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In his profile of Aerolane, BBC science and technology reporter Michael Dempsey dives into some of the inspiration behind Aerolane's glider techniques
Aerolane has been mimicking the tricks used by migrating birds, aided by modified planes towed into the air by another aircraft.
Dempsey continues on Aerolane's research on wake vortices:
Smoke released from the leading plane allowed cameras installed in the towed aircraft to capture vortices in the air that a glider can exploit to stay aloft.
The advantages that Dempsey dives into amount to savings great enough to offset the aerodynamically obtuse characteristics Aerolane's initial set of test planes. As Dempsey notes, "... the latest test aircraft is known as the “flying piano” because of its poor gliding characteristics."
More excerpts from the BBC article follow:
Mr Graetz, a pilot with 12 years’ experience, founded Aerolane with Gur Kimchi and Doron Appelboim, veterans of Amazon’s drone delivery project, on the basis that “there has got to be a better way to get more out of existing aircraft".
He says big freight businesses are interested in anything that allows them to cut the cost per delivery.
On top of the cost of fuel, air freight firms also have to think about jet engine emissions and a shortage of pilots.
James Earl, a former RAF helicopter pilot and aviation consultant, thinks Mr Graetz may just be onto something.
“It stands to reason that gains can be had by slipstreaming and combining efforts in the sky. And any innovation in the cargo space is good.”
Fred Lopez spent 36 years in aviation operations at cargo giant UPS. As he says, he’s put “my entire adult life” into working out the most cost-effective way to operate an air freight business.
Mr Lopez admits he was profoundly sceptical about cargo gliders when Aerolane first approached him. But the prospect of serious fuel savings won him over and now he sits on their advisory board.
Cutting fuel costs is an obsession in civil aviation. When the upturned wing-tips we see out of a cabin window became a standard design feature airlines cut fuel costs by around 5%.
But gliders only consume the fuel required by their tow plane. If that too is a cargo aircraft, a pair of gliders drawn by one jet represents a significant reduction in fuel consumption on a large shipment.
The initial Aerolane design uses their autopilot plus what Mr Lopez terms a human “safety pilot”. This should make certification from the FAA easier.
“Aerolane is not trying to change everything at one go” he says.
Their ultimate goal is autonomous operation using AI, or as Mr Lopez puts it “to pull the pilot out of the seat".
And, if the flying piano can surf, then who knows what's possible?
