The Flying-V is a proposed

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

flying wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...

configuration, being studied by researchers at

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

in the Netherlands. The aircraft is designed to be highly energy-efficient over long distances.

History

The Flying-V was conceived by Justus Benad in 2014 during his thesis project at

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

Hamburg.

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

has backed this plane. In July 2020, the scaled flight model of the Flying-V made its first test flights.

Design

The passenger cabin, cargo hold and fuel tanks are integrated into the aircraft's wing structure. Because of this unique design, the engineers claim that it will be about 20% more efficient than the

A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 w ...

. The proposed dimensions of the Flying-V are: * 55 meters in length * 65 meter wingspan * 17 meters tall * 314 passengers * 140000 liters of kerosene * 160 cubic meters * Uses 20% less fuel compared to the Airbus A350-900

References

{{aero-stub Proposed aircraft of the Netherlands