Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Fiberdonkey5 t1_iwf2awm wrote

Popular Science was telling me the same thing in the 80's.

254

finedrive t1_iwf63eh wrote

Need a disruptor in the industry to light fires under the people just maintaining status quo because it’s profitable.

56

tyranicalteabagger t1_iwfofk9 wrote

Flying wings are inheriantly unstable. There's a reason there wasn't a safe design until you had computer controlled flight surfaces.

28

iqisoverrated t1_iwfulpn wrote

The controlling of these planes isn't the issue (that's solved. If the electronics fail you're screwed in a traditional jet just as much as you would be in a flying wing).

The issue is airports. Airports are built for planes with certain dimensions in mind. You can't just bring in an new (big) form factor - you'd have to revamp every (major) airport in the world. That's not going to happen.

27

Griiinnnd----aaaagge t1_iwfp7bi wrote

The Nazis were about to go hog wild on those too.

−7

tyranicalteabagger t1_iwglukn wrote

No. They weren't. We developed them after ww2 also and then abandoned them until the computer age; because they were unstable and dangerous without a computer to do fast adjustments to control surfaces.

2

AdvertisingFree4150 t1_iwf6xyo wrote

lol that would be congress. we should have speed rails but instead were told car and planes are whats best while both congress and companies do nothing about global warming.

25

finedrive t1_iwf78d6 wrote

Lol you’re telling me, check out the Hawaii rail system

6

LibertyLizard t1_iwfimfq wrote

Hawaii? Is this a joke?

4

finedrive t1_iwfiqr9 wrote

Nah, check it out

1

LibertyLizard t1_iwfiuvm wrote

I did. It’s more of a Honolulu rail system. I was imagining inter-island rail lol.

4

finedrive t1_iwfjsdx wrote

Oh, ya good luck with that. The current rail system is a complete joke. It’s under federal investigation lol

3

PoorPDOP86 t1_iwgt108 wrote

No, that would be practicality. The maps of where high speed rail lines are proposed reads like someone just looked at a map and went "Oh that looks short enough let's do that". Meanwhile they have these lines going through places where there's four tunnels and you can't exceed 75 MPH on the highway due to the sharpness of the turns. That's not feasible for a train that's supposed to go 150 plus.

There's a reason long-range passenger rail died in the US. Why go through something you can go over?

0

knowledgebass t1_iwh81ea wrote

You do realize that in the era before planes and automobiles there was a well-functioning and world-class passenger rail service that went to every major city in the country right? And that was in the 1800's and early 1900's so we could make it work now if we really wanted to but we are collectively addicted to cars.

7

AdvertisingFree4150 t1_iwgtjnf wrote

it died so the rich can keep making us pay a shit ton to travel. public transport has been dying since ford came out with cars and they started sabotaging it. even musk takes credit for fucking up the one they were going to build in ca. lol they have inanimate domain to build things like a rail system in america. they did it for all our roads.

5

JaFFsTer t1_iwgnhp9 wrote

High speed rail is really not gunna work in the us. Too sparsely populated in the middle of the country to be profitable and air travel is quite cost efficient.

−2

Cynical_Cabinet t1_iwh5fop wrote

The coasts are more than dense enough to support high speed rail. You don't have to connect Butfuck Iowa with the high speed rail system. Connect the busiest routes first, then expand the network from there ad necessary. ACELA should go down the entire east coast.

6

AdvertisingFree4150 t1_iwgol2t wrote

we dont even take pay for fuel and what its going to cost future generations and what it will cost us in the coming decade with 1/3 less water which we need in the Midwest to make the land livable. how much do you think it will cost us to wipe out farm land and turn it into desert? if government is too corrupt and the people are too dumb and the billionaires are too selfish.

−1

MandoAviator t1_iwfh9mv wrote

FAA is the problem. They are extremely slow.

> On September 1st, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the first unleaded fuel found fit to power every spark-ignition engine on every airframe in the general aviation fleet

This fuel has been around for much, much, much longer. And yes, this is September 1st 2022.

Transport Canada is worse. Getting insured on certain makes and models (which are commercially available) is such a challenge that it takes less time to learn to fly acrobatic planes (not exaggerating).

6

youguystalk t1_iwgmrfe wrote

It's actually not profitable they just get bailed out when they lose.

1

Hm_Maybe_ t1_iwfh5u2 wrote

Blue, disruptor found!

Red is attacking! Take your best shot!

Blue, disruptor destroyed!

−1

My_Soul_to_Squeeze t1_iwf66i3 wrote

And me in the 00's. These things might as well be fusion powered. They're just 20 years away.

8

KillerJupe t1_iwfgutc wrote

My understanding was that flying wings were really hard to control back then. This has obviously been solved with computers, but I guess the aviation industry moves kinda slowly cause no one wants to spend a billion developing a new platform only for it to kill a few plane loads of people over some stupid issue.

6

Kvothere t1_iwfli7d wrote

Flying wings are highly unstable, which (assuming you can control it with a flight computer) is a great feature in a military aircraft that might need to make sharp and sudden changes to it's flight path. It's not a great feature in a civilian aircraft where safety is #1 priority.

9

Griiinnnd----aaaagge t1_iwfpaf2 wrote

But what if someone left the stove on? Huh? Ya bet you didn’t think of that one.

−7

asdaaaaaaaa t1_iwftljm wrote

Pretty much. Takes a LOT of time/money to certify an aircraft. People may whine, but I'd rather it be that way than have random aircraft falling out of the sky more often. Imagine if flying had the same lax regulations as driving, it'd be a bloodbath. New aircraft will be released eventually.

2

tester989chromeos t1_iwhji30 wrote

Even the new long range USA bomber looks like from star wars . I wonder how these movie people get ideas of the futuristic designs and vechile

1

cohrt t1_iwizz06 wrote

Yup. I remember seeing this same concept in pops I when I was in middle school in the early 2000s.

1