This concept is really something people have never seen before. It's called WB-1010 (the abbreviation stands for Wright Brothers) and it is currently only a concept since it will be created from materials that are yet to be developed and with the use of revolutionary technology.

The WB-1010 future plane is expected to provide a high speed of around 1,000 km/h, a lot of comfort and space for 1,500 people. The project has been submitted to the KLM Indonesia aircraft design competition.

For the concept the designer Reindy Allendra thought about using materials such as GLARE("GLAss-Reinforced" Fibre Metal Laminate (FML)), made of several thin layers of metal (generally aluminum) mixed together with layers of glass-fiber "pre-preg", tied with a matrix similar to epoxy that is currently used on another giant plane today - Airbus A380.

In order to make the plane of the future lighter, the designer though of injecting helium in the body of WB-1010. The windows will be made of "Smart Glass", which is also known as smart window. This type of glass is able to change light transmission properties after voltage is applied. The plane will produce energy in flight and will be able to land both ways, like traditional planes (on a runway) or like helicopters - vertically.

MagLevAir offers a magnetic take-off system for planes

The trio of designers Leonie Lawniczak, Deniz Örs and Georg Milde have created a concept that would provide magnetic assistance for planes during take-offs. The MagLevAir will function much like the catapult on aircraft carriers; only, the system will use magnets to do the job.

I have been to several air museums. All on the West Coast, I am afraid. I have been to McChord (years ago), I have been to the Olympic Air Museum, Tillamook Air Museum, McAllister, the Museum of Flight, Castle Air Museum, McClellan (now the Aerospace Museum of Northern California...due to who funds it), Travis Air Museum, and Pima Air Museum. I have seen numerous aircraft. When I was young, Yakima had yearly air shows. Back then A-4s, F-4s, F-111s, F-14s, A-6s, and A-7s were huge participants. I even attended the Everett Air Show one year and saw a Victor...you know, that godawful ugly british bomber turned Recon/tanker?


One time, while still in California, Beale AFB had an open house type thing at the Yuba County air port. They had a mock-up of the newGobal Hawk. It was huge! They also had an X-47B(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and a Navy UAV helicopter. It was a very interesting look into the future of air power.

The Pentagon loves to study future aircraft concepts, but finding the money to build them is another matter. Another problem is getting more the military services to work together.

For years, the Army and the Air Force have gone back and forth on concepts for a heavy lift aircraft that can takeoff and land on undeveloped airstrips, transporting weapons and equipment.

Now called Joint Heavy Lift, or JHL, both the Air Force and Army have signed on to this requirement, which is looking at a number of rotorcraft concepts. And, little surprise, they’re funding more studies to see what sort of rotorcraft might work best. "The first of three contracts to extend previous concept definition and analysis (CDA) work for another two years has been awarded, with the others to follow over the next week or two, says the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD)," Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. "Contracts are being awarded to Bell-Boeing for the Quad Tilt Rotor, Karem Aircraft/Lockheed Martin for the Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor and Sikorsky for the coaxial-rotor X2 High Speed Lifter."

Another idea, but this one funded by NASA, is the Variable Diameter Tilt Rotor (VDTR), discussed at some length by Graham Warwick in a blog post on ARES (he also wrote the article on the contract awards).

Joint Heavy Lift, under various guises, has been around for a while now. What’s new? Last time around, the focus was on carrying something that could fit in a C-130, but well, times have changes and the Army’s multi-billion dollar Future Combat System, the system that needs to be carted to the battlefield, has gotten gained weight. Now, Aviation Week report, the requirement is around 30 tons.

It would be amusing to trace the history and names of all the concepts that have been considered for this intratheater cargo aircraft requirement. For fun, you could scroll through Globalsecurity.org’s pages on the concepts and programs under future rotorcraft and heavy lift, of which there are many.

Green Airways Flying Saucer Plane Design

Is this green flying saucer plane the eco-friendly plane of the future? It's a design from the CleanEra project, aimed at making air travel more economical (in the environmental sense) by using lighter materials and weird ass shapes. Their goal is to get the carbon usage down to less than 50% of current planes. Whether this is light on the Earth is yet to be seen, it looks like something the Green Lantern would fly in.

Enjoy Inside

Singapore airlines (or SQ, for short)Â is the first in the world to get hold of the new A380 airbus. So, what’s the hype about this new fleet of airplanes?
(ASK! Editor speaks : Recently, I had the opportunity to fly on the new A380, and I must say I’m suitably impressed. And I was lucky to be seated on the top deck!)
To learn more about the new A380 airbus, go here. Airbus explains the greener, cleaner, quieter, and smarter qualities of the new jet.Â
To see what new features and amenities SQ has installed on-board the new A380 airbus,
go here. CNET news posted a series of photos of the special features onboard.Â