Specialists reconstructed the Tu-154 take-off scheme according to the exploration of the onboard recorder, the Kommersant newspaper reports. The result obtained seemed unusual experts - it turned out that when the navigator warned pilots about the fall, they did not respond to it. The sensors of the liner were not recorded logical in the established situation of the movement of the steering wheel "on themselves."

ON THIS TOPIC

Moreover, the source close to the investigation said that "until the collision with water was reacted into the crew control actions in a timely and regular." The emotional statement of the closed pilot may indicate a non-critical order of order to remove them, but not about the technical malfunction.

Aviation experts suggested that the behavior of the pilots strongly affected the fact that the departure was made at night. "After a few seconds, after the separation from a well-lit and the laid, you cross the coastline also crossed and immediately fall as if in a black hole," said one of the specialists. In such a situation, the pilot must trust solely indications of the sensors, and not its own vestibular apparatus.

However, the on-board systems of Tu-154 recorded that the commander for a long time manually adjusted the flight trajectory. This indicates its loss of orientation. Many specialists criticize the inaction of the second pilot of Alexander Rovno, but his behavior is explained by fear to take the steering wheel from the older by the rank of Major Volkova.

However, a number of experts denies the "illusory" version of the fall Tu-154. The resulting scheme of the tragedy they explain the malfunction of the parameter registration system.

We add that the behavior of the body of the pilot has long been studying such a science as airflow. Nevertheless, the experts have not yet been able to establish why the aircraft captain instinctively violates the flight trajectory. Experts argue that facilitating the loss of orientation can fatigue, stress and indisposition. According to statistics, each tenth plane crash in the world occurs due to the fault of the illusions.

"Ladies and gentlemen, says your captain. We have a small problem. All four engines stopped. We do everything that damn it is possible to run them again. I am sure that you are not quite in the distress. "

There are a lot of real hazards for aircraft flights. All of them are well studied. Dozens of cases in the year of the collision of aircraft with birds, as a rule, do not lead to disasters or accidents, and even more so do not serve as a reason for prohibitions to limit flights to countries where there are feathers. Kuchevo-rain clouds represent a deadly danger to aircraft, nevertheless, hundreds of aircraft daily simply bypass these foci at a safe distance (about 50 kilometers in the middle between the clouds, or 15 kilometers away from a single cloud). List such phenomena is not the subject of the material, believe me, their presence in the nature of the overall safety of flights does not reduce.

For detailed clarification of the question, I talked by phone with Valery Georgievich Musknikov, a member of the Board of the World Flight Fund, and president of the Advisory-Analytical Agency "Security of Flights". The results of our private conversation I set out below my own words and from myself, for it is not possible to separate the words of the expert from the words of the journalist:

The eruption of the Eyyafyadlayokudvl volcano and subsequent events associated with the abolition of flights in Europe a lot of me was taken away. I am not at all against aviation security. Moreover, if a person may even joke on this topic, he still does not know what an aviation catastrophe is. Nevertheless, I will continue the topic. The mythologization of volcanic eruptions and the hysteria of the press forced the airline to stop or postpone flights in those state territories where the "clouds" of volcanic ash were hit.

So was the real danger of flights, or was the collective air system, the beginning of which was put on journalists, and then worked the effect of Domino? Let's try to figure out.

Indeed, entering the aircraft engines large number abrasive dust (and absolutely no matter what origin) can cause fire of engines due to instant overheating and subsequent destruction of turbine bearings. With a frequency of rotation, several thousand revolutions per minute are trimmed by friction. Therefore, if the aircraft in the volcanic dust post, this situation is quite possible.

Another thing in the special structure of volcanic dust. In addition to the particles of rocks thrown by an explosion, it still consists of amorphous particles (by the way, the glass is also amorphous) the extremely incorrect shape. If you look at volcanic dust under the microscope, it is clearly seen that it consists of "ribbons", "stars" and other particles that have a very large surface with a small weight. Those. Thanks to this feature, it can be at times longer staying in the air without scattering. For due to electrification and other interactions of ash particles, such clouds are dissipated extremely reluctant.

Also, its feature is its "stickiness", i.e. Ability to adhere to various subjects or score various holes. Moreover, the particles, being excellent condensation cores, after some time become absolutely outwardly indistinguishable from the ordinary cloud.

Another thing is that even at a distance already in the "hundreds" kilometers from the volcano dust becomes such rare and finely dispersed, which the probability of the failure of aircraft for this reason becomes only "theoretically" possible. And at a distance of a thousand kilometers and more, volcanic dust is capable only slightly clutch the air, which is nevertheless visible to the naked eye, because the sunrises and sunsets become the most beautiful because of the special refraction of sunlight in the dusty air.

Who was in Egypt, well imagine sand storms above the Hurghada airport. Sand sand in the air, and especially the concentration and size of particles in the air are several orders of magnitude exceeding the concentration of dust over Europe. And in Australia, flights in the conditions of global dust storms are terminated exclusively in cases of limiting impairment. These examples can be infinite. And now, attention !!! The only difference is that, unlike volcanic dust, the remaining dangerous phenomena are well-studied, and there are clear recommendations on their avoidance, as well as the clear regulation of prohibitions and permits "depending on".

Let me now set out your consistent version of what happened.

