Slashdot Mirror
Airbus Planning Transparent Planes
goG writes "European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has come up with the idea to build a passenger flight with a completely transparent fuselage. The central body of the aircraft will allow passengers to the see the stars above and city lights below. 'The planes of the future will offer an unparalleled, unobstructed view of the wonders of the five continents — where you will be able see the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower through the transparent floor of the aircraft,' Airbus said while unveiling the concept 'The Future By Airbus' earlier this year."
I dunno about anyone else, but knowing there is something non-transparent and solid around me is about the only thing that makes flying semi-sane for me. ;)
I would really love to fly on an aircraft that was designed like this. I enjoy flying and would really love to see everything bellow. The only problem is the baggage compartment, and the routing of the wire, hoses, and conduit.
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
Is it perchance piloted by Amazonian princesses? If so I'm in
ACK NAK RST
meh... Wonder Woman has had a transparent plane for nearly 70 years...
Why does this make me think of telescopes and skirts?
Where have your banknotes been?!
I would like to introduce our pilot today, Wonder Woman.
No brain, no pain.
Commence Star Trek references in 3... 2... 1...
I hope their blueprints don't include transparent lavatories.
I rather expect the real effect will be that a transparent fuselage will allow the passengers an hours-long view of their luggage sitting in the cargo hold below their feet.
I'm buying shares in the company that makes barf bags. Hellllooooooo retirement!
How can you make all of the airplane transparent? It's probably not possible with most of it at all, given how many wires, pipes, tubes, insulation, bolts and nuts there are there.
I would love to fly a fully transparent plane though, completely transparent, that would be super awesome!
Except that there would be other passengers there to spoil the view, and fuel. That would be weird.
You can't handle the truth.
Would they also require the pilots to dress like Wonder Woman?
And the baggage in the luggage compartment won't affect the view? Really?
the bathrooms are not transparent. Or maybe I don't...
--I like turtles...
Wouldn't a view downward, be that of the cargo?
Just one step closer to creating Blaine the Mono.
How about solve the current problems of airplanes first? Maybe flight recorder boxes that float, or no box - just send the data real-time to the ground. Maybe whole-plane parachutes? I'd take that before a transparent one any day.
Unless they make transparent cargo, this is useless.
Oh look 30,000 feet of nothingness below me under this transparent floor.
I'd love to see the reactions of people who are afraid of heights when they discover that their plane is totally transparent.
Any flight over the Atlantic will be a nice view of the ocean for 7 or so hours.
If you can see around the luggage. How about just making it cheaper and more comfortable. I honestly would take a flight that took 30% longer if it was just more comfortable.
This is highly unlikely to actually happen. As bobjakiewicz noted, it would greatly increase the number of people suffering from motion sickness and other related problems. The only motivation I can think of for this announcement is that Airbus has somehow discovered a type of plastic that weighs less than aluminum but is strong enough to use for an aircraft body.
Transparent ceramic planes using super-expensive future technology that will take years and years to actually make work! It'll be awesome! You'll be able to see through the plane! Except for the fuel, seats, luggage compartments, probably the floor, A/C ducting, electrical conduit, the bulkhead separating you from the pilot, the bathrooms in the back...
Or I guess we could just make the windows a little bigger.
Clear hydraulic fluid in clear lines; transparent aluminum wiring in nylon insulation. What a concept!
Hey Airbus, landshark representing Detective Comic is on the phone. They want to discuss your apparent lack of proper licensing...
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Yeah, somehow I don't think having the ability to look down and see your feet dangling over the earth from 50,000 feet up will make people enjoy flying more....
MABASPLOOM!
Smilin' Mylan approves !
Transparent Aluminum. In other news, Airbus has been contracted to transport several humpback whales for unknown reasons.
Given current airline trends - if we're all crammed together only a few inches apart, will we actually be able to see anything except the stars above? We'll be lucky to see anything but other peoples' feet.
#DeleteChrome
I'll take planes that don't kill everyone when they have issues over pretty and nicer cabins. If you download their presentation it's quite funny: "The engines of the future will have no risk of failure, so can be placed at the rear and remove the need for a vertical tail." What could go wrong?
Now we can scare the bejeezus out of people who are suffering from both Aviatophobia (fear of flying), AND Acrophobia (fear of heights). Give the passengers some double strength espresso and now you've got a show! Woo-ga!
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just put a strategically placed webcam or two and pipe it to the tv built into the seat back?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
H. Sapiens has a built in fear of heights. Take a six month old kid and try to get him to crawl over a pane of glass suspended at a meter's altitude - no go. It's been tested, after reaching a certain age he won't do it. He has figured out the dangers of the Z coordinate.
Now stuff a hundred people on a plane and repeat the experiment. You'll have people screaming in terror as they fight to reach the exits. However much you rationalize it, fear of heights is built in into the average H. Sapiens brain.
On really bumpy flights and boat trips for that matter, I get pretty sick. Looking out to the horizon makes me feel much better. It's hard on an aircraft when you're sitting in the aisle seat or in the middle of the center pack on a 777.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
Oh come on, no way is this going to happen or work. It's not like the plane only holds the passenger compartment, and I can't see going to the effort to give the passengers a good view of the luggage, extra cargo, and distressed pets, which will all block the view, as well as letting the passengers see the condition of the wiring, landing gear and other controls. And even if the airlines really wanted to do this and found a way for all of the extra stuff to not block the view, the thickness of the curved hull would so drastically distort the view that it would not be worth doing.
