If an aerofoil is the lift generator which makes an airplane fly,why isnt the entire aircraft made into one?

Question

if the entire airframe of an aircraft was to be made into a single aerofoil,woudnt it generate more lift and require lesser thrust and in turn,lesser fuel??

Answer 1

airplanes and birds do not fly, they surf on the water vapor of hydrogen bonds. The hydrogen bonds create a cohesive surface that supports heavier than air structures. Of course dependent on the temp, altitude , humidity and density of the water vapor. The condor is the best example of long distance surfing, and fuel efficiency yet. UFOs do not surf, they inertia gyrate huge energy fields and multi- gyroscope to move around. why stick to old tech, get on with the real stuff.

Answer 2

You are right, the aircraft would be more efficient and use a lot less fuel.  But where would the passengers sit?

Airplanes are tools utilized for their usefulness.  If we remove the usefulness of payload space, there is very little reason for an airplane to be built at all.

Answer 3

Your question really doesn't make any sense. More lift would allow the airplane to climb at a lower speed or climb faster at the same speed. How would that save fuel exactly?

Answer 4

because then the whole plane would be flat!

Answer 5

Mostly because of stability problems.

This has been tried.  In the 40's, the U.S. military experimented with the flying wing.  YB-35 built in 1945 and YB-49 built in 1947.  These were too unstable for reliable flight.

This was later done with the B2 Stealth bomber.  This one works.  But the only reason is that it uses several computers and fly by wire controls to keep the aircraft stable.

The B2 Stealth bomber is the most expensive aircraft ever made.  The commercial airlines would never be able to turn a profit with such an expensive design.

Also, the Boeing X-48 is currently in development.  This is a blended wing design, a type of flying wing.

Answer 6

Mostly because the aircraft would have be rather large, because if the entire airplane was one large wing, that means we need enough room in this "wing" to seat everybody and their luggage.

This is a result of having a thick wing. Thick wings need to rather large to create enough lift for the amount of drag they create by being thicker, and drag slows aircraft down and make them produce less lift.

Also, the aircraft would be more difficult to evacuate as the airplane would have more seats next to each other.

Furthermore, there would be less windows for each of the passengers.

The current configuration of a long slender aircraft body produces no lift in the airliners, but is the right shape to have the minimum amount of drag when flying.

Answer 7

The whole aircraft is an aerofoil just the wings provide the most lift. The fuselage of the aircraft is an aerofoil, a very large one and not as aggressive as the wings. The horizontal stabilizer or tail plane is an aerofoil to control the aircrafts pitch. The Vertical stabilizer or tail fin is also an aerofoil but the forces act in a horizontal direction controlling yaw.

Answer 8

What you have described is the flying wing or these days sometimes called a span loader* or blended body aircraft.

Yes you are right it does generate more lift and the resulting fuel efficiency is the reason why the B-2 Flying wing bomber can go halfway around the world on a tank of gas.

.

Research has been going on for years looking into the advantages and disadvantages of this type of large transport aircraft.  The latest I've read indicated that Boeing predicts that the design will more than likely first be seen as a heavy lift logistical transport for the military.  The advantages in this case are efficient long range operation and  large interior space which is what you want in this type of aircraft.  It may be twenty or thirty years in the future.

.

Even with this said it is not generally thought that this type of design will ever be seen in passenger aircraft.  The unusual seat placement would make emergency exits difficult and the fact that most passengers would not have access to any windows.  Also the future trend in passenger aircraft is to smaller fuel efficient airliners of conventional configuration and more of them instead of larger and larger ones.  A very large aircraft is only efficient if is nearly full.

.

Answer 9

Its called a flying wing and they have unstable flight characteristics but with modern computer flight controls they are a reality today.

http://www.bugimus.com/stealth/stealth.h...

Answer 10

--Big drag penalty.  --Slower and less maneuverable.  Stall recovery can be a problem.