The effect of volcanic ash on flight of aircraft - there was always a thing that is not sufficiently studied. Of course, scientists volcanologists stubbornly studied every eruption, and meteorologists had a fairly clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe direction and speed of the ashes of the ashes, but no further fate of these particles betrayed the slightest value, because already a few hundred kilometers from the volcano in the direction of wind movement, ash was already represented It is nothing more than an interesting optical illusion. Yes, and civil aviation knew that only a couple of cases when the aircraft really got into very dense clouds of the ashes, and because of this, the engines and other unpleasant things were stopped. Of course, volcanic ash as a dangerous phenomenon entered all textbooks and instructions.

In practice, the pilots and the air traffic controllers were quite mockedly treated with these points of instruction and not well studied them well. Due to rarity and exotic. And it is the same aviation officials who have grown from former pilots and air traffic controllers, practically did not allocate money on studies of these phenomena in the interests civil aviationInstead of "accurate" knowledge instantly covered myths and legends. In general, some frank nonsense occurred in meteorology. Thanks to the blind faith in "Computers" and "satellites" throughout the world, the number of meteorological stations with "alive" people decreased by about 60% -70%. And existing " automated systems»Can only build hypothetical mathematical models that have nothing to do with the real position of things.

So, journalists fondered the topic, and international aviation authorities, in particular "Eurocontrol", instantly behaved to this. Not only are the airmanists to turn to numerous experts in this area, then they (experts) have consistently reportedly informed about the following: "The phenomenon is certainly dangerous, but not well-studied. Our equipment practically does not allow you to distinguish the clouds of the dangerous concentration of volcanic dust, from ordinary. So, where these clouds are located, and whether they really do not know. "

And then it became even funnier. The danger zone was actually focused enough (several hundred kilometers in diameter and duration), but hundreds and hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of the earth and the water surface were actually in the closing zone. At the same time, all the echelons from "0" to 35,000 feet (approximately 12 km) were also absolutely closed, although even the most reinsurers predicted the dangerous closure of heights only from heights of 22,000 feet. In short, the ban on flights took an absolute character, because even his initiators could not do anything. The Domino effect worked.

Additionally revealed an absolutely unexpected thing. You can fly in areas free from ash, and in some cases deviations from a route or an increase in its duration for several hundred kilometers did not play any role, but modern automated systems were simply not able to rebuild schedules in a massive order. Yes, and individually it began to make it impossible. Automation, automation, and automating again. Experts on "manual" compilation of schedules simply extinct, as dinosaurs, and modern airlines such specialists simply do not have. Those who are in the subject should represent that the compilation of even the usual schedule of occupation at the university is already actions between science, art and mysticism. Pro Troy to block a schedule on Europe - speech was not going. There was a mustard. I absolutely do not condemn any measures related to the safety of flights, but admit that in the 21st century it is quite funny to close the half-endant for the sake of one mountain with smoke. Let both strong.

"American" the help only caught up to an additional focus on Europe, and finally deprived the European avian avian carriers.

As for Russia as part of Europe, the panic was not at all. The fact is that a long-term study of smoked (as zones of permanent eruptions) brought a sufficient number of knowledge and skills to determine the dangers of flights. Therefore, Russia flew on its territory without problems.

Although in Russia, the so-called "storm ring of alerts" was previously destroyed, i.e. Hundreds and hundreds of meteorological sites are closed, where low-paying weather forecasters were sitting, and the accuracy of predictions and alerts about hazardous phenomena was unprecedented high.

As for the "underfunded" scientists, it is possible to immediately confidently say that they will be highlighted by very large money on research as compensation for past MUK. But the fact that this will be broken by world harmony, because this money will be taken away from other directions - it is really bad. Business and charity are few compatible, isn't it?

Nevertheless, that leading scientists immediately wrote off and phoned each other and developed a single position, I do not doubt it. The Internet, mobile connection And email in terms of communications - creative real wonders. Moreover, I have such information. No wonder I, at least, not long, but was a geophysicist geologist. So business will receive prices from science in full program.

And as an epilogue for those who perceived my words like "funny" and "funny" literally, bring a brief passage from the article Sergey Melnichenko "The History of the British Airways 9 flight.

They were able to see the WFP lights through a small scratch on the windshield, but the landing lights of the aircraft were not burning. After landing, they could not steer, because due to the lights of the illumination of the perrone, their windy glasses became matte. The city of Edinburgh was waiting when the tug will post him from the WFP ...

Subsequently, it was found that the aircraft entered the ashes cloud. Since the ashes cloud was dry, it was not displayed on the meterolar beam, which is capable only to reflect moisture in the clouds. The cloud appeared as a sandblasting machine and made the surface of windshields matte. After hitting the engines, the ashes melted in the combustion chambers and stamped on the inside of the power plant.

Since the engines, due to their stop, began to cool, then after the aircraft exit from the cloud of the ashes, the melted ash began to harden and under the pressure of the air began to fly out of the engines, which allowed them to run again. The restart was possible due to the fact that one of the onboard batteries remained in working condition.

All 263 people who were on board were alive.

