Back to the future?

Bob Liebeck, programme manager for Megaplanes' blended wing body, presents a list of issues and areas of risk to the learned members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics:

complex flight control architecture, severe hydraulic requirements; large auxiliary power unit requirements; new class of engine installation; flight behaviour beyond stall; high floor angle on take off and approach; acceptance by the flying public; performance at long range; experience and database for new class of configuration limited to military aircraft.

After much nodding by the sages in the audience, Liebeck then admits: "Actually, this was extracted from a Douglas Aircraft memo from the 1950s on whether to launch the DC-8."

Source: Flight International