This model (in both senses) made its first flight in 2007, but little news has emerged since, except that it was reported that on 19 March 2010, NASA and Boeing successfully completed initial flight testing of the X-48B, which are two 8.5% scale aircraft. Fay Collier, manager of the ERA Project in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate commented on the completion of the first phase of testing saying, "This project is a huge success. Bottom line: the team has proven the ability to fly tailless aircraft to the edge of the low-speed envelope safely."
Boeing had studied a blended wing body (BWB) design for commercial use, but found that passengers did not like the theater-like configuration of the mock-up. The company dropped the design for passenger airliners, but reserved it for military aircraft.
McDonnell Douglas developed the X-48 concept in the late 1990s, and presented it during an annual Joint AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEA Propulsion Conference in 2004. The McDonnell Douglas engineers were confident that their design had all the advantages mentioned, but their concept, code named "Project Redwood" found little favour at Boeing after their merger. The most difficult problem they solved was that of ensuring passengers a safe and fast escape in case of an accident, since emergency door locations were completely different from those in a conventional aircraft.
The BWB concept offers advantages in structural, aerodynamic and operating efficiencies over today's more conventional fuselage-and-wing designs. These features translate into greater range, fuel economy, reliability and life cycle savings, as well as lower manufacturing costs.
Watch this space.
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