Panos for Progress: Thoughts and Selections

China's presence in commercial aviation was largely absent until fairly recently when COMAC manufacturer developed the C919 airplane which began selling to airlines in 2011. Given China's rapid technological evolution with competitive creations in several areas, including for example, electric vehicles and military equipment (including aircraft carriers), the July 27, 2024 issue of The Economist wonders whether  China can smash the Airbus-Boing duopoly . The short answer to this question is ... not in the near future. As the table below shows, the C919 is competent in its very popular class of short-haul airplanes, but it is not a class-leading airplane; it is less competitive in both passenger capacity and range. (Click on the table for a large format version.) COMAC plans to be building 150 copies of the C919 in a year before 2030. These are barely enough to satisfy the demand in China's domestic market. The annual worldwide demand for this class of airplane is about 180...

Interesting article by Phred Dvorak in the Wall Street Journal:  Solar-Powered Planes Take Flight . "Solar-powered planes won’t be flying people to their next vacation spot anytime soon. But these prototypes, most of which operate without humans, could lead to new alternatives for aerial surveillance on high-risk missions and emergency telecommunications in disaster zones." I had two questions after reading the article: 1. Why don't they fill pockets in the wings and fuselage with helium for added lift? 2. A lot of energy is spent and a high likelihood of risk due to wind gusts is experienced during the slow and laborious take off. Why don't they launch them to, say, 10,000 ft. using a slow, modified bush plane?   Photo : Solar Impulse has a long stopover at a hangar in Honolulu and was opened to visitation. Four of my graduate students and I in summer 2015.