Community Corner

PHOTOS: Minneapolis Airport's Quieter—and Crazy-Looking—Future

Major aircraft makers all think the future of air transport makes much less noise and looks fantastical.

Minneapolis airport noise may be a contentious topic for now, but don't bet on that for the future, if thesevisions from NASA and major airplane manufacturers come to pass.

Already, small steps in the march of technology can be seen at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport today. As airlines retire 1970's and 1980's-vintage aircraft, the average noise level around the airport—as measured by Metropolitan Airports Commission monitoring stations—has dropped.

Many of the aircraft designs here came out of a recent NASA project that asked manufacturers to envision craft that could meet the energy efficiency, emissions, noise reduction, and carrying capacity challenges key to the future of commercial aviation. Many of the design solutions either envisioned a path similar to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner—full of exotic materials like composites and advanced engine designs—or proposed revolutionary fuselage and wing shapes that increased engine efficiency and shielded the ground from engine noise.

Perhaps the most radical design comes from Airbus's own future design studios, who pitched a combination of both approaches, plus futuristic artificial intelligence for more efficient flight.

For updates and other information about the community, join us on Patch, Like us on Facebook and follow Richfield Patch on Twitter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here