the next generation of aircraft

Future of flight or flight of fancy? Students showcase concepts for the next generation of aircraft from bio-fueled jet engines, body-heat powered cabin lights, and floating luggage loaders

French airplane maker Airbus, along with UNESCO, invited aeronautics and engineering students from all over the world to develop their most innovative air travel ideas and compete to see whose has the greatest potential to turn the industry on its head.The Airbus Fly Your Ideas competition is in its third year and exists to inspire the next generation of engineers to channel the future of air travel, always with one eye on sustainability.This year’s high-concepts were inspired by a need for more energy friendly air travel and included engines that run on methane, body heat-powered in-flight entertainment, air hockey-inspired luggage movers, and many more. ‘We're trying to encourage the next generation of leaders to think about ways in which the aviation industry could be made more eco-efficient, and to be sympathetic to its environmental impact,’ said Airbus' senior manager for research and technology Dale King.The competition commenced in September 2012. The initial 618 submissions from 82 countries were quickly whittled down to 100 teams for round 2.From there, 100 became just 5 finalists with projects related to the topics of energy, efficiency, affordable growth, traffic growth, passenger experience, and community friendliness—which have each been identified by Airbus as the six key challenges of the 21st century for a sustainable aviation industry.Australian’s Team CLiMA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology drafted a proposal for the development of aircraft fueled by a blend of biomethane and liquefied natural gas, called Bio-LNG.‘Even if you replaced (jet fuel) with liquid natural gas,’ said the Australian team’s Luke Spiteri, in reference to his team proposal’s potential to improve a jet’s eco-friendliness, ‘you could cut CO2 emissions 20%.’The Brazilian representatives had a decidedly child-like spin on their proposal.Team Levar from the University of Sao Paulo’s contribution was a proposal for a luggage loading/unloading system for airplane cargo compartments that create an aircushion to move baggage, much like the tiny jets of air that propel air hockey pucks.India’s Team AVAS proposed a jet engine exhaust that uses intelligent, shape shifting alloys to reduce noise.Team Flybrid of Italy’s Technical University of Milan’s contribution was an electric/turboprop combination for hybrid propulsion in small aircraft.And the final team, Malaysia’s Team Embarker has a shocking concept.From Universiti Putra Malaysia, they foresee a plane where body heat is turned into electricity used to power small electronics and overhead reading lights.Though the technology does exist to turn body heat to power, we can thus far only produce very little form one person’s body.Tan Kai Jun, Malaysian team leader, sees a plane where each seat is covered in the heat-to-electricity material.‘It's a small amount, but imagine this collected from 550 seats throughout 10 hours of flight. A plane has a lifespan of a few hundred flights -- over time that's a big reduction,’ he told CNN.Though each of the finalists’ ideas were groundbreaking, there could of course be only one winner.The air-powered luggage mover, proposed by the team from the University of Sao Paolo, took home the big prize.In addition to a cash award of €30,000, their school will play host to a group of Airbus experts for a week of workshops and training.