Gizmodo: wings

Seriously, Is the Boeing Dreamliner EVER Going to Fly?

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:00:00 EDT

We've been following the progress of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for a long, loooooooooong time, so we're excited that it's finally ready to—oh, wait is that wing coming apart?

Last week the Seattle Times reported that the damage observed during a ground test of the Dreamliner happened very late in the test, more specifically:

Just beyond "ultimate load." That is defined as 50 percent higher than the in-service limit load and is the Federal Aviation Administration's test target.

That would've been just fine and dandy, except that it turns out that they were just a little bit off and the damage actually occurred "well below the load the wings must bear to be federally certified to carry passengers." Whoops.

The structural flaws are described as

Stresses at the ends of the long rods that stiffen the upper wing skin panels caused the fibrous layers of the composite plastic material to delaminate.

Those long rods lead to the joints of the wings which connect to the body of the plane which lead to a fuselage box where excess load is transferred—-who cares how everything is connected? "Delaminate" as in "to split into thin layers"! Somehow I'm not reassured by being told that the delamination of the wing skin "isn't likely to lead to catastrophic failure of the airplane," though obviously they're not changing the design because it's not an issue. What's that? They are? Ah, well. What's another delay when the plane is already two years late? [Seattle Times]

Fold-Up Plane Finally Shown Folding Up

Mark Wilson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:45:00 EDT

At last week's EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, aircraft startup ICON showed up with their folding-winged A5. On display, one setup showed it being towed, propped on a standard trailer and pulled by a standard vehicle. The company hopes to appeal to those who've always been interested in flying but have felt intimidated by all of its attached responsibilities including licensing (you don't need a full-out pilot's license to operate this) and storage (it really can fit in a large garage). And yes, their cockpit resembles a car's dash in a completely scary/awesome way. Here's our full gallery from the event:

The ICON A5 has been flown successfully, but a funny side note—the company announced the plane before testing it in the air. Good thing it works!

Volitan Concept Boat Uses Wind Power and Solar Energy

AddyDugdale — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:44:11 EST

The Volitan, meaning "flying fish," is a pretty fantastic concept boat with impeccable green credentials, using sails, wind and solar power to get around, storing energy in its batteries. The secret to the Volitan — which can operate in 60-knot winds — is the way its four wings react to weather conditions.

A networked computer on board controls the boat's systems, including the wings, which track the sun and wind and adapt depending on whether it's sunny or windy. If the weather is absolutely atrocious, the upper wings, which are covered with solar panels and act as sails, fold up against the side of the boat. The lower wings help stabilize the boat, and contain a couple of DC motors. When the Volitan docks, these two stabilizer wings tuck away.

DesignNobis, the Turkish company behind the Volitan, claims that there were many factors behind the boat's design. "The objective was to create a new and alternative sailing vessel that would achieve a lightweight system, high sail performance, and all-weather navigation capacity with near zero emissions." [Yanko]

Tango Wings UMPC Has Vista, Slide-out Keyboard

Jason Chen — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:00:54 EDT

It was just a matter of time before another UMPC came out with a similar slide-out keyboard to the HTC Shift that debuted back at CTIA. Don't get us wrong—we don't think this is a copy—we're just pointing out that both have sliding keyboards.

The Wings has a 7-inch screen (touch or not, we're not sure), a trackpad, directional keys, and who knows what else inside. If the features rival what's in the Shift, this is possibly the second UMPC that we'd even think of using. – Jason Chen

PMPInside plays with TANGO Wings UMPC [Akihabara via Mobile Mag]

Gryphon Single-Man Flying Wing

Charlie White — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 09:35:51 EDT

At first we thought this was a joke—didn't Batman have a pair of wings like this? But no, this Gryphon Single-Man Flying Wing is a parachute system whose 4.9-foot Delta wing has two jet engines on board that can carry a paratrooper 110 miles on a half gallon of jet fuel. The device will be tested in an third quarter of next year, but we'd hate to be the first guy to try it. He'll have to be pretty hefty, too, because the thing weighs 66 pounds.

The mission starts when the brave soul wearing this birdman outfit takes a flying leap out of an airplane at 33,000 feet—hopefully equipped with warm clothes and oxygen—and flies the jet wing wherever he's going until he gets to an altitude of about a mile. At that point, somehow our intrepid hero sheds his wing and opens a parachute, letting that wing dangle below him as he floats to the ground. Better you than me, buddy. Tailwinds. – Charlie White

James Bond-style strap-on jet pack flying wing to extend special forces' reach [Flight]