Engineers have high hopes for
A "flying wing" aircraft could be much more fuel efficient than a traditional "tube and wing" aircraft. Scientists at NASA and Boeing are now testing a small-scale prototype of the X-48B flying wing aircraft. More images below.
DB: This is Earth & Sky. A concept for a new fuel efficient airplane, with a unique “flying wing” shape, is being tested by engineers at Boeing, NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
JB: A small-scale prototype of the plane, called the X-48B, is a scaled-down model of what engineers hope will be the air military transport of the future. Norm Princen of Boeing’s Phantom Works Division is Chief Engineer of the X-48B project.
Norm Princen: It’s an airplane that doesn’t have a normal vertical and horizontal tail in the back. It’s all wing. And it’s unique in that it has a very large body volume in the center that then blends smoothly out into the outer wing.
DB: Because the main body of the experimental craft is “all wing,” in principle it generates more lift than the familiar tube-shaped body of most planes.
Norm Princen: Its big advantage is that it’s much more fuel efficient than current airplanes.
JB: In the coming months, engineers are prepping the craft for an unmanned test flight. A pilot will steer the X-48B safely from the ground through a virtual reality linkage to the test airplane.
DB: One thing they’ll be checking is how well sensors onboard the test craft coordinate with a sophisticated system of controls along the trailing edge of the wing, keeping it steady in flight.
JB: We’ve got pictures at earthsky.org. Our thanks to NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Excellent videos of the X-48B prototype being constructed and flight tested by tether at NASA’s Improving Flight web section.
Our thanks to:
Norman Princen
Boeing Phantomworks
Chief Engineer of X-48B Project
Additional Teacher Resources
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U.S. Air Force Research lab tests fuel-efficient, flying-wing aircraft
A new aircraft with the potential to get up to 30 percent better fuel mileage because of its unique flying-wing shape is being tested by the Air Force Research Laboratory and industry partners.
