Says Prototype Should Be Ready By 2025

Does your heart skip a beat whenever you hear the powerful roar of jet engines overhead? Well, this story probably isn't for you... on the other hand, if you dream of a future without noise complaints from those living near airports, then you might be in luck.

According to British media reports, a joint venture between the Cambridge University and MIT is developing a windowless wedged-shape airliner, powered by four whisper-quiet engines, with room for 250 passengers onboard as well as such atypical airliner facilities as a bar. (Seems we've heard that before, Boeing and Airbus?)

The project, known as the Silent Aircraft Initiative, is collaborating with today's aircraft manufacturers and airlines to make the dream a reality. The proposed aircraft would use video cameras and view screens to allow passengers to look "outside" -- thus adding strength to the structure, as no holes for windows would be cut into the skin of the craft.

The aircraft's primary innovation, however, would come from its use of quiet engines specifically designed to minimize noise. Engineers are looking to wide ducted fans mounted in long pods above the fuselage, utilizing slower airflow and complete with mufflers, to reduce noise levels to a fraction of the decibels produced by current turbofans.

That's not all, though. According to engineer Anurag Agarwel, the very shape of the aircraft would effectively serve as a noise-cancelling device.

"If you think of light waves coming out of the forward section of the engines, then these rays would bounce off the upper surface of the wing and it would leave a shadow region underneath," Agarwel recently told the British Association festival of science in Dublin. "The same thing happens with sound."

The resulting aircraft is expected to be roughly the size of today's B767, able to travel 4,000 miles between stops. Engineers claim the airplane's size could be expanded to seat an A380-level number of passengers, up to 800.

The three-year project has gathered input from such manufacturers as Boeing and Rolls-Royce, and such airlines as British Airways. Initial design work is expected to be handed off in about a year to manufacturers to work on prototype aircraft. Those prototypes could be flying as soon as 2025.

FMI: www.cambridge-mit.org/research/sai