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The BOEING 797
Boeing
is preparing this 1000 passenger Jet Liner that
could reshape the Air Travel Industry. Its
radical "Blended Wing & Fuselage" design has
been developed by Boeing in cooperation with
NASA Langley Research Centre. The mammoth
aircraft will have a wing span of 265 feet
compared to 211 feet of its 747, and its been
designed to fit within the newly created Air
Terminals for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is
262 feet wide.
The new 797 is Boeing's direct
response to the Airbus A380, which has racked up
orders for 159 already. Boeing decided to kill
its 747X Stretched Super Jumbo in 2003 after
little interest was shown for it by Airline
Companies, but continued to develop its
"Ultimate Airbus Crusher", the 797 at its
Phantom Works Research Facility in Long Beach,
California.
The
Airbus A380 had been in the works since 1999 and
has accumulated $13 Billion in development
costs, which gives Boeing a huge advantage. More
so because Airbus is thus committed to the older
style tubular structure for their aircraft for
decades to come.
There
are several big advantages in the "Blended Wing
& Fuselage" design, the most important being
the ‘Lift to Drag’ ratio which is expected to
increase by an amazing 50%, resulting in an
overall weight reduction of the aircraft by 25%,
making it an estimated 33% more fuel efficient
than the A380, and thus making the Airbus's $13
Billion Dollar investment look pretty
shaky.
"High
Airframe Rigidity" is another key factor in the
"Blended Wing & Fuselage" technology. It
reduces turbulence and creates less stress on
the airframe which adds to fuel efficiency,
giving the 797 a tremendous 10,000 Mile range
with 1,000 passengers on board cruising
comfortably at Mach 0.88 or 654 MPH, which gives
it another advantage over the tube-and-wing
designed A380's 570
MPH.
The
exact date ! for introduction of the 797 is as
yet unclear, but the battle lines are clearly
drawn in the high-stakes war for future civilian
aircraft
supremacy.
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