It would be far simpler with today's technology to give everyone individual steerable, zoomable access to video cameras. I don't expect that to happen, and I don't believe that Airbus will ever build Wonder Woman's plane, the passenger version.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
The motion sickness would make everyone sick. I get sick just staring at the wing when the pilot is turning. It would just be too disorientating.
Couldn't this be better accomplished by having cameras mounted on the bottom of the plane, and replace the floor with monitors?
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
Virtual private cabins. It will appear like in TFA, but without the crazy transparent fuselages.
How do I know? I've invented it!
Luckily the barf bags will still be an non-transparent white.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle. - Plato
Family Guy invisible plane skit
This actually does beg for a question, which has absolutely nothing to do with circular reasoning by arguing from your principle assumptions to your principle assumptions, which is what petito principii (seeking the principles) means when it's properly translated from Latin (and quite possibly the Greek it was likely originally described in).
Quit ranting about your mistranslated bullshit and let us keep our English words "beg" and "question" meaning what they mean in English, not what some centuries old vulgar thought they meant in Latin.
Let's see, how frequently do airplanes have to use the following FAA rule:
1. Practice the "see and avoid" concept at all times regardless of whether the operation is conducted under Instrument (IFR) or Visual (VFR) Flight Rules.
(from http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/tracon/anchorage/pilots_info/mca/ )
I'm thinking FAA would frown on this type of plane simply because of the potential safety issue...
"Hey, did you see that big transparent plane over their thru the fog?"
In the future, you'll no longer be able to check any luggage or have carryons. Also, you will fly naked on the transparent plane. Enjoy!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
On a couple of flights, I've tried to catch a glimpse of the stars through the window--far above city lights, with less atmosphere to look through, I'd think it'd be a pretty good view. The placement of the window makes it very difficult to look "up", however--not to mention the blinking light on the wing and all the interior lights preventing any sort of dark adaptation.
A plane with a transparent fuselage should solve two of these problems by permitting a line of sight that doesn't require craning your neck and is angled away from the wingtip light. It'd still be tricky to block out other local lights, but maybe possible...
They asked for wild concept ideas for air travel circa 2050, this was one of them. They have no plans for it.
Typical slashdot.
nothing like looking down on takeoff, folks, to make you wonder what you're up to.
except maybe seeing the runway lights coming at ya from 50 feet.
or watching a tire disintegrate on the landing gear.
"for your pleasure, we offer earphones for $5, soft drinks for $2, pillows for $4, and clock-stopping horse-pill tranquilizers for $25. please don't mob the stewards as they make their way down the mffff THUMP THUMP GIMME THAT!"
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Or are we all going to keep on pretending that this is 1960, and that the average American man is still about 5'7 and weighs around 150 lbs?
if this becomes common.
I remember the concepts for the 747... Piano lounge upstairs with a bar. Private cabins. Luxurious accomodations.
Didn't take long for the 747 to become a large cattle car. Any bets on how long the luxury will last?
To me this sounds awesome, a super wonder-womanish invisible plane streaking through the sky where you can watch the world below and the sky above.
For those already nervous about air travel, it sounds like a recipe for a Grade A Freakout. So if they do extend the small portal you can look through currently, then I hope they provide some way to block it off too...
Not to mention, if you've even been inside of a plane on a hot day with the sun coming in - even the small windows they have add a huge amount of heat to a plane. Just think of a transparent plane out for an hour or two on a Houston tarmac!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Do they also build warp drives into their planes, and offer flights around the sun?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
I love the concept of this, but I can't see my mum going for it!
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
Bigger windows that can still be covered will be fine, thanks. All I thought of when I read this was Blaine the Mono
is that we'll be given display glasses that project a view "through" the fuselage (and all the baggage, passengers, fuel, etc, that others are pointing out as problematic.) Basically what they're doing in the F-35, but a few decades of advances in cheap display, camera, and compute tech should make something like that pretty economical.
and now they want to make transparent planes. Bah just another marketing gimmick from company that can barely sell the bloated A-330's that have been sieged with cost over runs and failing sales (not to mention canceled orders). Yeah I could supply refences to my claim but I'm at work and I don't feel like it. that's what Google is for). Nothing to see here people move along.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
FTA: "...additional functionality that provides transparency on command, negating the need for windows."
Oh, thank fuck. Does that mean I can finally ditch the last vestiges of it living in wine and a sometimes-booted VirtualBox installation?
This is highly unlikely to actually happen. As bobjakiewicz noted, it would greatly increase the number of people suffering from motion sickness and other related problems.
Huh? I thought motion sickness was caused by being moved while deprived of the visual cue of what's causing the motion, hence sea sickness when you're in the cabin but not feeling so bad once you go out on deck and look at the horizon. Alternatively, you might not be moving at all but you might be getting visual cues that make you think you are, and when your ears don't pick up on the motion that they're expecting based on what the eyes are saying, you get nauseous, like I used to get when looking at the overdone shaky camera work of NYPD Blue.
I would have thought that better awareness of the external surroundings would make you less prone to motion sickness, not more.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
something that does not yet exist! Just wait a minute until I project my own plane with any unimaginable material and you will see what a wonder!
2011. The year Gnome decided Linux will never be on the desktop.
I figured out what step 2 is!
Sell underpants to passengers who freak out when they can see the ground 30,000 feet directly below them.
