airport metro concept

the ‘airborne metro’ concept involves the connection by passenger planes to large cruiser aircraft

the ‘airborne metro‘ concept restructures airports and airline systems so that hundreds of ordinary passenger aircraft become simple feeder lines to a series of massive, permanently-aloft air cruisers that loop through the skies above major airport hubs. carrying up to 3000 passengers each, these cruisers utilize low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) technology as they travel on efficient looping paths through the sky. passenger airplanes take off from conventional airports, flying to and landing on one of a number of these cruisers circling the stratosphere, from which, as they approach their destination, the planes detach to descend and land normally.

to permit aircraft to land on the ‘airborne metro’, propulsion researcher bhupendra khandelwal proposes either a moving-belt runway or a system by which the planes dock to the cruiser as in aerial refueling, with the connections functioning as ‘boarding gates’. in this way, standard aircraft could be optimized for take-off and descent without much need to cruise. the fuel savings could be between 40% to 90% since the bulk of the work is done by the ‘metro’, using clean LENR.

the cruiser itself is unmanned, decreasing the risk of any harm as a result of long-term radiation exposure, with a chemical propulsion backup system.

explanation of the ‘airborne metro’ concept image © bhupendra khandelwal, courtesy aviation week

if ever implemented, the system is projected to save 0.23 to 1.45 gigatonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) per year, as well as reduce airport noise and congestion. the hydrogen energy from 40L of water, aviation researchers note, could power a 747 halfway across the world.

of course the innovative concept is far from reality. current LENR devices are theoretically but not practically efficient, and do not have a clear way of being turned on or off. in addition, concerns about radiation effects over time or in case of accident, as well as the structural needs of building an aircraft as large as the cruisers, would still need to be thoroughly studied. more localized practical concerns include the need to streamline the transport of personal baggage.

the ‘airborne metro’ is part of a system of concepts generated by the ‘out of the box’ project on air transit redesign