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The desire for lower cost and more fuel-efficient aircraft to carry cargo is driving some interesting innovation. The latest example, although not completely new, is the proposal to tow autonomous cargo carrying gliders behind a lead plane https://lnkd.in/gH54fgRf. The gliders would essentially fly in the slipstream of the lead aircraft, described as "surfing the vortices", providing some significant savings in fuel, and hence emissions. These aircraft will only carry relatively small payloads, similar to, but maybe slightly larger, the many "last mile" drone propositions that are currently being designed and developed. It's potentially going to make for a lot more traffic in the air with all these small craft carrying up to a ton or even two tons of cargo. It's an intriguing proposition and the key benefit, although on a small scale, is the fuel reduction which lowers the cost and reduces overall emissions. To that end, it has a similar philosophy to Droneliner. Although Droneliner has a vastly bigger payload capacity, between 200 and 350 tons, the objective of major improvements in relative fuel efficiency aligns. And that fuel efficiency, much lower per ton of cargo, is the key that unlocks much lower operational costs and much lower emission rates. It's encouraging to see the application of these philosophies in the airfreight market and paves the way to a much cleaner and more efficient future for air cargo. #Aerolane #Airfreight #Autonomous #Drone #Droneliner #Cargo #Emissions

Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

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