Take care of yourself. Viktor Galenko, Aviadpestcher, Navigator, geologist-geophysicist

According to the Eurocontrol, on April 18, 2010, approximately 5 "000 flights made in the airspace of Europe were recorded. For comparison: about 24" 000 flights are performed before the volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Thus, the air movement fell about 6 times. From April 15, about 63,000 flights were canceled. Below is a table with data to reduce the number of flights in Europe's airspace:

Currently, air traffic maintenance is not provided for civil aviation aircraft in most the number of European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, almost all France and Germany, as well as Hungary, Ireland, Northern Italy, Netherlands , Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Northern Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

In some countries, from this list, the upper airspace is open, taking into account the spread of the aspect cloud, however, taking into account the complete closure of the airspace over the territory of other countries, the permitted areas of the upper airspace is not possible.

The airspace of such territories and countries as southern Europe, including part of Spain, Portugal, the southern part of the Balkans, the southern part of Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey remain open, and they have an ordinary air traffic.

Approximately 30% of the total number of scheduled flights will be performed today over 50% of the total territory of Europe.

As of the morning, on April 19, all the air zones of Ukraine are open. Airports of Ukraine for departure and arrival of aircraft work in staff, but a number of airports in Europe remain closed. It is allowed to perform flights according to the rules of visual flights until the dark time of day is allowed. On further possible changes in the airspace of Ukraine due to moving the cloud of volcanic ash (eruption of the volcano in Iceland) will be informed. Ukrainian airlines report that flights are not carried out only at closed airports in Europe, and all open airports in the world, air support is resumed.

An amazing spectacle is a steam cone that appears around the aircraft, which flies on an near-racing speed. This amazing effect, known as the Prandtle effect - Głorate, makes the eyes wide open, and the jaw is to pull out. But what is his essence?

(Only 12 photos)

1. Contrary to general opinion, this effect does not appear when the plane overcomes the sound barrier. The Prandtle - Golder effect is also often associated with supersonic cotton, which is also not true. Ultra-high motorway aircraft engines can create this effect at the take-off speed, because the engine's input device has a low pressure, and the fan blades are operated by themselves on near-racing speed.

2. The reason for its occurrence is that the aircraft flying at high speed creates an area of \u200b\u200bincreased air pressure ahead and the area of \u200b\u200breduced pressure behind. After the aircraft is span, the area of \u200b\u200breduced pressure begins to fill the ambient air. At the same time, by virtue of a sufficiently high inertia of air masses, the entire area of \u200b\u200blow pressure is filled with air from nearby areas adjacent to the low pressure region.

3. Imagine an object moving on an near-racing speed. The arrogant speed differs from the speed of sound. The sound barrier is overcome at a speed of 1235 km / h. The arrogant speed is lower, higher or near the sound speed and may vary from 965 to 1448 km / h. Therefore, this effect may appear when the aircraft moves at a speed of less sound speed or equal to it.

4. And yet everything is in sound - it is from him "the appearance" of this steam cone by the plane depends. The cone form is formed by the power of sound (in the case of aircraft) moving faster than the sound waves it produces. The effect of Prandtla - Golder arises as a result of the wave nature of sounds.

5. Again, think about the plane as a source, but about sound - as about the crest of the wave. These ridges of sound waves are a series or shell superimposed on each other circles. When the waves are superimposed on each other, the cone form is created, and its tip is the sound source. So far invisible.

6. In order for the effect to become a visible human eye, one more thing is needed - humidity. When the humidity is high enough, the air around the cone condenses and forms a cloud that we see. As soon as the air pressure returns to normal, the cloud disappears. The effect almost always arises from airplanes flying over the ocean - a combination of water and heat gives the desired level of humidity.

7. Here you can destroy one more. Some believe that the effect of Prandtla - Golder arises as a result of fuel combustion.

8. Probably, you can understand if you think that this effect is an inversion trail, that is, an unnatural cloud that appears from a condensed water vapor, which is performed by the engine exhaust. However, this is not the same thing. There is already a water vapor there - it is already in the air, even before the plane passes through it.

9. It is also worth mentioning the air pressure. When the aircraft moves on an near-racing speed, the air pressure around is called N-wave, because when the pressure depends on the time, the result is similar to the letter N.

10. If we could slow down the explosive wave passing through us, we would see the leading compression component. This is N. The horizontal wand occurs when the pressure is lowered, and when normal atmospheric pressure returns to the final point, the letter N is created.

11. The effect is named after two outstanding scientists who opened this phenomenon. Ludwig Prandtl (1875 - 1953) was a German scientist who studied the development of systematic mathematical analysis in aerodynamics. Herman Glost (1892 - 1934) was British aerodynamic scientists.

12. Want to believe, you want no, but you yourself can create this effect. You need only two things: whip and day with high humidity. If you can link to the whip like Indiana Jones, you will see a similar effect. Although, it's not worth trying at home.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles each year are becoming increasingly distributed - they are used in the filming of telecast and music clips, for patrolling territories or just for pleasure. Drona management does not require special permission, and their cost is constantly decreasing. As a result, the aviation authorities of some countries decided to explore whether these devices represent a danger to passenger aircraft. The results of the first studies were contradictory, but in general the regulators came to the conclusion that private drone flights should be controlled.

In July 2015, the airline Lufthansa airlines, who came to land at Warsaw Airport, was almost faced with a multicopter, flying at a distance less than a hundred meters from him. In April 2016 Pilots passenger aircraft British Airways, landing at London Airport, reported to the dispatchers about a collision with a drone during landing. Later, however, the investigation came to the conclusion that there was no drone, but the fact that the pilots took it for him, most likely it was the usual package raised by the wind from the ground. However, in July 2017, the plane was not encountered at the British Airport "Gatwick", after which the dispatchers were forced to close one lane and redirect five flights to the backup bands.

