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Boeing's New 787 Wings — Amazingly Flexible
An anonymous reader writes "Boeing is making the wings of its new 787 out of carbon fiber instead of metal. That means the wings are so strong and flexible that they could bend upward and touch above the fuselage — or come close. The company is expected to deliver the first 787 to All Nippon Airlines in May 2008. 'Boeing has completed static testing of a three-quarter wingbox, but engineers are still considering whether to limit testing of the full wing to a 150% load limit held for 3 sec. or to continue bending it to see when it breaks. 'There's a raging debate within the engineering team to see if we should break it or not,' says [787 General Manager Mike] Bair.'" They have come a long way in wing flexibility.
Pull them back, let them go, and... BOEINNNNG!
Enter the flapping apparatus! It'll make the passengers feel more comfortable, having their plane flap it's wings!
If any article screams out for a Slashdot poll, this one is it.
1. Chicken out and don't break 'em
2. See how far they go and post it to YouTube
3. Orinthop mode! Pull 'em back and let 'em flap!
4. Cowboy Neal
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
What I think will happen is that tips will meet. They'll try to compress the wings vertically, but before any definitive results are in, there will be a very loud "SPROING" in which case, the wings will be freed from their restraints. They will smash toward ground, propelling the plane into the air. As they bounce back to equilibrium the wings will flap carrying the plane roughly 1000km in the direction it was pointed. Eliminating the need for any fuels on short trips. Carbon Fiber FTW!
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking... If you take a look out the windows on the left side of the plane, you will notice our right wing....
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
Haven't you learned anything from Mythbusters? Since when do we not test things just because we don't need to know the answer? Get Jamie and Adam on it and the build crew will clean up the mess!
Fly the new 787 - It's so strong, you only need one plane for two towers.
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If this doesn't bring my karma down
For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
because if Chuck Norris were on an aluminum airplane he could go out on the bent wing and bend it back, but if he were on a carbon fiber airplane he would just shout, "I've got nothing to work with here assholes!" shoot everyone on the plane, jump out the window, knit a parachute out of his sweater on the way down and land topless on a throng of adoring Laotian women.
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