"see the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower through the transparent floor of the aircraft"
Vomit is transparent?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Ductwork, wiring, and so forth would still be a problem, but on nighttime transatlantic flights when they dim the interior lighting, I would think a transparent ceiling and a sky full of stars would be lovely, especially if you're feeling claustrophobic. Afraid of heights, though, so I don't think I could handle transparent walls or floors.
...we can posit imaginary transparent stuff for the wire, hoses, and conduit as well. We can even imagine that we can tailor its refractive index so that it truly appears "invisible", not just "clear".
That would be neat but the airplane of the future in the USA will be required by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) to have the fuselage completely blacked out, the route kept secret, and the passengers given knock-out gas.
Did anyone have Stephen King's novel The Wasteland screaming at them when they read the title? For those uninformed, Blaine the Mono, in the particular cabin the protagonists were in had a "projected" view. Every wall [including floor and ceiling] were just big screens, that had the possibility to project the outside, the Taj Ma Hall, or the inside of your colon. I wonder if big LCDs would be cheaper than researching all of this new technology. This would also give the ability to... you know, turn it off [or turn on a nicer looking scene for those afraid of super-earth].
Or just stick a handful of cameras outside, and give passengers who want to look around an HMD.
I hope the toilet compartment isn't going to be transparent too.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Personally I'd trade all the transparent planes in the sky for a break from the screaming kids and the kicks from the seat behind.
Maybe instead of Sky Marshals we could have proper Nannies instead. They'd be more use.
then they can make all the passengers fly naked too chained to their seats. They get their clothes back when they reach their destination.
It would be a bit tough to close the shade on something like this to keep the sun off your face when you wanted to take a nap since it could be coming in from any angle. The first handful of times on a transparent flight, night or day, would be quite an experience, but sadly just like normal flight today the novelty would eventually dissipate.
Transparent heads might make that cross-country trip seem shorter. Or longer. Not sure. Hmmm....
Sincerely,
General Counsel
General Products
but what are all those SNAKES doing in the . . .
All your database are belong to U.S.
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to design augmented reality visions and software and put them into regular airplanes?
At least this would let all passengers chose if they want to feel like being shot through the air at 900 KMH...
Just wait, tomorrow Airbus will announce it is changing its name to "General Products", then the fun will really start....
<Co-Pilot> Hey, George... the radar says there's a plane there, think we should pull up?
<Pilot> Don't be silly, Marv, look out there, see out the window, no plane there.
<Co-Pilot> Oh, I see... just a bunch of birds.. they kinda almost look like people. We can take them
<Pilot> I'll aim for the one that almost looks like a stewardess...
<Reporter> We bring you live to the scene of this terrible accident, it seems a local crop dusting craft.. has collided with "something invisible that noone's figured out what is".
<Reporting> In other news, Invisible Airbus flight 999 disappeared without a trace, we are still searching for the whereabouts of her crew and 50 passengers; more on this at the top of the hour, stay tuned...
They had crashes that were traced to structural failure of the airframe. The windows shape supposedly caused the fatigue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
I would think that lcd projection onto the ceiling of the cabin would provide a similar experience if tied to a camera mounted on the airframe.
Byte me, Doughboy!!!
If you can't handle it, then don't get onto the flying tube with the underpaid sleep-deprived pilot, the degraded, overworked and underappreciated flight staff, the constricted passengers breathing each others' recycled air and the authoritarian tazer-happy goon who wouldn't let you bring your toddler's baby food onboard doubling as the air marshall. All that and the knowledge that this is a secondhand aircraft carrying only enough fuel to remain within safety guidelines.
On the other hand, you only live once, right? I see an opportunity here to experience something like a rollercoaster YOU COULD ACTUALLY DIE IN - only it's flying!
You get to see the aircraft almost smash into the ground at 200KPH RIGHT UNDER YOUR FEET and if you're the one who sees flame coming out of the wheel assembly on the way in, you'll get to know about it before everyone else.
I love this idea.
I think they've been reading Niven not Star Trek. In particular it sounds like they are going after the General Products #3 hull.
Aside from all the obvious jokes - won't this make life hell for the air traffic controllers?
Nearly invisible airplanes... now what could possibly go wrong with that? Pilots don't really need to see things out the cockpit these days anyway, right?
Obama's transparency this ain't.
Isn't part of commercial air safety the idea that pilots should be able to SEE other planes, and take appropriate measures to avoid collisions (at least when the weather is such as to allow VFR flying)?
And how exactly are takeoffs and landings going to work at busy airports?
This way, the clean-up crew at the gate can instantly see where they need to bring the barf-bucket to.
And those of us amateur astronomers with good 'scopes and optical object-tracking software can get upskirt shots from 35,000 feet below.
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
Dear Airbus:
Look at all the grief we've had with something simple, like composites. This is stuff that has been around for decades, and we are still having problems making an aircraft out of it.
You are talking about things that haven't even been invented yet, let alone approved by the various aviation agencies of the world, or even built into a prototype.
So, in closing: you go! You spend all your money on that, and let us know how that works out for you.
Love,
Boeing.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I really hope the lavatory doesn't become transparent at the touch of a button too...
What kind of nerd site is this anyway?
Edith Keeler Must Die
Someone failed geography.
1. North America
2. South America
3. Africa
4. Europe
5. Asia
6. Australia
7. Antarctica
Clear hydraulic fluid in clear lines; transparent aluminum wiring in nylon insulation. What a concept!
