Blended wing aircraft is nothing new at all but in modern passenger aircraft this is something not put forward for contest. However, Airbus wants to change that with their Blended wing technological demonstrator called MAVERIC. At 2-meters long and 3.2-meters wide, with a surface area of about 2.25m², MAVERIC features a disruptive aircraft design, that has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% compared to current single-aisle aircraft. The “blended wing body” configuration also opens up new possibilities for propulsion systems type and integration, as well as a versatile cabin for a totally new on-board passenger experience. Launched in 2017, MAVERIC first took to the skies in June 2019. Since then the flight-test campaign has been on-going and will continue until the end of Q2 2020. A future Airbus aircraft may not necessarily take on the form of this demonstrator but technologies that are being tested on it and possibilities could go forward in future design and implementation in other areas.
Many of JF's readers might be familiar with the Blended-wing jet that KLM is throwing some money behind. While most thought this would remain just a concept, TU Delft (Delft Technical University) successfully flew a scale model of the design recently. There large flying V is envisioned to take passengers on commercial flights in the future. The blended-wing aircraft concept is a project by Delft Technical University (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, with financial support by KLM Airlines. ... The Flying-V was designed as a fuel-efficient, long-range aircraft in which the passenger seating, fuel tanks and baggage hold are built into the wings.
