What is Digg?96 Comments
- Julikaefer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+93Just compare those two photos. Don't they look the same?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Tuna_steak.JPG/800px-Tuna_steak.JPG
http://therawfeed.com/pix/smartfish.jpg - the7dwarfs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+71Am I the only one struggling to see where a tuna comes into that design?
- blaze03, on 10/12/2007, -1/+63I dunno, that design looks like carp to me
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+54They don't even need hangars, just cans.
- theguy23, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42Sure, because when I think "efficient flight," I think "tuna."
- corevette, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35@Julikaefer - sure they look the same, but now i'm hungry
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+35Fishy concept...
I deserve to get buried for making that joke. - ohearn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Maybe you don't realize that most aircraft design starts out as a series of models well before anyone spends the money to build a full size aircraft.
- elsewhen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15the fins and sleekness look pretty much like fish... certainly more than traditional aircraft. anyway, you have to admit, they've developed a pretty cool design.
- lieutenantmudd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17The radical part is not the look, it is the lack of slats and flaps. Those are some of the most complicated parts of an airplane
- heptahedron, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16I can spot four aeronautically nasty features of this design: 1) With such stubby wings, I'd bet that the lift-to-drag ratio will suck (and thus fuel economy will be poor). 2) The self-imposed lack of flaps will mean either higher landing speeds or a wing optimized for low-speed flight. 3) That tiny vertical stabilizer's location will mean degraded yaw-control at high alpha (landing & take-off). 4) Similarly, the location of the engine inlet will make the engine susceptible to compressor stalls at high alpha (landing & take-off). Thus, I'm skeptical it will be either fuel efficient or safe.
But it is pretty. - interiot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Considering they were able to keep the little model aerodynamically stable and controllable without slats or flaps, that's definitely an accomplishment.
- Amnesia10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Actually this design would make an excellent personal submarine.
- LarianLeQuella, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Wny link to the blog instead of the original site? Man, I hate how Digg is starting to be all about getting traffic to your blog even if the site with the news already exists.
http://www.smartfish.ch/index.cfm/fuseaction/show/path/1-2.htm - bradleyland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Flaps are not for turning. Flaps are used to slow air down under the wing, thus increasing lift at the cost of increased drag.
- cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Hmmm, on the ablum "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish", there is a song entitled: "Time for Me to Fly"...
Fishy? You be the judge... - gumby013, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Is it dolphin safe?
- Paktu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Big Tuna?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Halpert - nite23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7the wings may be short, but this shape has the potential to generate more lift than traditional wing because of vortexes created on inner part of the wing's leading edge, when the plane is at high alpha. For example Concorde wing works on this principle... Also, it looks like the plane's body may be generating some lift, too
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yes, but it won't matter if corrupt politicians and ignorant neighbors keep closing general-aviation airports and selling the land to fat-ass developers. If we have any hope of using the air as a partial solution to the exploding traffic congestion on land, this ***** has to stop.
- nullcodes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6where's the video of it flying about?
no video, no convince
http://www.smartfish.ch/index.cfm/fuseaction/show/path/1-2-69.htm
ok, convinced. - Blueshrike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Actually, it does look like a tuna. Yeesh people. A little less skepticism:
http://www.ibiblio.org/virtualcell/amazingbiology/oceanography/tuna.jpg - sukimashita, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Not sure about this, but I heard that once you got attach an engine with enough thrust, you could even make a beaver-shaped aircraft.
- garfonzo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5it hurts my brain, how does it turn with no flaps??
- Sargasso_C, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5it wags it's tail in a different direction.
- EztliNahua, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin-Marietta_X-24
The X-24B had a lift-to-drag ratio of 2.5. Nowhere near as good as a small personal plane such as the Cessna 172 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172 ), which gets 7.5, but I'd think that this SmartFish gets better than it, since its newer. - aldomatic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3looks like something out of the game Star Fox
- egb6550, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What's next bird shaped boats and submarines?
- anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That's it, I've haddock with these fishy stories without any codability.
- saifatlast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3And how many general aviation aircraft are using it? How many civilian aircraft at all? What about the apparent lack of ailerons?
- ScorpioPT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4that's what i call thinking outside of the can
- saifatlast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You're thinking of ailerons, but it's a good question that I didn't really see answered anywhere.
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But no flaps&slats doesn't make any sense. How do they hope to get enough lift to take off and land from short runways with no high lift devices?
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2oops...the 'no comment delete' feature...strikes again
- jonssonar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dude... they totally jacked my idea. Back in elementary school I would fling goldfish crackers across the classroom. I should be credited by realizing fish's flying capacity.
- Irimi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Perhaps they've heard of the Personal Air Vehicle Centennial Challenge (sponsored by NASA)...
http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_pavchallenge.php - razordancer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's not a tuna!!
/ahnold - dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 It looks like a tuna but a tuna would not be flat, as the jet is, it would be vertical, i.e. the left wing would be a fin on top.
btw they fish tuna where I live and they are huge, some weigh 1100 pounds or more. - kkDonut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The SmartFish flies without slats, spoilers or flaps" "how does it turn with no flaps??"
This design is using whats known as circulation control. Circulation Control is a method of generating lift by using jets of air to improve aerodynamic efficiency over a certain surface of the aircraft.
So insted of having the right aileron angle up to roll left, the air jets on the right wing would blow fast moving air over it, creating the same effect as the ailerons would, without the moving parts. - AstralSin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'd rather have a ship shaped like a squid, not only would it be the talk of the globe but you could snare passersby with your tentacles
- endtime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://oceans.greenpeace.org/raw/image_full/en/photo-audio-video/photos/a-large-yellow-fin-tuna-being.jpg
I don't see it. - rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It looks like that vessel from Star Wars, where Obi-Wan, Kwi-Gon and Jar Jar travel underwater.
- Piggycow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Looks nothing like any tuna I have seen
- bitsyboffin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Looks like a lifting body to me. See the FacetMobile for prior example of a small lifting body aircraft http://tinyurl.com/2oskwa
- Antebios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is it me, or does it look like John's ship (not the alien ship) from Farscape? The Earth Shuttle ship on Farscape? Or maybe even the mother ship in Farscape?
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm more interested in how they seem to claim it has no control surfaces. That would be an interesting development.
- S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It probably will have a flexible wing which can change shape to increase lift or maneuver the aircraft.
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A lot of aircraft design innovation was based on fish. They have a more streamlined look then birds. In some cases the flow in water is very comparable to that in the air. The real innovation is in biomorphic designs that take attributes of fish or birds and attempt to apply that to an aircraft.
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I saw one of these fly by and gobble up a bunch of little planes. I think they were modeled after mackerel.
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I can't believe I found this story... guess it was just a fluke!
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