Would you put your money on a plane that’s shaped like a tuna, powered by a one engine, and carries just 100 gallons of fuel? It’s probably too early to tell whether a commercial version of that future-focused aircraft will ever actually take flight, but there’s no denying that that it’s an ambitious project. And it looks pretty cool, too.
The plane is being developed by SmartFish, a collaboration amoung six firms from Europe, the US, and China, along with a crew of scientists and a team from Stuttgart’s DLR Institute for Technical Thermodynamics. As concerns about fuel prices and aviation’s role in pollution take center stage, projects like these are suddenly gaining renewed attention.
How does it work?
The SmartFish project utilizes a “lifting body” design, which means that the entire aircraft works to supply lift, rather than just the wings. The plane’s slender shape and composite fabric interpretation mean less drag, and thus less thrust due for flight. The wing and fuselage profile one integrated, cool looking unit, and the strange, tuna-esqe shape plus means that the
Six years in the making, a six pound, four foot lengthy version of the plane completed a successful tryout flight final year, and now plans are moving forward to build a proof-of-concept two seater. that larger prototype would be 20 feet lengthy and six feet high, with wingspan of 15 feet. The SmartFish team hopes that when completed it will be able to fly at by 550 miles using a without turbofan engine with 900- to 1,000-pounds of thrust. Fuel would be stored in wing tanks with a total capacity of just under 100 gallons.
But to assemble the prototype a reality, the SmartFish Project needs some cash, and they’re not being shy about asking for it. From their website: “Get your rich uncle to shout us…he won’t be disappointed.”
Photo: SmartFish
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