Five big ideas that could change the future of air travel
WEDNESDAY16 APRIL 2014
BA's planes will run on biofuel recycled from London rubbish. It comes as innovation in the aviation industry sees aircraft getting greener, faster and downright weirder than ever.
Green wing
Wave rider
An airship will get you from London to New York in a day and a half. A wave rider can manage the trip in less than an hour.
Boeing made history last year when its X-51 wave rider prototype hit mach 5.1 - five times the speed of sound or about 3,900mph - during a test flight lasting about four minutes. The unmanned flight was the longest ever in the hypersonic range.
Developed by British engineers working on the aborted UK space programme in the 1950s, a wave rider uses the shock wave created by its leading edge to increase the amount of air trapped under the wings, improving lift.
With its snub nose and short, stubby wings, the X-51 is more rocket than plane, and there are numerous technical difficulties that put piloted hypersonic passenger flight a long way off.
Flying cars..
