757 Is At It Again

So much speculation so little time. The 757 is used in an aerodynamic efficiency testing program. The aviation speculators are ravished over the 757 doing anything at all. It is a dead design? However, Boeing pulls another rabbit out of engineering bag. Everything thats makes a plane fly better in a concept bag. The 757 may as well been a brick from the back lot given to the engineers and R&D with this one task. Make it fly more efficient!

People like me continue to fascinate over the the 757, and then they do a tease like this using the 757 as a flying test bed.  It gives the blog world a day of some kind of relevance. What is Boeing up to with its 757 test bed? Is really seeing what flying benchmarks, it could establish for a follow-on 757, or is it really testing independent concepts for data collection for any new improvement on airline advancement for all types? Only the VP's know for sure. 

The blog tease is out in the forefront now time for the follow-up from someone who also has been stung by the 757 gap filling and needed Boeing aircraft dream.

Aerodynamic efficiency target of Boeing ecoDemonstrator 757 flight tests

Article Link

By Tony Borroz

March 20, 2015

"Boeing is at it again, continuing its on-going ecoDemonstrator test program by ramping up a series of flight tests with a modified 757 airliner. The lengthy tests will assess new methods to advance efficiency, cut noise and lower carbon emissions.

The flight tests, a continuing part of Boeing's ecoDemonstrator series, are being conducted in collaboration with the TUI Group and NASA using the ecoDemonstrator 757 for the tests. Boeing is actually using the single aircraft to conduct three separate tests simultaneously, on three separate aerodynamic surfaces. The experiments being conducted with TUI focus on aerodynamic efficiency. The two other investigations in conjunction with NASA will focus reduced fuel use and carbon emissions."

• The aircraft's left wing is being used by Boeing to evaluate technologies to reduce the environmental effects on natural laminar flow. Anything that disrupts the smooth flow of air across the plane is bad, and doubly so if this flow disruption occurs on the wing. 
• The right wing is also concerned with lessening the effects of insect fragments. Working in conjunction with NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project, Boeing will evaluate two technologies on the ecoDemonstrator 757.
• The third test is happening at the same time, but this one is up on the vertical tail. Active flow control is being evaluated by NASA and Boeing to improve airflow over the rudder and maximize its aerodynamic efficiency." 

The NASA play, starts to confuse the 757 play for the future. Is this a military science project or for getting the bugs out, or is it a commercial expansion project, maximization for laminar flow technology?  The wing area is Boeing's play ground. Perhaps a new 757 wing will come out of this joint testing with Nasa. Perhaps both will gain some data for well , who knows?

The fuel for speculation has caught fire within the realm of Winging It. This is not a 757 stepping stone, but it is an integral part for finding a gap filler carrying 200 plus passengers for transoceanic and trans continental hauling of passengers and freight from hubs.

• New Plastic wings, yes
• New Engines, Yes
• Bugs and more bugs, No
• 220 Max seats yes
• Exceeds A321 expectations , yes
• All Plastic, yes (See Charleston's plant layout and plastic body making)
• Bleed Air By-pass, No
• All electric, yes

Its the best of Max and the Dreamliner at the same time. Its wider than a Max smaller narrower an 787-800. It flies somewhere in between a Max 9 and 787-800 in distance. It will give Airbus a severe wedgie in its flight-line. Its the next Boeing announcement at some airshow near England or Paris. The 757 is not dead! Just metamorphic, like a butterfly. What does Boeing number it or call it is the tougher question at this point. I dubbed it the Goldenliner 797.