Refueling Passenger Planes In Mid-air Promises Greener Aviation
Refuelling long-haul passenger jets in mid-air could revolutionise air transportation, reducing overall fuel consumption by up to 20 percent, a study has found.
The cruiser feeder concept, developed as part of the EU-funded RECREATE (Research for a CRuiser Enabled Air Transport Environment) project, would allow aircraft to take off with a small amount of fuel on board, reducing overall weight for the energy-demanding take off and ascent and only filling the tanks fully after reaching a cruising altitude of 10,000m.
The concept, inspired by existing military technology, was tested by researchers at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) with the help of professional pilots. Instead of flying real aircraft, the pilots were flying aviation simulators.
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