This future aircraft design concept comes from the research team led by GE Aviation.
Much lighter and more aerodynamic than current aircraft with the same capacity, the 20-passenger aircraft would reduce fuel consumption and noise and enable business jet-like travel between more than 1,300 airports. It features ultra-quiet turboprop engines, virtual reality windows and is designed to fly at Mach 0.55 for 800 nautical miles.
This GE aircraft is among the designs presented in April 2010 to the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate for its NASA Research Announcement-funded studies into advanced aircraft that could enter service in the 2030-2035 timeframe.Read about all six teams’ design concepts in the article, “Beauty of Future Airplanes is More than Skin Deep.”Image credit: NASA/GE Aviation