Aer Lingus Flying Saucers - Irish UFOs (or IFOs)

Here you can see some photos taken over the last 8 months of the Aer Lingus "Aine - passenger disk" prototype, intended to replace the ageing cylinder winged aeroplanes in use today, designed over 30 years ago. "This will be the next form of air travel, clean, green and very fast" said an Aer Lingus spokes person recently.



The craft (when fully complete and in production) will carry up to 180 passengers, crew and luggage, at over 5 times the speed of a current jet. It uses no moving parts or fossil fuels, making it the cleanest and safest aircraft ever flown by a commercial airline. Each one costs an estimated 6 billion euros to produce, so the initial cost for passengers will be expensive compared to regular flights, but with the ability to reach New York in 1 hour, along with the ultra modern and spacious design of the interior, feeling more like a modern cruise ship than an aircraft, as well as using all of the latest, lightest and strongest eco friendly materials, we think that discerning customers will definitely rather pay the extra cost to fly this way. The cost will reduce over time as more craft are introduced to the line. Each disk craft is expected to pay for itself within the first 5 years of use.

Because of the nature of the technology used and fact that it is basically powered by electricity, the craft has a "very" low fuel/maintenance bill. This new type of air travel will also eliminate the need for runways (as the craft can stop in mid air and land vertically) and will eventually lead to a total redesign of airports, and greatly improve the travel industry within the next 10-20 years.



This type of technology is not new. Humans have been aware of the theoretical possibility of this type of propulsion for many years. But now is the right time, when there is enough concern about pollution, dwindling fossil fuel reserves and a high demand for greater speeds. That, combined with modern light weight - ultra strong materials, global positioning navigation and advancing computer processing speeds, makes this the perfect time to undertake these initiatives. It's the next step in human flight evolution.



The disk hovers and propels itself using electrodes that cover its surface to ionize the surrounding air into plasma. Air, which has an equal number of positive and negative charges becomes plasma when energy (such as electricity) causes the air's atoms to lose their negatively charged electrons, creating atoms with a positive charge, or positive ions, surrounded by the newly detached electrons. Using the onboard source of energy (batteries, solar energy and ultracapacitors) the electrodes send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral (noncharged) air surrounding the craft, generating the force for liftoff and movement in different directions (depending on where on the craft's surface electrical current is directed).



The design of the craft became an "obvious" evolution (said Irish Designer Karl Thompson). If you compile the requirements and understand the technology and materials to be used, there isn't much choice for what it will look like in the end. Its basically a large round wing, aerodynamic outside and spacious inside. When asked; was it influenced by "50's B movie flying saucers" he commented, "of course, almost all of the technology in use today existed first only in sci-fi, it's inescapable".



It is not known exactly when the first commercial flights will take place, but it is expected to happen within the next few years.