According to the UK AirProx Board's British Research Organization, in 2016, 71 cases of dangerous approach of passenger aircraft with drones were recorded in the UK. An attachment of an aircraft with another aircraft is considered a dangerous rapprochement in aviation at a distance of less than 150 meters. Since the beginning of the current year, the cases of flound dropped to aircraft in the UK has already been recorded already 64. In the United States last year, aviation authorities registered a little less than 200 cases of dangerous rapprochement. At the same time, how small drones can be dangerous for passenger aircraft, the aviation authorities are still bad. Some specialists had previously assumed that a clash with a drone for a passenger liner would be no more dangerous than the usual collision with birds.

According to the specialized edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology, since 1998, in the world, 219 people were killed in the air of passenger flights with birds, and a noticeable part of them flew flights on small private aircraft. At the same time, annually airlines around the world spend a total of $ 625-650 million to eliminate damage received by passenger aircraft due to collisions with birds. By the way, in general, passenger liners are considered resistant to direct renewal. When developing and testing new aircraft, special checks are even conducted - the aircraft is fired by carcasses of various birds (ducks, geese, chickens) to determine its stability to such damage. Check engines to throw birds in them in general is mandatory.

In mid-March last year, researchers from the American University of George Mason, which announced that the threat of drones for aviation was greatly exaggerated. They studied the statistics of the collision of aircraft with birds for the period from 1990 to 2014, including episodes ending human victims. As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that the real probability of a dangerous collision of drone with a plane is not so great: only one case for 187 million years should end with a large-scale disaster.

To try to determine whether the drone really pose a threat to passenger aircraft, in 2016 the Aviation authorities of the European Union and the United Kingdom ordered two independent research. Engineers who conduct these studies will fill different fragments of drone aircraft of various designs or their details in order to cause real damage that passenger aircraft can get when colliding. In parallel, mathematical modeling of such collisions is carried out. Studies are conducted in several stages, the first of which have already been completed, and the results are presented to customers. As expected, after the complete completion of work, aviation authorities will develop new rules for the registration and exploitation of drones by individuals.

Drone crashes into the windshield of the passenger aircraft during the tests carried out in the UK

Today, in different countries, the uniform rules of flights of drones does not exist. Thus, in the UK, it is not necessary to register and license drones weighing less than 20 kilograms. At the same time, these devices must fly in the direct visibility zone of the operator. Private drone with cameras cannot be divided into people, buildings and cars at a distance of 50 meters closer. In Italy, in general, there are practically no special rules for drones, except for one - drone can not fly on a large cluster of people. And in Ireland, for example, all drones weighing more than one kilogram should be registered in the management of civil aviation of the country. By the way, in the European Union, Ireland is one of the yarn supporters of tightening the rules for using drones.

Meanwhile, while in Europe we plan to twist nuts, in the United States, on the contrary, flying drones intend to make more free. So, at the beginning of this year, the Federal Department of Civil Aviation Aviation concluded that lightweight consumer quadrocopters do not pose a big threat to aircraft, although their flights near airports and are not allowed. In February, American companies 3DR, Autodesk and Atkins have already received permission to manage flound flying in the most loaded airport of the world - International Airport Hartswicksfield-Jackson Atlanta, annually transmitting about a hundred million passengers through himself. Here, quadcopters were used to compile three-dimensional airport cards in high resolution. They served as a direct visibility of the operator and under the control of air traffic controllers.

The first results of the study in October last year published the Working Group of the European Agency for Aviation Security. These researchers concluded that serious threats are amateur drones for passenger aircraft do not imagine. Participants in the working group during work focused on studying the consequences of air clashes of passenger aircraft with drone weighing up to 25 kilograms. For the study of drones were divided into four categories: large (weighing more than 3.5 kilograms), medium (up to 1.5 kilograms), small (up to 0.5 kilograms) and "harmless" (up to 250 grams). For each category, experts identified the degree of danger that was estimated on a five-point scale: 1-2 - high, 3-5 - low. Secure was considered devices that received four or five points.

To determine the degree of danger, the researchers used data on the heights of the flight of the apparatuses by category, took into account the probability of their appearance in a single airspace with aircraft, as well as the results of computer and field tests of the collision of drones and liners. In addition, the individual degree of danger was estimated for each unmanned apparatus in four points: damage to the corps, the threat of the life of passengers, the threat of the crew's life, the threat of a breakdown of flight schedules. To simplify the assessment, the researchers conducted calculations for aircraft flying at a speed of 340 nodes (630 kilometers per hour) at an altitude of three thousand meters and more and at 250 velocity at a smaller height.

According to the results of all calculations, the participants of the European Working Group concluded that small drones at an altitude of up to three thousand meters practically do not pose a threat to passenger aircraft. The fact is that such devices are at a large height, where they can face the plane, rarely rise. In addition, they have a very small mass. Middle drones, according to experts, do not constitute a serious threat to liners. Only if the device weighing 1.5 kilograms (such a mass has a majority of amateur drones) will face a plane at an altitude of more than three thousand meters, it can threaten flight safety. Large devices are recognized as dangerous for passenger aircraft at all flight heights.

