The Future of Aviation

With governments passing laws and engineers creating new technologies, aviation is undergoing some major changes indeed. Check out these three hot topics in flight for an idea of what air travel might look like in a few years.

As businesses grow increasingly global, so too does demand for international travel. Recently, Smarter Technology brought you the latest in flight innovation, from flying cars topaint that makes any aircraft stealth. Here are our picks for the top three trends that we think will have a profound impact on the aviation industry.

Green Flight

Several weeks ago, a Swiss pilot completed the longest manned solar-powered flight ever. André Borschberg flew the aircraft, called the Solar Impulse HB-SIA, for 26 hours—an entire day and night. The flight was an important milestone for green aviation, since it demonstrated that a lithium battery can hold enough charge for the plane to remain in-air at night, when no solar energy is available.

After his flight, the pilot told the press, "I've been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career. Just sitting there and watching the battery charge level rise and rise thanks to the sun. … And then that suspense, not knowing whether we were going to manage to stay up in the air the whole night. And finally the joy of seeing the sun rise and feeling the energy beginning to circulate in the solar panels again! I have just flown more than 26 hours without using a drop of fuel and without causing any pollution!"

The HB-SIA is able to store solar energy for nighttime flight (source: Solar Impulse).

To minimize drag and provide ample space for fuel cells, the HB-SIA has a 200-foot wingspan—that's as big as an Airbus A340. Despite its massive width, the plane is incredibly light, weighing about as much as a family car. The craft has more than 11,000 monocrystalline silicon cells, whose thinness contributes to the airplane's light weight.

While solar planes are promising, they will need to be greatly improved before commercial flight becomes an option. The HB-SIA holds only one passenger in its tiny 4.2-cubic-foot cockpit.

Other advancements in green aviation are also being made. For example, Sikorsky Aircraft recently revealed its Firefly helicopter, an all-electric aircraft. Like solar planes, the Firefly features a high-capacity battery to store energy in-flight. Electric crafts inherently require less energy, since they lack the many extra moving parts required to use fuel.