red750 Posted March 26 Posted March 26 Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight NEWATLAS.COM A West Texas company says it's found a remarkably simple way to slash air cargo costs as much as 65% – by having planes tow autonomous, cargo-carrying gliders behind them, big enough to double, or...
facthunter Posted March 26 Posted March 26 How would you de ice it for a starter and "what IF" the tow plane had an engine failure??. Nev
FlyBoy1960 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 I have been following this for a while, what they didn't mention is that it has electric deicing as required, there are little generators on the wingtips which provide supplemental power during tow to power all of the systems on the aircraft and also top up batteries (more below). They also have an electric motor which can sustain them for several hours if needed, the example mentioned above of the tow plane having an engine problem is relieved by the glider having a sustainer engine and a glide ratio of approximately 30:1 when fully loaded. Typically these will fly at 30,000 feet and will glide around 250 km in distance once disconnected from the aircraft whilst not using the sustainer engine so they have a massive footprint for landing and 10 times this if they use the sustainer engine which may also be used as a supplemental power source for takeoff to lower the rolling distance. It is a little bit "Jetson's" but it is not as stupid as it first sounds. They are even thinking long-term with a pilotless aircraft at the front towing 2 of these behind.
spenaroo Posted March 27 Posted March 27 (edited) what is the landing distance? and what is the landing speed? cant exactly do a missed approach. I dont know of any urban gliding operations... Edited March 27 by spenaroo
Marty_d Posted March 27 Posted March 27 The article says one option is to have the glider land with the plane, still on the tow rope! Sure...
spenaroo Posted March 27 Posted March 27 yep, absolutely useless if you need a runway the size of the space shuttles
FlyBoy1960 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 16 minutes ago, spenaroo said: what is the landing distance? and what is the landing speed? cant exactly do a missed approach. I dont know of any urban gliding operations... It can do a missed approach because it has a sustainer engine. The aircraft just needs to decide at 1,000 feet (or other arbitrary figure) if it is ready to land but I expect this decision has already been made some 30 minutes prior when the aircraft is descending through 10,000 feet or whatever. If it is not ready to land because there is something on the runway it can start the sustainer and fly a circuit and then land again. It obviously probably can't climb very well but it can maintain its altitude according to the information I have read. This however is an unmanned aircraft and therefore does not need to do missed approaches, it just comes in and lands. All of the UAV aircraft out there don't do a missed approach, they all come in and land the first time.
facthunter Posted March 27 Posted March 27 And IF the runway is already occupied by say a damaged aircraft with a blown tire, what happens then?. Nev
BrendAn Posted March 27 Posted March 27 Is it really that far fetched. A couple of years ago no one would have believed Elon musk could get a rocket to return to base and land ready for another trip. And aviation is still in its infancy, who knows what can be done in the future.
FlyBoy1960 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 6 hours ago, facthunter said: And IF the runway is already occupied by say a damaged aircraft with a blown tire, what happens then?. Nev See above, the sustainer takes them somewhere else? Different location, cross strip, parallel runway, you need to read the posts properly 1
Area-51 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/pilots-discretion-from-sportys/id1571051265
facthunter Posted March 28 Posted March 28 In this sort of thing Complete success is going to be the exception There is no inevitability in it. Not all birds pass their flight test. ALSo If it was THAT easy EVERYBODY would be doing it. There is no perfect Plane, Pilot or marriage partner. The Majority of Marriages fail but that doesn't stop a lot attempting it. . Brendon ..........Elon Musk as an example of success? Who's more all over the Place than HE is. and Aviation in it's infancy?? If something goes around at a busy major airport it will take at least 15 minutes and about five frequencies to get back on the ground and that's in a plane that flys like a plane should fly not being pulled along by a rope. Nev 1
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