According to the results of the inventory tests, it turned out that in the event of a collision with drones, the greatest damages can get windshields of liners, nasal fairies, front edges of the wing, as well as engines. In general, damage from drones weighing up to 1.5 kilograms can be comparable to damage from birds with which the aircraft are regularly faced in the air. Now, European specialists are preparing for an expanded study. This time, damage will be studied, which drone can apply engines of passenger aircraft, as well as the likelihood of batteries in the technological holes.

By the way, earlier scientists from Polytechnic University Virginia conducted computer simulation of situations in which various drones fall into a working aircraft engine. The researchers concluded that the devices of more than 3.6 kilograms are presented to serious danger to engines. Once into the engine, they will destroy the fan blades and collapse themselves. Then fragments of the blades of the fan and drone will fall into the outer air circuit, from where they will throw them out, as well as in the inner contour - the compressor, the combustion chamber and the turbine zone. The rate of debris inside the engine can reach 1150 kilometers per hour. Thus, when a collision in takeoff with a drone, weighing 3.6 kilograms, the engine will completely stop working in less than a second.

Meanwhile, the results of the British study were summed up in the middle of this year - in July, Qinetiq, who carried out work, transferred the report to the National Air Motion Management Service of Great Britain. In a study conducted by the British company, a specially designed pneumatic gun was used, which was shot by drones and their details in the front of the written off airplanes and helicopters. For firing, quadcopters weighing 0.4, 1.2 and 4 kilograms, as well as unleashing airless type weighing up to 3.5 kilograms were used. Following the shooting, specialists came to the conclusion that any drone is dangerous for light aircraft and helicopters that do not have a special certificate of protectedness from collisions with birds.

Passenger aircraft with bird protection can get serious damage from drones when flying at cruising speed, which ranges from 700 to 890 kilometers per hour. The researchers attributed to serious damage to the destruction of windshields in a collision with severe parts of drones - metal parts of the case, camera and battery. These details, breaking through the windshield, can fly to the cockpit, damage the control panels and injure the pilots. Dangerous for liners were considered the devices weighing from two to four kilograms. It should be noted that the cruising speed passenger aircraft is already developing at high altitude (usually about ten thousand meters), which amateur drones are simply incapable.

According to Qinetiq, Drone weighing four kilograms can be dangerous for passenger aircraft at low flight speeds, for example, when entering land. At the same time, the severity of damage to the aircraft largely depends on the design of the drone. So, during the tests, it turned out that drones with a camera placed on the suspension under the body have little chances to break through the windshield of the passenger aircraft. The fact is that when a collision about the glass first, the camera will hit the suspension, and then the drone housing is already. At the same time, the chamber and its suspension will play the role of a kind of shock absorber, having accepted part of the energy of the strike. As expected, British aviation authorities are expected to advocate the sharp tightening of the Rules of Flights of Drones, will commission additional research.

The part of the serial produced today, the drone has already has a geosal function. This means that the device is constantly updating the database of zones closed to the flights of the drone. In such a zone, the drone will simply not take off. However, in addition to serial devices, there are both homemade drones that can fly to airport airspace. And there are quite a lot of them. In general, until now, not a single case of a collision of the aircraft with drone was registered, but this is just a matter of time. And even if small drones and do not pose a serious threat to passenger aircraft, they still can have a negative impact on aircraft, increasing the already considerable expenses of companies for repairing liners.

Vasily Sychev

Right holder illustration Airbus. Image Caption. An example of how in the future the power set of airbus aircraft can look like. Instead of the usual "skeleton" from the spangling, stringers and spars - light mesh complex

Is it possible that the very insight into flight has completely changed? It is not excluded that in the future it is so it will be. Thanks to new materials and technologies, passenger drones may appear, and supersonic airliners will be returned to the sky. Russian BBC service analyzed information about newest projects Airbus, Uber, Toyota and other companies to determine in which direction aviation will develop in the future.

• Are you ready to fly on unmanned aircraft?
• Singapore began testing unmanned taxi
• Would you flew on a unmanned airliner?

Urban sky

Now the cities are relatively free there is a rather large layer of atmosphere height to a kilometer. This space is used by special aviation, helicopters, as well as individual private or corporate aircraft.

But a new type of air transport is already beginning to develop in this layer. He has many names - urban or personal aviation, air transportation system of the future, heavenly taxis and so on. But his essence was formulated back at the beginning of the XIX century by furatologists: everyone will be able to use a small aircraft for flights for short distances.

Right holder illustration Hulton Archive. Image Caption. So the artist in 1820 imagined the future. Individual aircraft was present on such pictures already then

• What projects work aircraft designers around the world

Engineers never parted with this dream. But still prevented the lack of durable and lightweight materials and imperfect electronics, without which there are no many small devices. With the advent of high strength and light carbon fiber and the development of laptop computers, everything has changed.

The current stage of the creation of urban aerobile transport reminds of the 1910s, the very beginning of the history of aircraft construction. Then the designers did not immediately find the optimal form of the aircraft and boldly experimented, creating bizarre structures.

Now the overall task is to make an aircraft for the urban environment - also allows you to build a wide variety of devices.

