UK Edition
Could this plane end bumpy landings? Britain trials the world's first aircraft without wing flaps
Bumpy take-off and landings could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new technology being developed by researchers which will use air instead of metal flaps to control the plane.
BAE Systems and the University of Manchester have been testing their Magma unmanned aircraft since 2017, but made a break-through earlier this month with a series of successful trials in north-west Wales.
Instead of using conventional ailerons and flaps, the Magma aircraft is controlled using jets of air funnelled from the engine through narrow slots on the wing, and the flights marked the first time an aircraft has been manoeuvred in flight using supersonically blown air.
BAE Systems professor Clyde Warsop said: "The aim is to try to make these systems work to not only benefit the military, but also civil [aviation].
"Some of these technologies are being explored to change the behaviour of the aircraft during take-off and landing so that you can fly at slower speeds, and you can actually make the flight safer."
BAE said it was "actively involved" in a number of research projects, including a large scale project funded by the European Commission around commercial airliners, alongside companies such as Airbus.
"They absolutely could be applied to civil aircraft and would help to improve take-off and landing performance along with helping reduce carbon," a spokesman said.
According to research from Boeing, using data from between 1959 and 2017, around 44pc of fatal accidents for commercial airliners took place in the final approach and landing, and around 14pc during takeoff and initial climb. Only 11pc happened during the cruise-stage of the flight.
BAE is expecting it will be "several years or a decade" before the technology is put into production for military use. Following the trials, engineers will now have to try integrate it into a typical full-sized aircraft.
It is thought the technology will feed into other projects BAE is working on, including the Future Combat Air System contract it was awarded by the Ministry of Defence last year.