But first, a thing or two about what a blended wing body aircraft is all about. That would be a plane that shows no clear distinction between its main fuselage and wings, although it has them both. It’s a choice that, in theory, should deliver several advantages over traditional aircraft frames.
For one, such a plane would be capable of generating more lift and would face less drag as it moves through the air. When it comes to interior space, because it’s not a small tube with wings to its sides, it should deliver a lot more interior space for people to enjoy.
It’s unclear exactly why blended wing body machines are not flying in the skies of our world yet. God knows there have been several attempts at making them real: back in the 1920s, the Westland Dreadnought came about, followed in the 1990s by the BWB-17 of McDonnell Douglas and NASA. At some point, even Airbus and Bombardier gave the idea a try, but nothing really came of it.
As you’re reading this there are at least two companies gunning to make blended wing body aircraft a reality of our time. JetZero is one of them, whose Z4 is expected to fly for the first time, as a demonstrator, later this decade. The second, and the focus of our here story, is Natilus, who is working on a potentially game-changing flyer called the Horizon.
This plane has been the focus of our stories before, but we’re coming back to it after the company gave us a glimpse at the thing’s interior. Remember how I said a BWB design facilitates greater interior space? Read on and find out exactly what that means.
First up, it’s worth mentioning that the interior of the Horizon will be customizable, meaning it could be adapted to serve whatever plans airlines have for it. There are a couple of standard layouts, though, and it is them that have been detailed.
At its maximum capacity, the Horizon will be capable of carrying 250 passengers, but for now we’re only given a glimpse into two other configurations. The first would be one for 196 passengers – 40 of them seated in First Class seats at 38-inch (96 cm) pitch, 48 in Economy+ seats at 34-inch (86 cm) pitch, and 108 in Economy seats at 31-inch (79 cm) pitch.
Natilus says the seats are 20-inch (50 cm) wide, and they offer a huge 7.5 feet (228 cm) of headroom. In lie-down position, they extend to 78 inches (198 cm). This layout is also equipped with eight exit doors (it’s unclear how they solve the issue of evacuating passengers in case of an emergency in such a design) and up to four restrooms.
A more premium configuration would allow only 164 passengers to climb on board – 16 laydown First Class seats, 16 Business class seats, 60 Economy+ seats, and 72 Economy seats.
Each Horizon aircraft can be configured to include three video conference pods, each of them fully equipped with hardware and connections that allow for both video and audio calls to be made. If need be, a so-called club seating will be introduced, allowing families, colleagues, and friends to stay close to one another during long flights.
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