COLANI Energy Saving Plane

[Michel Van]

your right Stargazer

but I have to defend Colani
he is a good Designer, a Pioneer in Organic and "aerodynamic" forms in 1960s and 1970s
Wat he call "Biodesign, 90% Nature and 10% Colani“

like the Single-lens reflex camera Canon T-90 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_T90

Colani call his strange propeller:
„Zentripetal-Überschallpropeller“ in English "Centripetal supersonic propeller"
no idea Wat he means with this...

 

[Stargazer]

Centripetal is the opposite of centrifugal. A centripetal force drags you towards the center while a centrifugal force pushes you away from the center.

 

[Sundog]

If propellers like that worked efficiently, someone would be building them.

I have the issue of Omni magazine from decades ago with a lot of his work in it, including those cool looking trains.

Also, the idea of a propeller driven supersonic aircraft is somewhat of an oxymoron. Even if we could do it, I don't see why we would, since the jet is the obvious solution to that canard.

That air superiority fighter must have been the inspiration for the Supersylph: Yukikaze.

 

[Jemiba]

Colani aside, what's today the influence of design (in the sense of artistic design,
as in cars) on the shape of modern aircraft ? In former times, there certainly were
a lot of details shaped just in this sense, e.g. the fin on deHavilland aircraft. Are
there still such influences, or ist it just "form follows function" today ? What's left for
the designer, not demanded by aerodynamic, or other technical requirements ?

 

[HeavyG]

A lot of what Colani designs is what many would call "out there". His cars also follow his organic design pattern and probably would never be built. While his aircraft (with the possible exception of his BIZZ jet) might actually fly as designed, building them is either technically impossible, or if technically possible, would be prohibitively expensive to build, at least at this time. In a few years, though, if materials technology catches up...