance.
Glided landings: More advanced air traffic management would allow planes to glide on to the runway instead of making a staged descent.
Cleaner fuel: Aircraft would be powered by biofuels derived from plant and animal matter.This and other forms of alternative energy would mean lower emissions.