"We are not at all at the end of the story," Charles Champion, executive vice president of engineering for Airbus, says. "There's still a great future for aviation."
Future Face of the Industry
New technologies beginning to enter today's planes are well on their way to becoming the future face of the industry.
The biggest difference between the aerospace world of the past and that of the future is the shift of the success paradigm, Champion says. Whereas in the past, an aircraft's performance served as its barometer of success, now that gauge is also tied to environmental concerns. In its design of new planes and components, Airbus not only tries to create the most cost-effective aircraft but also the one that reduces noise, pollution and fuel consumption.
"Clearly, efficiency is driving the market and the ever-increasing cost of fuel, along with environmental concerns over carbon emissions," says Heil. "The best way to reduce carbon emissions is to design and build more efficient airplanes."
He sees that goal being realized through an electric future, one in which electrical systems replace hydraulic ones, where an aircraft is powered, heated and cooled by electric means.
And he's not alone.
Champion's team hopes to develop an intelligent tractor that would aid aircraft in take-off; the tractor would help propel the plane down the runway, enabling the aircraft to start its engines at the last minute. And they want to add electrical engines to the wheels of the plane to power it while it taxis. The idea is to allow planes to carry less fuel, making them lighter and saving money while also reducing emissions.
Bob Witwer, vice president of advanced technology for Honeywell Aerospace (IW 500/37), thinks most of the advances in the aerospace industry will be tied to NextGen air traffic management. As the Federal Aviation Administration reduces gridlock and improves efficiency -- fuel and time -- by switching to a satellite-based air traffic control system from its ground-based system, aerospace manufacturers, too, will find faster and more environmentally-friendly ways to operate and build aircraft.
He envisions a world in which airplanes operate like clockwork, arriving and departing to the minute like trains. Forget sitting on a plane for an hour after leaving the gate in that slow conga dance with other aircraft to the runway.
"They're burning my time while we do this slow creep, burning gas, generating pollution, like cars do when they're stuck in rush hour," Witwer says.
