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Musical Wings Reduce Aircraft Stall Risk

Posted by samzenpus on from the fake-plastic-airlines dept.

notwrong writes "The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that a Qantas engineer has found a way to help small aircraft avoid stalling at low speeds: pumping sound through the wings. He found that music also works, having tested Spiderbait and Radiohead (nice choices; Spiderbait apparently works better)."

10 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Other bands to test... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would think that playing the B-52's, U2, Eagles, Foo Fighters, a Flock of Seagulls, or Jefferson Airplane would be more appropriate, then again, who am I to say...

  2. Just hope.... by metricmusic · · Score: 5, Funny

    they don't play 'Crash and Burn' by Savage Garden.

    --
    http://www.livejournal.com/users/metricmusic
  3. Mr. Qantas aerospace engineer.. by lightyear4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... you are the wind beneath my wings.

  4. new business model for the RIAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    From now on, every small aircarft owner must pay royalties to the RIAA. Otherwise RIAAAF rules of engagement will not apply.

  5. Re:As a pilot by madaxe42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a pilot, I think it's just fine. If you don't like it, don't use it. Oh by the way did you know that Boeing use a Linux supercomputer to help design their aircraft? And all the new in-flight entertainment systems are based around linux? And, oh, guess what, some new nav computers use.... you got it, Linux.

    Suggest you quit your job and start living in a cave, to avoid linux. Oh, maybe you already do, troll.

  6. Next time I go flying by LupeSpywalper · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll bring my air guitar.

  7. Hmm... by YeEntrancemperium · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will the plane explode if you blast some Necrophagist, Psycroptic, or Nile?

  8. Re:As a pilot by drgonzo59 · · Score: 5, Informative
    I think Boeing's flight control computer is based of Integrity-178B by Green Hills that uses a separation kernel. In fact there is LynxSecure, AESecure, VxWorks and LynxOS-178 but Integrity-178B is by far the one with the smallest separation kernel thus the more secure one. Because it can be mathematically proved that it is correct (does what it is supposed to do and nothing more or else),so anything with 500,000 lines (think Linux kernel) is no good for that, need something that is no more than a couple of thousand lines and it still can take up to 2 years to complete the verification process.

    So what do you do if ya want complex and sofisticated system calls that the Integrity-178B doesn't provide? Well, use another real-time os on top of Integrity-178B or make it part of Integrity-178B but run it in user mode. So all the drivers are really in user mode in such a system. This all is needed so that no single program if corrupted can hang the system. (Trust me you don't want an airliner's computer to freeze with a BSoD or with a Oops!-Kernel Panic while in mid-air).

    Another side note, FAA actually has a concrete limit on the failure due to software. So something like no more than once out of tens of millions of flight hours a plane full of people is allowed to completely crash and burn because of a software problem and have everyone on board die a horrible and painfull death and that would be perfectly "ok" with FAA. So the requirements to certify a system (OS) to fly a plane are very stringent. Linux doesn't even come close. It might be good enough to play music though...

  9. Just like birds? by psoriac · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I may be talking out of my ass here, but don't bird wings do the same thing when their feathers ruffle as air passes over them? Wouldn't this ruffling be the same as the vibration described in the article?

    --
    I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
  10. Musical wings by jcater · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a well known phenomenon. The question is how much energy is being used to get this reduction in drag?

    Where does this energy come from? Either APUs, or more powerful main engines... which are heavier... which means bigger wings...