Airbus Corporation, for example, develops at once three large projects - a piloted single Vahana, which, according to the plans of the corporation, will be able to fly next year, and by 2021 will be ready for commercial flights. Two other projects: Cityairbus, unmanned taxi-quadrocopter for several people, and pop.up, which corporation is developing together with italdesign. This is a single unmanned module that can be used on a wheel chassis for trips around the city, and also hang to the quadcopter for flights.

Airbus Pop.Up and Cityairbus use the principle of the quadrocopter, and Vahana is a converteoplan (that is, the device that takes off the helicopter, and then turns the engines and then moves as an aircraft).

Schemes of quadrocopter and convertoplane - now basic for passenger drones. Quadcopters are much more stable during the flight. And the converter allows you to develop a greater speed. But both schemes allow it to be vertically take off and sit down. This is a key requirement for urban aviation, since the usual aircraft needs a runway. And this means that it will take the construction of additional infrastructure for the city.

Among other notable projects are the Volocopter of the German company Evolo, which is a multicoper with 18 propellers. This is still the most successful air taxi project, in the fall of 2017 in Dubai have already begun to test it. In June, the control transport company Dubai about it with Evolo.

Right holder illustration Lilium. Image Caption. Lilium moves due to 36 electrical turbines mounted in a row on planes and in two blocks in front of the apparatus

Another project from Germany - Lilium is interesting to an unusual layout. This is an electrical converter on 36 small turbines mounted two blocks along the wing, and with two more blocks in the front of the device. The company has already started test flights in unmanned mode.

Japanese automaker Toyota invests in the Cartivator project.

A Taxi Uber online service is also developing its unmanned system, in this project, it works closely with NASA for the development of technology and software services in cities with high population density.

Right holder illustration ETHAN MILLER / GETTY IMAGES Image Caption. Passenger Drone Ehang 184, created in the Chinese company Beijing Yi-Hang Creation Science & Technology Co., Ltd. In 2016.

Among the aviation experts, a lot of unmanned urban supporters passenger trafficand skeptics.

Among the latter is the chief editor of Avia.ru Roman Gusarov. The main problem, in his opinion, is the low power of electric motors and batteries. And effective passenger drones are unlikely to appear in the foreseeable future, despite the fact that there are many funds in their development.

"Technologies still sufficiently cheeses and the system being created with their use are subject to technical failures," the editor of the UAV.ru portal, Denis Fedutin, noted in an interview with the BBC.

According to him, such projects can simply be a beautiful advertising move and the ability to show that the company is engaged in advanced studies. It also does not exclude that against the background of enthusiastic publications in the press, many startups may arise, which, finding investors' money, will not be able to create a flying passenger drone.

The executive director of Infomost Consulting (the company is engaged in consulting in the field of transport) Boris Rybak believes that while the biggest problem in this area is fear. People will still be afraid to trust their life with a flying apparatus without pilot.

"When the first self-deviating gasoline wagons appeared, with a chance, smoke and rumble, they were walking next to horses, and the people scattered. But this is normal, then it was scary, and now scary," said Rybak.

Between houseam. And birdsam.

Currently, NASA and the Federal Department of Civil Aviation Aviation are working on the program "Management of Unmanned Aviation Systems" (UAS) Aircraft Management (UTM). It was within the framework of this program with NASA and FAA cooperates the company Uber.

The development of technologies in this area is strongly ahead of the development of rules for their regulation. The American program began to develop in 2015, but in " road Map"Its development has not yet been noted the deadline for the creation of rules for flights in densely populated urban areas.

Right holder illustration ItalDesign Image Caption. Passenger capsule Pop.up can be used on a wheel chassis or trailer to quadcopter

It is referred to in mind the flights of the mail delivery and news video shooting. And the transportation of passengers in the program is still nothing to say.

Judging by the presentations studied by the Russian BBC, in the future, passenger drone flights in cities will be regulated through routes in air corridors. The same principle operates in modern civil aviation. At the same time, drones will actively interact with each other and monitor the airspace around to avoid collisions with other drones and other objects in the air (for example, with birds).

However, as Boris Fisherman believes, a system that was built on the principle of free flight would be much more effective, where the routes would line up with computers, taking into account the location of all devices in the air.

• Britain starts testing unmanned trucks
• Kangaroo movements confused unmanned cars

Will Russia remain aside?

In Russia, the authorities are also trying to make cautious steps to regulate the flights of drones in the urban environment. So, has long been interested in drones by Rostelecom. It is the contractor of the Russian Space Systems company, which in November 2015 won the Roscosmos competition for 723 million rubles (12.3 million dollars) to create the infrastructure of the federal network operator.

Right holder illustration Tom Cooper / Getty Images Image Caption. Another draft supersonic business jet - XB-1 American company Boom Technology

This infrastructure will have to ensure the observation of transport and unmanned vehicles (including aircraft), terrestrial and aqueous manned and unmanned vehicles, rail transport, I explained the representative of Rostelecom. The operator creates a prototype of infrastructure, which will control the traffic movement, primarily drones, and is ready to spend about 100 million rubles on subcontractors (1.7 million dollars).

The departments of the Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of the city of Moscow Andrei Tikhonov told the BBC that there are no conditions in the Russian capital to appear passenger drones.