Color coding to insure proper connections. What a concept!
Toronto's CN Tower has a glass floor, about a 1/4 mile above street level and there are many, many people who can't muster the nerve to walk out on it.
I can only imagine how relaxing it'll be for Joe Sixpack to have an unrestricted view of a flock of geese flying into the engine before all goes hurtling to that most
welcoming of places we call Terra Firma.
Not to mention just how much more gruesome plane crashes will be since anyone within visual range will have a lovely view of the innards, both the planes and the
dead or dying passengers.
Good plan, Mr Airbus Man.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
What is the use of a transparent airplane if a bunch of terrorists can get it to go down just by asking it riddles?
the engineering department has been sniffing too much glue. Build a plane that doesn't fall apart in mid air and the rest will come.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
And the transparent pilots cabin ... oh, look, both pilots are asleep!
I am anarch of all I survey.
Maybe it's because the airlines are trying to get more value out of their free amenities (earplugs, face masks, toilets and air sickness bags).
With that screaming, crying, fear-vomit and all.
Which seat would you like sir ?
The one on the lower deck beneath that Russian Synchronised swimming team please.
Airbus engineers once again prove the old adage about European heaven and hell.
In European heaven, the British are the police, the French are the cooks, the Germans are the engineers, the Italians are the lovers and the Swiss run the government.
In European hell, the British are the cooks, the French are the engineers, the Germans are the police, the Italians run the government, and the Swiss are the lovers.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
Since it won't be long until the DHS bans clothing from flights for being too dangerous...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
(and the reason I put this in Wichita is that we actually do have an office of Airbus here as well as Boeing).
www.eFax.com are spammers
... through the transparent floor is that your guitar in the baggage compartment is already broken. Which will probably spoil the enjoyment.
For a junior version, step on the glass floor section of the observation deck of the CN Tower. I imagine they have to clean that glass more often than the windows.
Anybody want a peanut?
"The planes of the future will offer an unparalleled, unobstructed view of the wonders of the five continents -- where you will be able see the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower through the transparent floor of the aircraft"
That's fine - during the .000001% of the flight spent near the Pyramids or the Eiffel Tower and at a low enough altitude to make them out. That view of the Atlantic while crossing it isn't going to be too impressive though.
Maybe they could get some stasis fields for them too...
niven should be proud
-T
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
I can get a pretty good approximation of that view right now with a good hit of acid.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I wonder if it comes with a UV rating
and then went on a STNG marathon... The next morning, they had nothing prepared so they just pulling the fragments out of their ass that had gotten lodged there from the previous night's activities... it's not like any of the suits would have recognized the OBVIOUS references to the show. I mean, what engineer would add awesome holographic projectors AND clear ceilings? Just project the milky way and be done with it. I guess promising just to upgrade the in-flight movie was not futurgery enough for them. On a related note: you don't need fancy ceramics to create the illusion of transparent. There's technology currently available to make pretty good invisible cloaks.I would just use that.
What a waste of money...they should be putting their money into designing a plane like they had on the movie Soul Plane.
The joys of hundreds of passengers vomiting at once as they are exposed to real-time visual confirmation of aircraft motion in storms, stunned by lightning strikes, and get to see the wings nearly brush the ground on landing. What a great plan.
In other news, Wonder Woman sues, and the puppeteers prepare a formal complaint to be submitted indirectly.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
So all we need now is transparent baggage.
Depends on the in-flight meal. So I guess it's Jello or nothing on the transparent plane.
Put up some high-def camera on the bottom of the plane and just project the image on the floor of the passengers who don't mind looking down?
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't
wouldn't it make more sense to point cameras everywhere, and then display it on a screen, if you wish to see it.........
locked out of this slashdot account for 10+ years... Im back
Will the lavatory compartment be transparent too?
~A~
Honestly, I am offended at the comments on here. The impossible to the invisible luggage. Are we not dreamers and engineers on this site? think of how easy it would be to mount cameras on the underbelly of the plane and give someone a "virtual" transparent floor. Yes, Airbus is reaching with their dreams, but we don't have to be so cynical.
Simple problem which results in almost everyone currently pulling down the sun screens.
I don't know if the whole plane needs to be transparent, but I'd settle for transparent doors on the lavatories and cockpit. Oh boy do I love the word cockpit.
Everyone is focused on the view from inside the plane, but what about from the outside. Wouldn't this make the planes harder to see while in flight?
I know that we have neat technology like radar to track the planes, but what if that fails and pilots aren't able to see other planes around them clearly?
Similarly, if you use this technology for small tourist planes (which seems to me to be a better idea) don't most of those planes follow visual flight rules? IANAP, so perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Furthermore, would this increase the incidence of "bird strikes" if the birds aren't able to see the plane coming?
~A~
Work intensifies to develop lenses that will let you take a picture up a skirt of a passenger on a plane at cruising height from the ground.
Good luck with that. Floor panels aren't made of aluminum as is. It is currently a fairly cheap composite. The problem is that on the planes with which I work, there are usually up to 15 floor panels. Not to mention seat rails to keep the seats attached to the floor. Add in all the fun kinds of damage that is done by feet moving across the floor, sodas spilled on the floor, dropping of luggage, etc.
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
In reality, all you'll be able to see is the purple haze from whatever the engineers got into...
