Aerial relay transport aircraft system

[hesham]

Hi,

also anther new system to me;
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780021103_1978021103.pdf

 

[cluttonfred]

That spanloader looks like great fun, but I don't think there's a snowball's chance in h*ll that this scheme would ever be adopted given the enormous safety issues inherent with mid-air docking and transfer. Ugh.

 

[robunos]

now I know that spanloader has LFC to reduce drag...

But with that low aspect ratio and huge squared-off tips the drag would still be phenomenal, and don't even think about the tip vortices....!!

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Tophe]

Thanks for this very special twin-boom plane, so easy to twin itself (it seems, theoritically)... Designers are nice dreamers ;D

 

[Michel Van]

Now I've seen everything

that report beat even the German WW2 "Wunderwaffe, Schnell! Schnell !!" Madness
and how many FAA* official had a heart attack, while reading this report ?

*=U.S. Federal Aviation Administration

 

[agricola64]

there was a SF short story, using exactly this system / aircraft .. i will see if i can remember the author and title ..

the flying wing / multi span loader got its fuel form the planes meeting up with it - so essentially it was never landing ..

 

[agricola64]

ahh ..fopund the story .

timothy zahn "between a rock and a high place" - collected in "time bombs and zahndry other stories"

 

[Tophe]

Agricola64, was this just "word' story :-\ or else: cartoon with pictures ;D?

 

[agricola64]

Agricola64, was this just "word' story :-\ or else: cartoon with pictures ;D?

unfortunately it was just a "word story", but one of my friends believes to remember that there was a version of it in one of the SF&F magazines like "analog" with illustrations - i am still searching and if i can find it i will post the pictures ..

 

[AlvaDyson95]

A truly mad project. It sounds fun and ingenious, but the issues that would come from it far outweigh the benefits.

First, since it seems that the entire wing of the airliner module is ment to hold passengers, whenever it rolls, everyone in wing tip seats will be thrown all over the place(which is a issue I have identified with spanloader aircraft in general). Second, while moving people between aircraft isn't an issue, how you plan to move their luggage is a totally different matter. And third and most obvious, the whole midair docking is, to put it lightly, enormously dangerous. One slip up, and you have an air disaster above all air disasters. And good luck attempting that in bad weather.

Overall, while I can see the thought process that created this system, the problems with it's overall design, issues with transfer, and extremely hazardous docking concept make this design much too dangerous to ever attempt.