Paul,

       I don't know if this is a subject of interest to the whole list but thought you might be interested in yet another auto maker thinking
       about jet aircraft.
       Barry Gardner
       Wheaton, IL

       *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.
       http://online.wsj.com/wsjgate?subURI=/article/0,,SB1038866983440886633,00.html&nonsubURI=/article_email/0,,SB1038866983440886633,00.html

Oh no! Not another small turbo fan. What do these people think they
know that GE, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and Garrett not to mention the
Russian engine builders don't know? Wasn't the William's fiasco enough? 
Reminds me of the 100 mpg carburetor or the electric water pump.

I'll believe it when I see one fly cross country with reasonable range.
The old saying; "You cannot get a quart in a pint pot is 
apropos. The fuel MUST go near the CG and a big wing holds
more volume per foot of span than a small wing.

Volume of a sphere = 4/3 pi x radius ***cubed***. This is not just something
that can be circumvented with money or research and development.
It is right up there with one HP equals 746 watts. 

That is why most of them look like pregnant guppies :-)
Pregnant guppies are not low drag.

You could of course fill the fuselage with fuel but where
then would the passengers sit? :-)

All this could change if someone came up with a low cost ceramic 
composite that would work as a combustion can or turbine blade 
at 3000 degrees F. Unobtainium.
 
Paul Lamar
 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.  Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            
Copyright 1998-2002 All world wide rights reserved.