Richard Whitcomb, 88, the long-time NASA engineer des-cribed as the most significant aerodynamics contributor of the second half of the 20th century, died on October 13 in Newport News, Va. He was the recipient of the prestigious Collier Trophy for his discovery of the area rule fuselage, which gave fighter jets supersonic speed and greater range, and his supercritical wing and winglets are found on many of today’s aircraft designs.
Aerodynamics
October 21, 2009 - 9:54am
Safe Flight Instrument (Booth No. 5130) has been selected to provide the speed-control system for Quest’s Kodiak turbine single.
October 14, 2009 - 12:46pm
High-Speed AirCraft (Hisac), a European research program studying the feasibility of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ), is coming to a close at the end of this year. The research has shown better understanding of the performance such a vehicle could achieve, but it came to no conclusion about the types of engines that would be needed.
October 14, 2009 - 12:29pm
If paper was aluminum, glass and titanium instead of just paper, two Nevada-based groups developing supersonic business jet designs would have revolutionary aircraft ready to fly. To date, though, the specifications publicized by Aerion in Reno (Booth No.
October 2, 2009 - 9:23am
High-speed aircraft (Hisac), a European research project to study the feasibility of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ), is coming to a close at the end of this year, having shown better understanding of the achievable performance but without an answer to the big question mark on engines. Dassault has led the program, which counts Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica and Russia’s Sukhoi among its other major stakeholders.
September 1, 2009 - 11:50am
Cessna Aircraft yesterday delivered the first Citation X retrofitted with elliptical winglets made by Wichita-based Winglet Technology. The winglets were installed at Cessna’s Wichita Citation Service Center under Winglet Technology’s FAA STC. According to Cessna, the patented elliptical winglets optimize lift distribution, which reduces drag and thereby decreases fuel consumption and increases speed and range.
July 28, 2009 - 7:01am
GP Aerospace, a Brazilian startup company established by former Embraer technical director Guido Pessotti, has revealed to AIN plans for a personal very light jet, which would be smaller than currently available very light jets.
June 17, 2009 - 9:41am
GE Aviation and NASA are to ground test five sets of new subscale blades for open-rotor engines at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The tests will focus on acoustics and efficiency of a two-stage counter-rotating fan. The two partners have high expectations that new analysis tools will add to their understanding of the fan’s aerodynamics.
May 26, 2009 - 1:32pm
Dassault received EASA certification for its Falcon 2000LX on April 23, followed by FAA certification seven days later. Initially slated for certification more than one year ago, the 2000LX is a winglet-equipped version of the 2000EX. According to the French manufacturer, the winglets cut drag by 5 percent and boost range at Mach 0.80 to 4,000 nm from 3,800 nm. The first customer 2000LX was delivered early last month.
May 21, 2009 - 11:17am
French startup company Price Induction is studying an engine with a two-stage contra-rotating fan as a way to reduce fuel burn on very light jets. The Taor 380-1 would have a thrust of 720 pounds and cut fuel burn by 20 percent, compared with the company’s DGen 380 conventional turbofan engine. The latter claims a specific fuel consumption of 0.715. The Taor 380-1 would be suited to 4,400-pound-mtow aircraft, enabling speeds of 250 knots.
