I still think the sky-ceiling is a horrible idea. I can picture myself waking up from a nap thinking that the top of the plane is gone. Blood-curdling screams ensue.
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Yeah but there’s a blue light above it. So it’s a sardine can with a view.
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I’d be very surprised if the propellerheads (hey, I just thought of that!) aren’t already designing passenger aircraft that have no windows at all - just cameras attached to the fuselage at regular intervals. The interior of the plane can have flat (or curved) panel monitors wherever it’s possible to fit them. On the walls where the windows used to be, certainly. But most important is the one that’s in front of your eyeballs. That one is already there on a large percentage of flights (and is already being heavily marketed for advertising).
Thing is, I’m a bit surprised this isn’t already being tested. It makes too much sense. No expensive holes running down the sides of the aircraft. Tons more ad space (which I personally I find nauseating). Useful for sending all kinds of information to passengers. It would work great for the blended wing body that @Richard_Kirk described.
Makes me wonder if, in early testing, it was found not to be the perfect cure for various flying-related phobias.
That idea is a huge pile of “Fuck no!” to me.
The false sky is such a cheap trick !
Both my parents worked in aircraft design. You are right about flying boats: you might have think you could design something where the float was part of the body like the Spruce Goose, but watever you dot it always ends up weighing more. Aeroflot in the 20’s used flying boats for scouting out routes, but if the routes proved profitable, they built landing strips within six months. A landing strip took little more than a bulldozer to build in those days, and it didn’t get choppy if the weather was rough.
(Also: oh poot, I did say that thing about opening the windows, rather than those little blinds that cover the windows, didn’t I?)
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You did, but don’t worry about it. My comment was in no way intended to be critical or malicious.
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You don’t even need multiple cameras. Four would be enough to provide panoramic views. Personally, I would prefer it. I think the pseudo-window monitors would be essential, though; even when the flaps are down inside aircraft, there’s a certain psychological reassurance in knowing there’s a window there.
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It would also solve the problem of misaligned windows.
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I thought of LCD screens replacing windows as well. Of course, it would take about ten minutes before they replaced the outside view with advertising. Conversely, in the event of an engine fire or wing falling off, they would switch the live feed to a recording done when things were going well.Or just a video of puppies and butterflies.
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Pohl and Kornbluth, The Space Merchants. Only thing they didn’t predict was the Internet.
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Not if you fly low enough…
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Awww gosh, I am seriously impressed. I was thinking of exactly that when I wrote it.
I think the idea is a good one. If you are making an emergency landing, you will usually leave the wheels up and land on the aircraft belly. You could have something on the runway that caught the aircraft.
Thunderbird 2 was a blended wing body aircraft too.
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The Ekranoplan did have a few problems, though. Like waves of any size making turning rather difficult.
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I figured I pulled out a Car Wars reference earlier, may as well follow up with an Ogre ref.
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