Carbon Fiber Boeing

[Calesta]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...hi_040830082316

" The light-weight wing will be the first carbon fiber wing to be used on passenger airplanes, the daily said."

[Vtec_Power]

Awesome, now APC can start making shit for airplanes too.

[cacmasta]

Originally posted by Vtec_Power@Aug 30 2004, 12:59 PM
Awesome, now APC can start making shit for airplanes too.

hehe i can see it now, an airplane with a windshield banner and APC stickers all over...the cockpit would have neon lights, yellow painted console,...maybe some altezzas...some chrome wheels...ooo imagine what they could do to pimp out the bathrooms.

lol on a more serious note, will CF wings really make that much of a difference? I don't know the distribution of weight on a plane.

[Calesta]

They'll probably make a big difference- allow the plane to be more fuel efficient, carry a larger load etc... if you think about it, the wing is a pretty damn heavy part of the plane. It usually houses the fuel in a passenger plane. It has to support the weight of the plane, and then there has to be enough structural support in the wing itself to make sure that it can hold its own weight at rest when it's not pushing up against the bottom of the plane. You've seen them flex and wobble around while taxiing on airport runways- they're pretty damn heavy.

If a company is able to use lighter stiffer materials, they have a lot less weight to haul around, less weight to support etc... lighter structures need less reinforcement to hold themselves up.

This is all just speculation on my part of course- but when you're spending fuel trying to keep a zillion ton chunk of metal and plastic up in the air, every single pound counts. I'll bet the rigidity of the CF wing also makes for more predictable flying dynamics too over a more flexible steel wing.

[cacmasta]

I figured a good chunk of the weight was in the wings, just wasn't sure. I guess it makes sense. If the wings were lighter, then they would just snap. Hope that doesn't happen with the CF wings. They should just build a whole plane out of CF for the hell of it. It's been a couple of years since I've been on a plane, but i'll pay attention to the wings when I'm flying in October.

[Vtec_Power]

I think the coefficient was something like more weight equals more drag which in turn equals more effort needed to maintain flght. If the planes critical parts are 5-=75% lighter and 10x the strength you just saved that much more fuel. Which in turn benefits the flyer. Due to less fuel used, they would most likely be able to afford to lower the price of the plane tickets....I hope.

[sloEJcivic]

im surprised they didnt do this years ago. fighter planes have had that technology for a long time.

[oompahlumpa]

Originally posted by cacmasta+Aug 30 2004, 10:25 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cacmasta @ Aug 30 2004, 10:25 AM)</div>

hehe i can see it now, an airplane with a windshield banner and APC stickers all over...the cockpit would have neon lights, yellow painted console,...maybe some altezzas...some chrome wheels...ooo imagine what they could do to pimp out the bathrooms.

lol on a more serious note, will CF wings really make that much of a difference? I don't know the distribution of weight on a plane.[/b]

I was going to say dont forget about sparco racing pasenger seats, but since they'd be going apc they probably be rockin tenzo-r's

[dubcac]

Originally posted by Calesta@Aug 30 2004, 12:42 PM
They'll probably make a big difference- allow the plane to be more fuel efficient, carry a larger load etc... if you think about it, the wing is a pretty damn heavy part of the plane.* It usually houses the fuel in a passenger plane.* It has to support the weight of the plane, and then there has to be enough structural support in the wing itself to make sure that it can hold its own weight at rest when it's not pushing up against the bottom of the plane.* You've seen them flex and wobble around while taxiing on airport runways- they're pretty damn heavy.

If a company is able to use lighter stiffer materials, they have a lot less weight to haul around, less weight to support etc... lighter structures need less reinforcement to hold themselves up.

This is all just speculation on my part of course- but when you're spending fuel trying to keep a zillion ton chunk of metal and plastic up in the air, every single pound counts.* I'll bet the rigidity of the CF wing also makes for more predictable flying dynamics too over a more flexible steel wing.

Either better fuel economy, or they can go a bit faster

[imported_Kyle_G]

Originally posted by Calesta@Aug 30 2004, 04:42 PM
They'll probably make a big difference- allow the plane to be more fuel efficient, carry a larger load etc... if you think about it, the wing is a pretty damn heavy part of the plane. It usually houses the fuel in a passenger plane. It has to support the weight of the plane, and then there has to be enough structural support in the wing itself to make sure that it can hold its own weight at rest when it's not pushing up against the bottom of the plane. You've seen them flex and wobble around while taxiing on airport runways- they're pretty damn heavy.

If a company is able to use lighter stiffer materials, they have a lot less weight to haul around, less weight to support etc... lighter structures need less reinforcement to hold themselves up.

This is all just speculation on my part of course- but when you're spending fuel trying to keep a zillion ton chunk of metal and plastic up in the air, every single pound counts. I'll bet the rigidity of the CF wing also makes for more predictable flying dynamics too over a more flexible steel wing.

i was watching something on the Discovery channel a while back.. and it had a special on passenger planes. it was somewhere between the 747 to the 777.. i cant remember which plane.. but it had a flex point of like 37 feet (up/down) before the wing just shattered. really impressive. is CF that flexiable?