"First, not fully worked out normative base For unmanned aerial and terrestrial devices. Secondly, the Moscow infrastructure is not yet adapted for the mass transport of goods and passengers on unmanned vehicles. Thirdly, most devices intended for the transport of people and large cargoes are still at the testing stage and should receive appropriate documentation for work in urban conditions. Again, issues of compulsory passenger insurance and many others arise, "he explained.

True, he said, these problems are not so much the authorities of the city, how much are forced to look for ways to solve them.

Faster sound

Another direction on which they work in many aircraft enterprises - supersonic passenger transportation.

This idea is not at all Nova. November 22 marks 40 years of the beginning of regular commercial flights between New York, Paris and London on Concord aircraft. In the 1970s, the idea of \u200b\u200bsupersonic traffic was embodied by British Airways along with Air France, as well as Aeroflot on Tu-144. But in practice it turned out that technologies of that time were not suitable for civil aviation.

As a result, the Soviet project was turned off after seven months of operation, and British-French - after 27 years.

Right holder illustration Evening Standard. Image Caption. "Concord", as well as Tu-144, ahead of time, but showed how difficult it is to make a supersonic passenger aircraft

The main reason why the projects of Concorde and Tu-144 were minimized, usually called finance. These aircraft were expensive.

Engines such devices consume much more fuel. For such aircraft it was necessary to create their own infrastructure. Tu-144, for example, used its kind of aviation fuel, much more complex in composition, it needed special maintenance, more thorough and expensive. For this aircraft had to keep even individual landscape.

Another major problem, in addition to the complexity and cost of service, has become noise. During the flight to supersonic speed On all the front edges of the aircraft elements, a strong air seal arises, which generates a shock wave. She stretches over the plane in the form of a huge cone, and when it reaches the land, then the person through which it passes, hears a stunning sound like an explosion. It is because of this flight "Concords" over the territory of the United States on supersonic speeds were prohibited.

And it is with noise now, first of all, designers are trying to fight.

After stopping the flights of "Concord" attempts to build a new, more efficient supersonic passenger aircraft did not stop. And with the advent of new technologies in the field of materials, engine construction and aerodynamics, they began to speak more and more.

A few large projects in the field of supersonic civil aviation are being developed in the world. Basically, this is a business jetty. That is, the designers initially try to aim at the market segment, where the cost of tickets and service plays a smaller role than on route transportation.

Right holder illustration Aerion. Image Caption. AS2 aircraft Aerion is developing in partnership with Airbus

NASA, together with the Lockheed Martin corporation, is developing a supersonic aircraft trying, first of all, solve the problem of the sound barrier. The QUESST technology includes the search for a special aerodynamic form of an aircraft, which, as it were, "smeared" a hard sound barrier, making it unrellish and less noisy. Currently, NASA has already developed the appearance of the aircraft, and its flight tests may begin in 2021.

Another noticeable project - AS2, which is developing Aerion in partnership with Airbus.

Airbus also works on the CONCORD 2.0 project. This aircraft is planned to be equipped with three types of engines - rocket in the tail part and two ordinary reactive, with which the aircraft can take off almost vertically, as well as one direct-flow, which will already accelerate the device to a speed of 4.5 maha.

True, similar projects in Airbus are pretty carefully.

"Airbus continues research in the field of supersonic / hypersonic technologies, we are also studying the market to understand whether such projects will be viable and implemented, - the official commentary of the Airbus for the Russian BBC service. - We do not see the market for such Airplanes are currently in the foreseeable future due to the high costs of such systems. This may change with the advent of new technologies, or with a change in economic or social environment. In general, so far it is rather a study area, not a priority direction. "

Media Playback IS Unsupported On Your Device

Is it possible to revive "Concord"?

Predict whether the demand for such aircraft is really difficult. Boris Rybak notes that information technologies developed in parallel with aviation, and now a businessman who needs to quickly resolve the issue on the other side of the Atlantic, can often do it personally, but on the Internet.

"To fly a business class or in a business jec six hours from London to New York. And so you technically spend four, well, three forty. Is this [sheepnik]?" - said the fisherman about supersonic flights.

According to the experience of Tu-144

However, other Russian aviation specialists consider otherwise. Supervice aircraft will be able to take their place on the market, says the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute Mikhail Pogosyan, the former head of the United Aircraft Building Corporation.

"A supersonic aircraft makes it possible to go to a qualitatively different level, it allows you to save globally time - day. Market forecasts say that the introduction of such technologies and this kind of projects will be associated with the cost of such a flight. If such a cost is acceptable and will not be in Once different from the cost of a flight at a subsonic aircraft, then I assure you that there is a market, "he said to the Russian BBC service.

Poghosyan spoke at the Aerospace Science Week forum in Mai, where he, in particular, spoke about the prospects for creating a supersonic aircraft with the participation of Russian specialists. Russian enterprises (TsAGI, MAI, OAK) are involved in the Great European Research Program Horizon 2020, one of the directions of which is the development of a supersonic passenger aircraft.

Pogosyan listed the main properties of such an aircraft - a low level of sound strike (otherwise the plane will not be able to fly over the populated areas), the engine of the changing cycle (it needs to work well at the subsonic speed and on supersonic), new heat-resistant materials (on supersonic speed, the aircraft heats up strongly), Artificial intelligence, as well as the fact that one pilot can control such an aircraft.

At the same time, the rector of Mai is convinced that the project of a supersonic aircraft can be created only at the international level.

