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The Airplane of the Future May Not Have Windows
merbs writes: Hope you're not too attached to looking out the windows when you fly — the designers of tomorrow's airplanes seem intent on getting rid of them. A Paris design firm recently made waves when it released its concept for a sleek, solar paneled, windowless passenger jet. Before that, Airbus proposed eschewing windows and building its cabins out of transparent polymers. Now, the Center for Process Innovation has floated its own windowless plane concept, and it's attracting plenty of headlines, too.
Fine, if it comes with a really good imaging system passengers can access. A VR set "would be nice."
In reality, of course, it would likely mean that only the 1% will be able to see what's going on outside, as that sounds like a First Class option.
We're going to need more vomit bags. People who were prune to motion sickness will be worse off without the windows since they are cut off from the last piece of sensory information that tells them that they are moving.
How are we supposed to see the gremlins?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Maybe if you fly every week, it does. I fly rarely (almost a decade since my last flight), and I find it nice to look at the clouds, other planes, patterns on the ground, lights at night, the mountains. And now that I have a few kids, I can't wait for them to get to see it. Windowless plane sounds terrible to me.
..i think they will have to keep windows in the hatches. they'll now call the emergency exit rows "observation deck" and charge x2 for them.
thats what i call win-win :)
Airplanes are the only thing with Windows that don't crash (often).
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
and as an added benefit at the push of a button you won't be able to see what is actually going on on the outside, probably the airplane company is selling this to the government as we speak, pushing it as a 'security' feature (by obscurity) as if people who really want to couldn't use timing to figure out where they are.
You can't handle the truth.
I see no mention of anything of the sort in the article. With engine power outputs on the order of megawatts, of what possible use is adding fragile solar panels to an airframe?
Mostly random stuff.
Virtual reality is not good enough. If there is an accident we need to see actual reality to be able to see if it is safe to open the emergency exits and, for those not sitting in exit row seats, to be able to see which side of the plane they need to find an exit on. So perhaps they can make windows smaller but I doubt they can completely do away with them.
I'm the same way - I love staring out the window of an airplane. I'll bring hours of entertainment on a flight, and then spend half the trip just wistfully gazing out the window.
One of my favorite moments (and quite probably a formative moment of my love for window seats on planes) was a landing at Victoria (or maybe it was Vancouver, been a while) airport. I was a young teenager, and was seated just aft of the left wing. I didn't know much about aircraft then, so when we touched down and all of a sudden the rear engine cowling splits in half and rejoins behind the exhaust to form a redirection chute (thrust reversal), and then the pilot throttles up (I've always loved the whistle of turbines and the power of a jet engine) while the plane shudders and rumbles to a stop... I was in heaven. I'm sure my eyes were the size of saucer plates. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, like discovering you were actually riding a transformer the whole time. And that moment of surprise and joy is frozen in time in my memory, along with my love of window seats on airplanes. I'd be sad if they ever took that away.
I guess that means they'll be using Unix, BSD or Linux. ((Ducks))
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
From TFA:
Before that, Airbus proposed eschewing windows and building its cabins out of transparent polymers.
What that really means is that Airbus wants to turn the entire cabin into a window.
Also from TFA:
Hope you're not too attached to looking out the windows when you fly — the designers of tomorrow's airplanes seem intent on getting rid of them.
Well, I guess that technically, Airbus would be "getting rid of the windows", but if the end result is that everyone on the plane has a better view, I don't think it supports TFA's argument at all.
If the walls are opaque, people with claustrophobia will be puking.
If the walls are transparent, people with agoraphobia or acrophobia will be puking.
If it's actually possible to make a strong enough transparent body, then paint everything except a horizontal stripe just a little taller than existing airliner windows. Liquid crystal panels for dimming might be nice.
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The US army has tried for years to come up with a full-face helmet with embedded HUD, built-in night vision, etc. On paper this is fantastic, but during field tests, soldiers consistently rip those off when they get into combat situations.
Put hundreds of people on a windowless plane, with 20% or more already scared at the idea of flying, and see what happens if the onboard computer crashes and they find themselves surrounded by blue (or black) screens. Cabin fever on steroids.
lucm, indeed.
That video link in the article of a panoramic view of just clouds instead of a wall would freak me out. Making it look like the seats were flying through the air like Wonder Woman started doing Commercial Flights is not my idea of comfort. Or if you're sitting sunside and trying to nap - could you please turn off the wall please it's too bright for me
It's the Year of the linux airplane !! YYYEEEAAAAHH
aaaaaaa
Sardines don't need windows.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Why in the world would you think the emergency exits wouldn't have windows?
If you look at the image in the article there are over 20 rows there with no hint of a window for an exit row. Most of the planes I've flown on with single aisles have an exit row within that many rows and yet there is no sign of a window anywhere.
I mean seriously, do you think everyone else in the world is a total idiot?
Clearly not but I presume that you'll agree that there are idiots out there so when someone proposes a new idea it is reasonable to point out some potential flaws in the scheme to see whether they have thought it through and have solutions. If they have solutions that's a good sign that they know what they are doing. However if they have no answers and start getting upset and making wild suggestions that you've called everyone in the world a total idiot simply because you dared to question them, well that's not such a good sign is it?
Sorry folks, you'll just have to stand in that flying cattle car. And don't forget to wear your adult diapers, they won't have restrooms either.
I'm sorry that you believe that the entire airplane is your own private, dark, quiet sleeping quarters. I like the feeling of openness by having that window up next to me, and helps me forget about the overweight smelly guy next to me who's snoring and leaning my way...
And the worms ate into his brain.
Yeah, I bet all those high-resolution display panels will be lighter than windows,
Well, for a start, they don't have to resist 10 tons per square metre.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
I can't get people to shut the dinky windows when I try to sleep on flights now.
Ah you're one of those annoying people who insists on closing all the blinds and trying to sleep at 3 in the afternoon, no matter how awake everyone else is.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
They'd be far better investing in and researching electric planes like what Elon Musk has spoken about.
I went to Farnborough this year and I can assure you they are researching electric planes. They had one flying shortly before the A380, and a little after the WWI dogfight demonstration team.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Artsy Paris design firm != actual aircraft designers.
Unless today's engineers take their aesthetic choices from someone else's random napkin doodles, I think we are safe with windows for a while.
(Btw what's up with the recent frequency of "new products" from design firms who pretty much just conceptualize a design by drawing a picture, with absolutely no engineering background, nor actual intent to build a working product? Aren't the aesthetics kind of the last concern, for most things?)
-Styopa