Preloading a plane cabin

I think anyone who has made the simple observation that cargo companies don't hold up trains or ships to pack them. They pack the containers as one process, and load them on the transport vehicle as a second step.

It makes you wonder why an airplane doesn't drive under one section and a preloaded container full of people is picked up off the plane, and then it drives forward 300' and a second container is loaded onboard.

I am not sure why it took so long, but Airbus has finally entered a patent for such a system.


It does open huge potential for VIP cabins. By divorcing the cabin from the type of aircraft carrying the cabin, it makes it much easier to load the cabin onto different size frames for transPacific or simple transcontinental travel. Also if you don't fly for three months, you are carrying interest payments on a loan for a cabin, not for an airframe with engines. It might even re-invigorate the idea of luxury intermodal travel, where the cabin could be alternatively loaded on trains for luxury short haul in the thousand mile range.

Such an air/train intermodal concept was presented at Paris last year. I am skeptical of the drag in such a plane.

If you have enough thrust, anything is possible.
I believe this is what the Wright Bros had in
mind..

This fascinates me. The amount of time
that's passed since Kitty Hawk and today
is almost within living human memory.

The amount of time that passed between
the invention of the printing press, and
modern efficient printing, was about 500
years. We're on some kind of curve here
that is unknown in our past.

Quote: Pacomartin

I am skeptical of the drag in such a plane.

I am skeptical of the ground crew personnel responsible for attaching and securing the cabin to the airframe.

This was recently patented. The military has had it for quite some time since they like to pre-position cargo and then simply attach a cargo module onto an airplane.

Yeah, that Press until you hear the click might be insufficient. Its failed in a few glider-like assemblies in trailerable planes.

Lift the airplane body and load from the side, click then rotate the airplane cabin closed and attach a cockpit and another "snap."

Quote: Fleastiff

This was recently patented.

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=09193460&SectionNum=1&IDKey=DF8FE13B038A&HomeUrl=http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/


Private Rail Car from 1880s

I think that the idea of detachable modules will appeal to the very rich. It harkens back to the days of the private rail car where the rich kept a car that was decorated the way they wanted it. They simply didn't want to invest in the locomotives to pull it around.

There will be many concerns about safety.

So how about this?

Outfit the detachable cabin with parachutes, in case it comes lose. Even better, in case of an emergency the cabin can be ejected.

Of course, this creates a whole new set of problems.

Quote: Nareed

Of course, this creates a whole new set of problems.

Too heavy.

In 1974, the 86,000 pound Minuteman missile dropped from a Lockheed C-5A Galaxy. The chutes were used to drag it out of the back of the aircraft and then descend in the right attitude to be fired in mid-air.

AFAIK no one has ever dropped anything more than 20,000 lbs that was expected to land on the ground and function. I have no idea what the heaviest drop involving a living human being, but I would bet much less than 1,000 lbs. I think normally they drop equipment from one chute, and people in separate chutes, and they try to find the equipment on the ground.

Special OPS guys are trained to parachute from heights of about 500'. At that height it is more of a controlled fall. But they are not too far from the jeeps that are dropped with them.

Quote: Pacomartin

Too heavy.

That's one problem.

How does the plane fly without the cabin?

That's another problem.

Would pilots be too ready to ditch the plane?

Yet another problem.

If you detach the cabin from the plane, and assuming the flight crew moves to the cabin as well, what becomes of the rest of the plane? what if it's flying over an urban area?

So many problems.

Small, one engine planes with one or two people on board, can carry parachutes that can safely bring the plane down in case of loss of control. I know there's a huge gap between a little Cessna and even the smallest regional prop plane, never mind an actual big passenger jet, or even an A320.

Isn't this an old concept? "Thunderbird 2" was doing it a long time ago (e.g., sequences at 3:40 and 7:00):

Quote: Ayecarumba

Isn't this an old concept?

I don't think it is a particularly novel idea. The idea of separating the cargo from the engine has been part of trucking and shipping for a long time.

But look at an Allegiant Air schedule. They start from a florida destination, fly up north, load passengers, fly back to Florida , and then do a second trip that day. So they are on the ground three intermediate times. Add another hour for initial load and final disembark.
Air Time - Ground Time (three intermediate stops)
08:58 03:00
07:22 03:05
08:59 03:34
08:52 03:06
08:46 02:55

So an unloading or loading takes 30 minutes. Suppose, I could cut that time in half to 15 minutes apiece to unclip a module and and clip on another. That would save me 2 hours which is only half of a round trip for the day.

It's difficult to see where the massive profits are going to come from to pay for this expensive R&D effort. You could probably save just as much time by requiring people to mail their luggage.