Right holder illustration Boris Korzin / Tass Image Caption. According to Sergey Chernyshev, Russia has survived the school of creating supersonic passenger aircraft

Head of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) Sergey Chernyshev told on the forum that Russian specialists participate in three international projects in the field of supersonic passenger aviation - Hisac, HexaFly and Rumble. All three projects do not set the purpose of creating a finite commercial product. Their main task is to explore the properties of supersonic and hypersonic apparatus. According to him, now the aircraft manufacturers create another concept of such an aircraft.

In an interview with BBs, Sergei Chernyshev said that the strength of Russian aircraft manufacturers is the experience of creating supersonic aircraft and their operation. According to him, this is a strong aerodynamic school, extensive experience testing, including in extreme conditions. In Russia, the "traditionally strong school of materials scientists," he added.

"My subjective forecast: [Business Jet] appears on the horizon 2030-35. Academician Pogosyan believes that between 2020 and 2030. For ten years he gave them. It is so, but still closer to 2030," - said Sergey Chernyshev.

"Ordinary" unusual liners

The main task of aircraft designers today is to achieve an increase in aircraft fuel efficiency, while reducing harmful exhausts and noise. The second task is to develop new control systems where the computer will perform more and more tasks.

Now there is no one to surprise the electrodistanist aircraft control system when signals from the control knob or steering wheel, pedals and other organs are transmitted to steering and other elements of mechanization in the form of electrical signals. A similar system allows the on-board computer to control the actions of the pilot, making adjustments and correcting errors. However, this system is already yesterday.

• The last supersonic "Concord" surrendered to the museum
• The world's first airliner airliner: how soon?
• Why do aircraft corporations make identical planes?

As the BBC Vice-President of the Irkut Corporation on Marketing and Sales of Cyril Budayev told the BBC, the Russian company is working on the system when the aircraft will control only one pilot, and the function of the second during takeoff and landing will perform a specially prepared senior flight attendant. During the flight of the aircraft on the echelon one pilot, it is quite enough, they say in the "Irkut".

According to the laws of nature

Another serious innovation appeared in the last decade - composite materials. The development of light and durable plastic can be compared with the use of aluminum in post-war aircraft. This material, together with the advent of effective turbojet engines, changed the appearance of aircraft. Now exactly the same revolution occurs with the composite, which gradually displaces the metal from the designs of the aircraft.

When designing aircraft, three-dimensional printing is increasingly used, which allows you to create more complex forms with high accuracy. And seek to reduce fuel consumption.

For example, Airbus and Boeing use the latest Motors of the LEAP production family of CFM INTERNATIONAL. Nozzles in these engines are printed on a three-dimensional printer. And this made it possible to increase fuel efficiency by 15%.

In addition, now the aviation industry began to more actively explore the bionic design.

Bionics is an applied science, which studies the possibilities of practical application in various technical devices of the principles and structures that appeared in nature due to evolution.

Right holder illustration Airbus. Image Caption. Bracket designed with bionic technologies

Here is a simple example - the picture above shows a bracket similar to that used in the Airbus plane. Pay attention to its shape - usually such an element is a solid piece of a triangular metal metal. However, having calculated on a computer forces that will be attached to different parts, the engineers found out which parts can be removed, and which - to change in such a way as not only to facilitate, but also to strengthen such a component.

A much more difficult work was conducted by a group of scientists led by Professor of Technical University Denmark Nils Aaga. In October 2017, they published a report in the journal Nature, which was told about how they calculated the French supercomputer Curie Power set of the Boeing 777 airliner wing - a complex structure of rather thin jumpers and struts.

As a result, as researchers believe, the weight of two wings of the aircraft could be reduced by 2-5%, without losing strength. Taking into account the fact that both wings in the amount weigh 20 tons, this would save up to 1 ton, which corresponds to the intended reduction in fuel consumption of 40-200 tons per year. But this is already significantly, is it not true?

At the same time, bionic design in the future, according to the aircraft enterprises, more and more will be applied. The plane on the first illustration of this text is only a sketch of airbus engineers, but it is already visible on it, according to which principle the power of the future aircraft will be created.

Electricity

The engine is the most important and most expensive part of the aircraft. And it is he who determines the configuration of any aircraft. Currently, most aviation engines - either gas generator, or internal combustion, gasoline or diesel. Only the smallest part of them works on electricity.

According to Boris Fisherman, all decades of the existence of reactive aviation, the development of fundamentally new aircraft engines was not conducted. He sees in this manifestation of the lobby of petroleum corporations. So it is or not, but for all the post-war times of an efficient engine, which would not have burned the hydrocarbon fuel, and did not appear. Although even atomic was tested.

Now in the world aviation industry attitude towards electricity changes greatly. In world aviation, the concept of "more electric aircraft" appeared. It implies a greater electrification of the units and mechanisms of the device compared to modern.

In Russia, technologies in this concept are engaged in the Technodynamics Holding, which is included in Rostech. The company develops reversal electric drives for the future Russian PD-14 engine, fuel system drives, chassis cleaning.

"In the long run, we, of course, consider projects of large commercial aircraft. And in these large aircraft, we will most likely use a hybrid motor installation before switching completely to the electrical machine - the airbus comments say. - The fact is that the relationship Power to weight in modern batteries is still very far from what we need. But we are preparing for the future in which it is possible. "