An idea is breathed into life.
A brainchild is born. They call it an invention.
Anything new to this world brings some kind of excitement. A thrill not just to the inventors but to us all.
But damn! Coming up with inventions has got to be one of the hardest things to do.
It wasn’t an easy task for the Wright brothers when they first thought of inventing the flying machine let alone bringing it to life.
It was a near-impossible task at their time.
They had to idealize it first before they could start working on their brainchild concept to completion. And in 1903, voila! a powered airplane was successfully launched. The skies would no longer be virgins.
Their revolutionary invention flew. And behold, the Aerial Age began.
They did not just make history, but also pushed the boundaries of the plane’s technology and design as we see it today.
Now, more than a century later, can we say human innovations in this arena have surpassed the original invention? Have we made any major milestones that are far looking from what our founders envisioned?
Current trends
Some could argue that we have indeed stepped further into history with our innovations and advancements. I mean look around; 800-capacity commercial planes, jets moving at 100 miles per hour, unmanned drones, helicopters, military carriers, and other exciting flying toys.
We even have a first-of-a-future-kind aircraft built by MIT engineers that relies on ‘ionic-wind thrust’ for propulsion. This prototype has eliminated the need for featured turbines, propellers, and whirring fans. Isn’t this cool? A look to a better flying future indeed.
But aren’t all these by-products of the 1903 invention? Yes, you can say the planes are now bigger, faster, and even cozier with the addition of different models and other universal applications that have risen from it and they are indeed marvelous but all these bear the same mark that hasn’t changed since.
Even to the heavily invested enthusiasts in this industry who are coming up with futuristic concepts such as NASA’s energy-efficient plane and Airbus conceptual airliner meant to inspire next-gen engineers, the mark is still visible.
This mark is the plane’s horizontal take-off and landing tradition on runaways. It has remained constant and breaking it births our inevitable future-proof concept to life.
The ‘Future-proof’ concept
Planes rely on the same principle that has been since their inception—dependent on the runway for ground speed during take-off to achieve flying speed and in landing to reduce speed momentum.
Getting rid of this principle is what acts as the baseline of our concept that would inevitably enable the airline industry to achieve a futuristic endeavor in its advancement of technology and total superiority in transportation.
If a plane can defy gravitational force that usually pulls objects to the ground by using a gravitational conductor such as a thruster beneath it, it would reduce the weight of the plane and achieve gravitational shielding (Any other conductors can be used such as motors).
This means the plane can ascend directly above ground and suspend itself in the air before it can be lunged into space using the same thrusters, gaining the necessary speed for forwarding acceleration to its destination.
Just as rockets work using Newton’s third law of motion where the rocket pushes on its exhaust and in turn it pushes the rocket forward, the same will apply with the plane and its thrusters.
The thrusters will be supercharged by burnt fuel (or any form of energy that can power it) releasing hot gases that will enable its engines to give the plane a propelled ascendant motion.
The same scenario will be applied during landing using reverse-thrust engines that will slow the plane’s speed during descending.
Then our antigravity plane concept of vertical take-off and landing would have come to fruition.
The first impression of this concept was seen in a 1960’s Star Trek film before any scientist or engineer could ever put the theory to test and recently by the Marvel studios in their various movies such as The Avengers. They too have foreseen it as a possibility from how their planes fly.
Even as this is an incredible possibility and to some only a theory, there is enough experimental data presently to confront it with—and that is the fact that helicopters or simple camera drones can ascend directly above ground, even though in their case its with the use of whirring blades.
A good futuristic example is of a Japanese company that has successfully made a test drive of a flying car dubbed SD-03 that can take off and land vertically while being manned by one pilot.
This concept is no longer as far-fetched as it was a century ago. It identifies the crucial factors in the industry that the current model is in short supply of and needs fixing to go with the current demand of the technological era we are in.
When this is achieved, there would be no need for runways.
Benefits it will render
When this antigravity plane concept becomes a reality, it will bring about many universal benefits that the current technology falls short of;
- Less infrastructure, more economic sense
Space X, the rocket and spacecraft company has come up with a Hyperloop technology concept that wants to develop high-speed tube pods as the next frontier in transportation. This will need billions of dollars just to construct its state-of-the-art tube infrastructure.
This, in a 3rd world nation, will be a double disaster in an economic sense and a dream out of reach for more centuries to come.
But with the vertical take-off/landing concept, there would be no need for no runways or other expensive infrastructure to make it work and as this concept can enable the plane to land anywhere, it will be an efficient means of transport compared to even cars that can’t go through impassable areas.
- Fool-proof crash landing
The plane’s terrain warning is usually triggered when a plane approaches a close-ground at high speed like when it’s about to crash. With a little programming, the proximity alert will self-trigger the reverse thrusters to automatically engage and make it slow down holding the plane above ground.
This means even if a terrorist hijacks a plane or the pilot turns suicidal like the one who took his passengers to the afterlife on rocky Alps Mountain, the plane would have to go against their will.
It’s making the plane crash-proof against any object it’s headed towards in a high-speed collision manner.
- Universal applications
This tech concept can have many opportunities that it can be incorporated with as with other machines such as cars, drones unmanned aircraft, etc.
A world application of a future airbus shuttle (flying vehicles) is a possibility with this concept that can be used in towns reducing traffic jams and also enabling individuals to pilot their planes/spacecraft with ease of landing and taking off.
Final thoughts
To consider the future of air travel—with this futuristic concept as a game-changer, it is an understatement to say it will be an exhilarating if not a daunting journey.
But we are far beyond needing inspiration. We have it.
So, whatever the capacity you are in, don’t stop innovating as this is the battle of the future. We have to soldier our ideas to the front lines.
But to defeat our enemies currently disguised as the success we comfortably possess, limiting us to dream and innovate further, we have to immerse our ability beyond measure; think beyond our wildest imaginations, and act as if our last play.
Okay, that was a bit much but still, poetic!
You may be just what the world needs.
The dream future invented.