I'm still waiting for bridges made of glass (check out old PM issues). Those won't FREAK anybody out either!
http://hhgproject.org/entries/perilsensitivesunglasses.html
I get ready to board the plan and see it is transparent.....:
"Oh Hell no. Mmmm mmmmm."
I then walk off. ;-)
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
In that spirit, it will also fully block harmful radiation.
Uh... WHAT inflight meal????
Am I the only one who'd like to see somebody like Jeff Dunham do a Pierson's Puppeteer at a con? Actually, it would be better with two puppeteers - one for each head.
And mods - yes, I am off topic, that's why I didn't add my Karma bonus. Bite me.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Or better yet, what a wonderful way to discover that being up at 35,000 feet induces uncontrolled sphincter contractions.
Great way to come face to feces with acrophobia and agoraphobia... :-)
Pee and poop flung about the passenger compartment as you scream like a monkey at the "Sandoz factory"*.
The smell alone would get you fellow passengers to throw you out the invisible hatch while you flail your arms trying to pull an invisible rip chord.
WEEEeeee!!!!
* Sandoz used to run a facility in Montréal, Québec, Canada in the 1950s where they experimented with Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for the C.I.A. (See Project MK-ULTRA [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA ] for more info.)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Light is kinda strong up there, might be a bit tough to get people to agree on how much light is too much, but hats off to the wacky idea squad.
Was there a bumper crop in France this year, or did they confiscate the Roma's weed before booting them out?
the engine and flight surface controls can all be run through a few fiber-optic cables each barely thicker than a human hair.
You could even employ HUD technology (which is already see-through) and only have the landing gear, wing tanks and engines (flight and control surfaces) opaque.
It COULD be done to some extent ... but why?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Future terrorists will just have to bring rocks. :-)
Everyone here seems to be seeing only the increased view a transparent fuselage would provide. There may be another benefit: less weak points. Every time you make a hole in your fuselage, such as for a window, you are increasing the number of potential weak points. Imagine now the whole fuselage being one transparent piece, you reduce this problem. Anywhere you don't want people seeing out can simply be painted over.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
will be your captain today.
Nullius in verba
Just the hysteria. Nothing else to add.
Great, now the asshole on the cellphone next to me is going to lean over me to look through the transparent aisle of the floor as he describes the view to the person on the other end of his call.
In all seriousness, I'd find transparent planes cool, but I'm willing to bet that relatively few people would want to fly on them. A surprising number of people are very anxious about air travel. (Personally, I find flying relaxing. It's getting through the security checkpoints in the airport while hoping not to be the guy selected for a random full GI tract search that worries me.)
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
All I want is a camera on the front of the plane, pointing straight forward, with the view on my screen. Add a few more cameras so I can pan around, look straight down, etc., and I'm way more than happy.
Transparent planes? You've got to be kidding me. It's like they got the engineers together to design the most outrageously complicated solution without thinking to hard about the problem in the first place. They could get 95% of the results for much less cost using technology available today.
the average person is taking off his shoes, carrying liquids in less that 5 oz. containers, walking through full body scanners, subjecting him/her-self to indignities, tiny seats and spending hours locked in a flying tube, eating bad peanuts, drinking bad soda (should s/he be unfortunate enough to be flying at meal-time, s/he will be subjected to a meal where the serving tray may be as nutritious and flavorful as the white "mystery meat" on it,) reading in-flight magazines and the airline's shopping mall catalog.
Most of the flight is controlled by "Otto" the pilot and the take-off and landing are shakily barely controlled by the poor schmucks in the front of the thrown cigar tube trying to not screw up the check list or discover a new species of bird with a fondness for jet engine intakes.
The other riders are either boring, bored, or insane, rude, hostile or, worse, they earnestly want to tell you all about their dull-as-dishwater lives, husbands or wives or kids and won't shut their yaps. (I've flown enough that I take the train everywhere now because I don't want to have to strangle the screaming baby two rows back who's barely legal army wife mother has never heard in all her sixteen years on this planet of discipline, now SHUT THE FUCK UP THE WHOLE SORRY LOT OF YA!)
Flying is for poor people who's time isn't worth waiting for and neither are they.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
People don't get any more seasick on a glass-bottomed boat. Where's your spirit of adventure? You never heard of barf bags? Especially at night it be incredible viewing. This is about the only thing that would get me on an airplane these days.
Fifty years of Yippie! 1968-2018
That video player embedded in the seat in front of me better be really good in bright light.
that passengers will be hoping their barf bags aren't transparent.
Just think of the health benefits of being able to scan your poohs as you watch your business stream down the sewer lines to containers. It might not be 'shiny', but every time you flush will be an adventure in medicine!
In a joint statement, the chief executives of British Rail, Société Nationale des Chemins de Français, Deutsche Bahn, Österreichische Bundesbahnen, Ferrovie dello Stato, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, Renfe Operadora, Norges Statsbaner, and several other European rail companies applauded the idea, saying it would help to increase competition in the market for European travel.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Booorinng. Make the solar powered airplanes already! Who would actually want to see the chemtrails :)
The transparent plane is just an example of what could be possible. I doubt they'd do this (except perhaps as a gimmick/tech demonstrator). The idea seems that they could us a single composite structure, and by making it transparent they could eliminate the need for weakening the design by cutting holes in it. I imagine if they did make a plane like this they'd actually paint the thing.
Still, you would have the advantage of larger windows and ceiling windows.
