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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
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.
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...
> Commence Star Trek references in 3... 2... 1...
How quaint.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Now that airlines are forcing larger passengers to buy double seats, all I can say is:
"There be whales here!"
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
Maybe whole-plane parachutes? I'd take that before a transparent one any day.
They exist; they're just so heavy and so unlikely to be useful that no-one is willing to take the performance hit for installing such a system on an airliner. If I remember correctly, the proposed system I saw some years ago for a 747 required 14 large parachutes spread around the plane.
Plus you're more likely to scare people off by doing so than gain new passengers; who wants to fly on an airline which is so scared of their planes crashing that they fit parachutes to them?
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!
The next concept after that is for a double decker, with flight attendants wearing miniskirts and no panties. Upper deck seats cost double.
...
Oh and did i mention that the flight attendants are all male?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
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!
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.
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.
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?
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.
...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".
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.
Just wait, tomorrow Airbus will announce it is changing its name to "General Products", then the fun will really start....
I think they've been reading Niven not Star Trek. In particular it sounds like they are going after the General Products #3 hull.
If price only mattered people would ride donkeys rather than fly. Crash-proof planes would be extremely popular. At least until the first one crashed.
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
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.
Depends on the in-flight meal. So I guess it's Jello or nothing on the transparent plane.
Puppeteer should be capitalized, as it is a proper noun in this context- it's not some puppeteers, it's the Peirson's Puppeteers that are complaining.
(And usig an a Android tablet to post with sucks.)
www.eFax.com are spammers
That's all right. If they confront me about it, I'll just yell "boo" and we won't see them again for a century...
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
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.
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.
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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
That gives me e great idea. Fully reclining seats and nudist sunbathing flights.
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'