‘Star Wars’ designer imagines planes of the future
Stephen Chang, the creator of this Flying Wing concept, designed a starship for the Star Wars video game franchise. He also happens to be an aviation enthusiast. Although he's not an engineer, we wondered what kind of commercial airliners his dynamic imagination would create. Click through the gallery to see his fascinating visions for the future of commercial air travel:
Courtesy Stephen Chang
"I think planes are going to look more organic in the future," Chang says. "If you look at the evolution of things, they start out really clunky; then they move toward more natural designs." Chang's Flying Wing airliner idea takes that idea and runs with it. "The windows in the cockpit are organic. The skin of the airplane will be able to sense everything: temperature, air speed." This design also would lean toward shape-shifting wing technology that NASA has been experimenting with.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
Chang's imaginary Flying Wing would seat 250 to 300 passengers. It may or may not have a pilot, he says -- possibly being controlled by people or systems on the ground.
Stephen Chang
This imaginary airliner would take off and land vertically. Inspired by the U.S. military's V-22 Osprey, rotating propeller engines on each wing would transform it from an airplane into a kind of helicopter. That ability would allow it to fly in and out of crowded urban areas -- perhaps from the tops of skyscrapers. Capacity: about 40 passengers, Chang says.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
Chang's vertical takeoff and landing aircraft could be used for rescue operations, he says. It could also land on ships or be outfitted with landing gear with pontoons or skis that would allow it to land on the water or in arctic regions.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
Chang's vision for a supersonic combusting ramjet -- aka scramjet -- would allow jets to fly several times the speed of sound. Passengers could enjoy breakfast in New York and lunch in Tokyo on the same day. "I just wanted to create something that would show what a passenger-carrying scramjet would look like." Chang explains.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
Chang's imaginary scramjet has windows on top and none on the sides. It would hold 30 to 40 passengers, who would sit in the center of the aircraft. This plane would have no pilot in the traditional sense, says Chang. It would likely be controlled by some kind of automated pilot system.
The consumer travel market for this kind of hypersonic travel would be really small, Chang guesses. "If this thing becomes rea,l the market will be even smaller than the Concorde's was." It would takeoff via turbo fan jet engines. It might be fired into the air by a two-mile long rail gun, Chang envisions.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
This imaginary aircraft was inspired by Boeing's X-51 unmanned WaveRider, which during a 2010 U.S. Air Force test, achieved five times the speed of sound for 143 seconds.
Courtesy Stephen Chang
Chang's vision of a single-aisle airliner workhorse to replace the iconic Boeing 737 would utilize today's light weight, super-strong carbon fiber building materials. "I watch airliners fly above me every day," says Chang. "It's magical."