Sooo, we get to see the dirt, grime and chewing gum stuck to the floor or is it to be made of some unknown self cleaning, never scuffed and ever pristine material.
Mike Wilcox
This "transparent" idea will not fly...
A shame, I came in to post that subject line. ;)
#6495ED - cornflower blue
Speaking of seeing things, isn't going to the bathroom on an airplane bad enough already? Now you will get the additional joy of having everybody in the air and ground watching you fumble around your undersized invisible box like some type of constipated mime. Yeah, I can't wait.
With an electrochromic floor, you can make it appear opaque and only when the passengers are in the air you can turn it off (on, whatever) to make it transparent. For 1 April you can make a fake crack appear and make it progressively larger. Now that is what I call on board entertainment.
Making a crack appear could help condition passengers such that when a real crack appears in a plane, people don't shout and panick and all. Or it could be used to contain terrorists. Let them try to cross the chasm to the cockpit.
Bert
What do you want to see at the bottom? Boxes and boxes and more boxes ... and on the top. cables, cables and more cables. See-through-fuselage-my-ass I say.
I see this more a too early 1st April joke ... Unless they magically add some lights, call buttons, etc and make the floor where the seats are connected and the boxes and the boxes contents (aka luggage) transparent there won't be anything more to see anyway.
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
Yay!!!! - Upskirt photos at 30,000 feet.
.
Voting up, Voting down - If I really gave a fuck about your approval or not, I'd come and ask you.
I guess you no longer have any reason to ask the guy sitting in the window seat to pull down the shade so you can sleep.
I was channeling what you were thinking.
-- david byrne
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
With transparent fuselages, now they will have the opportunity of looking under the skirts of the passengers...
You must be from the US where they don't serve meals anymore. My question is, what about the long flights over the pond where you have multiple sunrises in one flight. Makes sleeping a bitch.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
Prior art......
On the positive - not just Nasa will have 'Vomit Comets' afterwards... Competition is good! ;-)
On a more serious note - I do think that some people might actually barf, piss in their pants, ...
Most transparent surfaces that I could think of right now have one thing in common - their surface is smooth.
Now, a smooth, wet floor in the plane - what could possibly go wrong? Say, trying to safely get out of the plane again, without slipping on a wet slippery floor?
The other thing - airlines are trying to cut costs - a transparent floor only really works if it's really CLEAN. Airbus wants airlines to spend more on ongoing cleaning efforts? (Having seen some planes, this might not be entirely bad, though).
Can it be Flight attendants with transparent dress nao?
Including the lavatory???
I can imagine all those borderline acrophobics freaking out about 10 secs after the plane leaves the ground. Unless, like one previous poster, the floor and the ceiling are covered with boxes and cables, etc.. Airbus' head of research and technology, Axel Krein must not have taken into account that many people may not be too keen on being constantly reminded that they sitting in a "glass" airplane 30,000 feet in the air - especially when they're flying over the ocean with no land in site. Talk about feeling like a canary in a coal mine!
Will there be room for 500 parasols when the sun is strong?
Tj
A slashdot nerd AND a trainspotter. The only man in history to have a negative amount of sex :p
Anyway, first time I got on an aircraft I already became a convert to rail travel. Nobody ever told me airliners CREAK! Used to trains where the fuselage/body is a solid bit of steel that does NOT twist and shake and rattle.
Anyway, has anyone given a thought to the people on the ground. I do not want to see upskirt shots or Ryan Air passengers.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The plane would only be transparent so long as the vomit doesn't chew through it.
how much of your billion dollar EU subsidies are you spending on dope?
That gives me e great idea. Fully reclining seats and nudist sunbathing flights.
- A 10-hour transatlantic flight at night. [Assuming it's all like Wonder Woman's invisible jet) all you'd see is people sitting down and flashing lights at the tip of the wings. Like some ill-conceived postmodern disco. Good luck with your nap. I don't wanna say there was recreational drug use at Airbus HQ, but someone down there likes Pink Floyd a lot. Seriously though, you can't do that with a couple of cameras and some HD tv's inside the plane? Hey kinda tacky, but sure gets an amen from the DIY crew!
(with apologies to various artists over the years)..
Thankfully you can switch it off, plenty of people with a fear of heights - or wearing skirts..
It would be cool if you could check if they had actually managed to get your luggage on board, but I believe that's sometimes not even in the same plane.
However, I care less for this idea than I care for places like Heathrow to sort out their luggage problems. The last time I flew into London it took me less than 5 minutes to get through passport control, and then a FULL HOUR to wait for my luggage: No, I'm not kidding. A whole hour, partly because the belt that it was arriving on had probably the most flawed design I have ever seen in well over 20 years of flying. That was the last time I flew into London without having my luggage above my head - I rather buy a shirt locally.
Insert
Yeah... let's make the waste containers for the toilets also transparent. Then wait for the stewardess to say "enjoy your meal."
I just hope these transparent planes are offer lighting protection, as in Faraday cages, we don't want another AF-447, 'nuff said.
Absolutely! That is the point that most of the posters here seem to be completely missing. Note that they're saying "we could" do this as opposed to "we will". It's an observation about technical possibilities, not commercially likely ideas. Like the Boeing 787, they're explaining that they could make a plane primarily out of composites (although they appear to be suggesting clear plastic rather than carbon fibre).
...made by airport workers during landing?
