Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Future Jets May Taxi Under Electric Power

When a commercial airliner taxis to and from its runway, it either runs its engines or relies on a specialized tow truck. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is exploring ways to eliminate the wasted time, effort, and fuel that comes with this practice.

The solution may be to add electric motors to the nosewheel of commercial aicraft.

Boeing has tested out this possibility on board a 767 aircraft using simulated runway conditions.

In addition to obvious savings, the use of electric vehicles would reduce air and noise pollution, which would be welcomed by airport neighbors as much as airline passengers.

For more information, see this Reuters article.

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