From: MarkLFischer at aol.com
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 13:02:16 EDT
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Alternative reality v SF
To: WSFAlist at WSFA.org
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

In a message dated 4/28/2005 12:47:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
twhite8 at cox.net writes:

>I'm talking about airliners with passengers riding
>*inside* the  wings (with windows in the leading edges), or a dozen  engines
>w/propellors mounted on each wing -- pointing *up*.  Ocean  liners of the
>air....

I saw that concept dusted off not too many years ago, a huge flying wing
with facilities to "dock" smaller conventional airliners in the DC-9/727 class
for passenger, cargo, and fuel transfer.  The plane would fly  an wandering
circumnavigation course, never landing, handling passengers in  much the same way
that a city transit bus does today.

I have no idea if this scheme would make financial sense in the modern  world
of air transportation, but it's technically feasible given sufficient
redundancy in critical systems and automated controls (I'd hate to try a manual
dock, for example), and would certainly be a fascinating way to travel.  Of
course, I also pine for the big airships, so I'm wierd.

Mark