I fly all the time in my job. Look around in an airplane the next time you fly. Notice what people are doing? They close the window shutters as soon as they're airborne, at least when there are clouds. The reason? You fly above the clouds, and the light from the white clouds gets intense. If the sun is on your side of the aircraft it gets even worse.
A transparent fuselage would be a nightmare, except for night-time flying. But how often do you do fly at night, except for intercontinental flights?
To me the whole sounds like a joke, which it probably is.
I often have to take sunglasses on board during daytime flights -- the bright sunlight gives me a cracking headache, even with just the small windows. Increasing the light reaching the interior isn't going to make that any better...
HAL.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
frikkin' awesome!?
This might be related with creating Delta-wing passengers aircrafts (where the whole aircraft is a flat and delta-shapped wing). When looking into this, one of the problems that Airbus and Boeing found for those versus the traditional cigarrete-tube-with-wings ones is that in a delta wing, most passengers do not sit anywhere near windows, and that is ennerving to people.
A (semi-)transparent fuselage would be able to solve this.
That still leaves the second problem, which is that no airports in the world have docking bays appropriate for delta-wing aircraft.
I thought that one of the advantages of using metal for airplanes is that it flexes. There are a lot of stresses placed on an aircraft in flight, and flexing allows those forces to be dissipated. I'm sure everyone who's been in a commercial jet has marveled at how much the wings move. Ceramics are (AFAIK) stiffer. They don't bend, they break. Perhaps Airbus is planning on using flexelain (flexible porcelain) which has yet to be developed, since I just made it up.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Is the bathroom transparent too?
"If you experience an erection that lasts for more than 4 hours, climb aboard. We'll fix that for ya."
about my secret desire to be wonder woman?
Lots of people pointed out wires, fuel tanks, baggage, travellers who are afraid enough as it is etc.
But I have to say this:
GEEKGASM!
Do want. I would need to fly alone as my gf would never ever join me but what the heck. Worth it! 50% mark-up on the price? Still, I will go!
Better stock up on some SPF 100 before the flight.
Think of all of the upskirt pictures that can come outta this.
Marketing BS, I agree. Are we trying to make Wonder Woman's invisible jet a reality?
Decaffeinated coffee is kinda like kissing your sister.
They will probably have to equip every seat with the toilet because half of the passengers won't be able to make it to the lavatory once they see empty space around the aircraft ;)
You must be from the US where they don't serve meals anymore.
Oh, they still serve meals, for about $10 USD.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
When the 747 was first put in service for commercial flights, there were lower deck seats that faced forward, and which had a spectacularly intimate view of landing and takeoff runways. These seats were quickly and universally removed, or the windows permanently replaced with non-transparent aluminum. The problem wasn't vomiting so much as screaming uncontrollably and leaving skidmarks down the aisle during landings. But I don't guess Boeing cares much if Airbus makes the same mistake. At least in Boeing's case, the affected group was a small subset of passengers.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this. I'm a white guy, a very white guy. I sunburn in about 15 minutes in the sun. I wear SPF 50 and in about 4 hours I burn or become very sensitive to the touch and feel very nauseous . UV rays at 30,000 feet have got to be intense. If I flew from east coast USA to west coast USA, even fully lathered up in sunscreen, I would be a medical emergency before getting to the west coast. The only possible way would be in the dead of night.
Nathan
How about making a plane where I have room for my legs without having to sell an organ in order to afford it?
Get that done, then we can talk about transparent planes, ok?
Oh, and while you're at it, work on getting us some palatable food too.
~Syberz
Hyperdrive technology was sold by the Outsiders to the Human colony of We Made It, in 2409. He can yell "boo" at the Puppeteers all day long.
Transparent airplane? I guess that makes sense given security. After all, they are scanning, probing, looking at our internal organs before we board the plane. No one can stow away anymore, you can't hide a bomb. Is the bathroom transparent too? I mean, we might as well fly naked at this point.
Any don't bring any luggage onto your transparent plane as it'll block the view. Unless your luggage is transparent, which security would prefer. And can we see all the way into the transparent cockpit? There's just about nothing about this that makes the least bit of sense. I call bullshit.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Really hard to see the inflight movie when sun is streaming in over your shoulder.
Presumably, they make an exception for the bathrooms?
If the hull doesn't block UV you could work on your tan on the way to Mexico.
Maintenance will be more interesting. Hard enough now with extensive colour coding. (The aircraft repair industry can employ color blind techs!)
Third Career: Tree Farmer Second Career: Computer Geek First Career: Teacher, Outdoor Instructor, Photographer.
Last flight I was on, spent 4 hours in a plane, and all they had to gave me were peanuts...
Free Pie! The Pie is Also Evil!
I guess Wonder Woman can have her plane now and a movie can be made featuring her.
I'd rather see the windows turn into a long and relatively high window running the length of the plane.
The CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario has a very thick glass for a floor over a small section so you can look strait down. You can walk over it safely with no problems, but it freaks the hell out of most people. When I went to visit it I had no problems but my 3 friends wouldn't go within a foot of the glass part of the floor. The vast majority of the other visitors reacted the same way, they'd lean over to take a quick look and then move away never setting foot on the glass.
Bah!
