Airbus’ New Design That Could Revolutionize Flying

One big difference between land-based vehicles and aircraft is that there’s been much less innovation for airplanes in the last few decades than there has been for cars.  Aerospace company, Airbus, is looking to change that. Their MAVERIC is not set to fly in the skies anytime soon, but the prospects certainly look promising, and more efficient than current airplane models.

You may have noticed that most aircraft have a similar design: a single or double aisle long fuselage that has wings attached on either side. There are exceptions, of course, namely when it comes to military aircraft.

Now, it looks like Airbus has taken a few pages out of the military plane book and turned them into a design for commercial flights.  It has named it the Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls, or MAVERIC. The MAVERIC features a blended wing body design where there is minimal structural separation between the main body and the wings of the aircraft. What’s interesting about it is that its design should include more interior space than a regular fuselage plane. Moreover, thanks to its impressive aerodynamics it should bring fuel consumption down by 20%.  Airbus is showcasing the MAVERIC, however, don’t expect to board it on your next flight, or even the one after that. It’s currently just a scale model that spans 2 meters in length and 3.2 meters in width.  It’s still too early to tell whether or not Airbus’ innovative design will take off — literally and figuratively — but it certainly opens up the aviation industry into looking at new possibilities once again.

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