- (Image: Airbus)
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Warming to its theme, Airbus added that emissions could be cut by using a superfast ground vehicle to catapult future aircraft into the air, so that it reaches cruising speed and altitude faster. And it could land with the engines switched off, in a long, controlled "free glide" to the runway.
But how will this stuff actually work? With computers, of course. "Highly intelligent aircraft would be able to self organise and select the most efficient and environmentally friendly routes," says Airbus.
This cosy picture of aviation circa 2050 glosses over the degree to which computers will have to assume control of the finer manoeuvres of such planes, rather than pilots. Close-quarters formation flying involves navigating with very little vertical separation. When a decade ago aircraft began flying across the Atlantic with only 1000 feet (305 metres) of vertical separation, rather than the previous 2000 feet, there was an outcry over the safety implications. The room for error is minimal at subsonic cruising speeds.
Such formation flying might be fine if software were perfectly designed and infallible - but it is not. So I asked Charles Champion, executive vice-president of engineering at Airbus in Toulouse, France, if the company's vision for 2050 includes handing more control to computers to allow the formation flying, high-angle fast take-offs and extended, unpowered glides they foresee. Despite the company's line that an "intelligent" aircraft will do the work, he says that's not the full story.
"In our business safety is number one," he said. "This is why we would not envisage a system where the pilot is not in control of the aircraft." Champion says the proximity-sensing technology that will allow formation flying to take place safely will help the pilot "make the right decisions" in both regular clear sky flying and in a "degraded environment" when some systems fail, perhaps in poor weather conditions such as a storm. Systems and sensor redundancy - which means providing multiple backups for the backups - will be a key safety factor, he says.
By 2050, computers will be unrecognisably fast and capable, that's for sure. But they will still be fallible machines - so it is encouraging to hear Champion backing the human at the flight controls. I hope they stick to it.