As anyone who has spent night hours in a room will lots of windows will tell you, lighting the interior of an all-transparent plane is going to be difficult. This is because most interior lighting is indirect and diffuse. Recessed ceiling fixtures light the floor, up-lights light the ceiling, and wall-washers keep the walls bright. Current planes are mostly lit by indirect ceiling lights and wall washers. Only the reading lights provide direct illumination - which is very inefficient, and straining on the eyes. If walls and ceiling are transparent, indirect lighting of this sort of lighting becomes impossible. In the absence of opaque, light reflective walls [or shades of some kind], the photons just stream out of the room [plane] after only one chance of striking something needing illumination. This is why many establishments with large window walls close shades at sunset -- so that the shades reflect light back into the room.
And while in a terrestrial environment this might only be an efficiency / comfort issue, in a plane it is a safety issue. Efficient and effective lighting will be key when flight staff need to take action in the event of a cabin emergency.
Spidey!!!
What, two pages of comments and not one about Wonder Woman? What has happened to the /. I knew and loved?
I don't know about you but most of my flights are during the day. Having the sun in my face for 2-4 hours at a time is not something I would enjoy... unless of course I could lay back and work on my tan in my speedos. Which is something the other passengers will not enjoy. ~:-)B
... and we had the ol' Vista Cruiser. (Looking down wasn't possible, though, nor would it have been very interesting.)
Just a few random thoughts:
* Wouldn't a transparent floor in a plane give the passengers an exciting view of not so much the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, or the Taj Mahal, but ... the luggage?
* Forget being able to see the stars at night. I think it'd be even better to fly at night when there are thunderstorms along the flight path. That would be an E-ticket ride.
* I have to wonder how the materials they plan on using for this are going to wear. Any scratches on the transparent portion are going to be difficult to deal with. Imagine the additional maintenance costs of having to polish the fuselage in order for the paying customers to be able to see the stars. Imagine the complaints from the customers when they can't see the stars because the carrier skimped on maintenance and the transparent material isn't so, uh, transparent.
* How will the carriers protect the passengers from the sun when flying during the day? You can get one hell of a sunburn when sitting next to a plexiglas window on a plane. I wonder what precautions they'll take to prevent that and reduce the passengers' increased risk of skin cancer? (One hopes that this magical material provides excellent UV protection.)
* Ever been to a restaurant and asked the management or that couple sitting next to the window to close the blinds because the sun was shining in your face and blinding you? Now think that request going unheeded in a close environment where many of the people have been drinking.
* Interiors made of plant fibres? One wonders if the interior will go up like flash paper in the event of a crash.
Did you tell them to take drugs before they started brainstorming? 'cuz it seems that they did.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Time to fire up my Mac Classic, that transparent aluminium won't design itself you know!
From Asker:
Pressurized aircraft, such as commercial jet airliners, have small windows because it's easier to build a small window that resists air pressure than it is to build a large window. The mechanical stress on the window rises quickly as the size of the window increases.
Another reason for small windows is that it causes pressure to be lost a little less quickly if the window fails, although depressurization happens pretty fast either way. A small window is also less likely to cause other structural damage if it blows out, compared to a large window.
The higher the pressure difference that the aircraft is designed to handle, the smaller the windows tend to be. The pilots have large windows in front of them, but they are extremely expensive and difficult to produce, since they must resist a lot of pressure (as well as impact from things like birds).
Aircraft that are not pressurized can have windows of any size. Many small private aircraft have large windows, since they don't need to resist any pressures. Indeed, in unpressurized aircraft you can even open a window or door in flight, if you want. However, if the airplane flies really high, everyone inside needs to wear an oxygen mask.
From Jimmbbo:
At 35,000 feet, the pressure on all parts of the fuselage is about 1150 lb per square foot...
Each 1.5 foot x 1 foot window will have about 1700 pounds of pressure pushing from inside to the out.
A 2 x 2 foot window would have 4600 lb.
Artix
Your Linux, your init.
I call "BS" on this article for 2 reasons:
1. Whenever someone announces such bombastic claims like this, the claim is almost NEVER true. A prime example would be the announcement by a researcher of making "Plastic Water". What was missed was that a bunch of chemicals were added to the water, which makes the claim no more remarkable than making Jell-O. With regards to Airbus, it's a cool goal to work towards, but I'll bet THOUSANDS that the fuselage is transparent IN PLACES, but not in others, and using a system of cameras and projectors may SEEM to make the fuselage transparent, but does not ACTUALLY make the fuselage transparent. Just another publicity grab to me.
2. Whenever SlashDot posts articles like these, any well-seasoned SlashDot reader already knows that the headline is almost always bullshit, since they will have plenty of experience reading articles with blatantly misleading headlines.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Motion sickness can also be caused by receiving a visual cue of motion without the accompanying sensation of motion. This is why some people get nauseous when trying to play first person shooters. An airplane ride is usually exceptionally smooth, except for periods of turbulence. If you couple that with a visual cue of motion, via a transparent floor, I would imagine you would see an increase in motion sickness.
I'm offering circumsolar flights as we speak! It's a bit on the leisurely side--takes about 365 days to complete the trip--but the views are great, plenty of leg room, and you can bring as much luggage as you want.
Oh, and I take PayPal!
You won't be able to see the Eiffel Tower or any bit of Paris through the floor. Flying above Paris is forbidden, seeing the Eiffel Tower this way means the plane might be shot down very soon.
Christophe (Don't hesitate to point out my spelling and grammar mistakes, I want to learn - Thanks).
It took me about 2 seconds of reading this to think of why this is a horrible idea... you know those plastic doors you can slide over the window? To keep that blaring sun from burning your eyes out. That would be pretty hard if the plane was transparent...