New Stealth Like Passenger Aircraft
   WITH PASSENGER AIR TRAFFIC expected to triple in the next 20
 years, engineers have begun long, difficult tests to see if they
 can build a super jumbo jet.
     Called the Blended-Wing-Body, it would carry more than twice as
 many passengers as a Boeing 747 and would make the traditional
 cigar-shaped airplane a thing of the past.
     The double-decker plane with a wing span of 289 feet, almost as
 long as a football field, looks like something out of "Star Trek,"
 but its concept carries on a dream that dates back more than half a
 century.
     Aviation pioneer Jack Northrop died in 1981 taking his dream of
 a flying wing aircraft to his grave. Northrop had worked on flying-
 wing designs since the 1940s but, with the introduction of Douglas
 Aircraft's ground breaking DC-3 in 1936, the cigar-shaped design
 became the industry standard for commercial aircraft.
     While the Boeing Co. and Douglas refined the conventional air-
 craft, Northrop Aircraft pioneered the flying wing. By 1941 the Army
 Air Force ordered two models of Northrop's XB-35 flying wing, and in
 1946 test flights began. For the next seven years Northrop produced
 various versions of the design for the military, but the program was
 scrapped in 1953.
                     BIRTH OF THE STEALTH BOMBER
     Decades later, the essence of those early designs became the
 inspiration for Northrop's B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, which used a
 flying wing design to avoid radar detection and became the most
 feared bomber in the world.
     The batlike B-2 went into service in 1994, capable of flying
 from the United States to any country in the world in a matter of
 hours.
     Now, with the BWB aircraft being jointly developed by NASA,
 Boeing and four universities across the country, the airplanes of
 the future may look more like the stealth bomber than a cigar with
 wings.
     "Myself and the rest of the team members are so excited we can
 hardly stand it," said Robert Liebech, Boeing's program manager for
 the project.
     Work on the blended-wing concept, which Liebech said builds and
 improves on Northrop's flying wing, began in 1992 with a contract of
 just $90,000 from NASA to evaluate designs for the airplane of the
 future. By 1994 the project was put on a solid footing with a three-
 year grant of about $3 million.
     In July, a 17-foot model of the BWB completed a remotely piloted
 test flight in California, adding to designers' confidence that it
 will enter service by 2020.
     "My own feeling is that this will become a real airplane,"
 Liebeck said.
     The simplicity of the design, which requires much fewer parts,
 means it would cost less to make than conventional aircraft. The BWB
 would be more environmentally-friendly and burn 30 percent less fuel
 than conventional planes, which should translate into lower airfares
 for passengers.
     Further adding to the case for the new plane is that it can be
 built entirely from existing materials such as aluminum.
                           NO NEW TECHNOLOGY
     "The only thing new in the airplane is the configuration,"
 Liebeck said. "It's not dependent on any new technology."
     He said the cost of developing the plane would be no more than
 that of a new conventional model. His design can use existing run-
 ways and could have a variety of sizes ranging from as few as 300
 passengers up to 800 passengers.
     Industry experts are split on the need for a new design.
     "This has not been an industry where you have been able to
 introduce revolutions and get rid of all the old stuff," said Cai
 Von Rumohr, aerospace analyst at Cowen & Co. "This is not like the
 (computer) industry where things move a lot faster."
     Paul Nisbet of equity research firm JSA Research disagrees.
 "When the technology in current aircraft becomes antiquated there
 will be a need for bigger and better aircraft," he said. "I don't
 think there's much question about that."
     Boeing and European competitor Airbus Industrie disagree about
 the need for a super jumbo jet. Airbus is planning to develop the
 A3XX, a long-range double-decker jumbo jet that could seat between
 500 and 600 passengers. Analysts estimate the development cost could
 run as high as $15 billion.
     Boeing, meanwhile, has shelved plans to develop a stretch ver-
 sion of its 747 model, claiming the cost is not justified under
 current market conditions. Boeing's 747-400 is the largest airliner
 now in service, seating up to 425.
 ----------------------------------
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------