New Flying-V prototype plane took maiden flight and may be 20% more fuel efficient

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

All I know is that I'll be quite disappointed if I'm still getting onto conventional aircraft 20 years from now. I'll also be disappointed if there isn't a new supersonic offering.

I would expect to be disappointed. Something not mentioned on flying wings is were do you put the people? Airlines care about $ per person and $ per pound of cargo. With traditional airlines you have 1 or 2 aisles which works pretty well for seating people. Even in a wide-body like a 777 nobody has to ask more than 2 people to move to get up and use the bathroom. If you go with a very wide but short seating area you either have stadium like seating 10, 15 20 people in a row or a whole bunch of aisles wasting space.

People HATE middle seats. They hate them so much that airlines charge more for window and aisle seats. I can't see airlines purposely switching to a configuration that adds a bunch of lower revenue seats. I know I purposely pick flights based on plane type and that isn't rare for frequent flyers.

Then there are the overhead bins. The current industry trend is to have large enough bins so every passenger can carry on a max size roller bag.

Then there is the regulation that you have to be able to empty the plane in 90 seconds.

Those requirements lead to arrangements like below - which look horrible to me.

Not to mention that very large planes have fallen out of favor - the double decker Airbus 380 was a failure that lost Airbus money and will only fly for about 20 years. That failure maxes aircraft companies less likely to try new things.