Robotic Flight-Line Aircraft Washing Machine Concept

My first business was washing airplanes out at the local airport, I was 12 years old, and I was always trying to find a way to clean the airplanes using less labor, and to do the job faster. Such is probably always on the mind of a young entrepreneurs - improving efficiency, and trying to find a way to make money faster. I don't doubt that kids running lemonade stands don't go through this same thought process. I sure know that businessmen do, and that is quite evident with all of the Six Sigma business consultants out there.

Okay so, is there a way to create a robotic flight line aircraft washing machine? I believe there is, and I don't think it is as difficult as one might have been led to believe. In looking at the military's UAV drone program, where we have UAV bases in faraway countries, it makes sense to have fewer flight line personnel, not only for their own safety, but also to conserve cost in our military.

If the unmanned aerial vehicles are completely robotic, and are flown tele-robotically from thousands of miles away through satellite links, why can't robotic service machines do all the work for ground support? The answer to this question is; of course they can, however no one has taken it upon themselves to solve this problem, save the military money, or invent robotic systems which can re-fuel the aircraft, do minor preventative maintenance, and wash the aircraft's surface.

Nevertheless, the topic has come up at our think tank, and having been in the aircraft washing business all my life, I think it is possible to create the ground support robots, and also robots which can wash the entire airplane flawlessly while doing pre-fight safety checks, and preparing the aircraft for its next sortie or mission.

Having been in the car wash business, and around industrial robotics for a good portion of my life, it seems to me the only difference between a car going through a robotic tunnel carwash, and building an aircraft washing unit to clean an airplane on the flight line is that on one hand the car moves through the robotic tunnel, and when cleaning an airplane in this way, the tunnel goes over the plane so to speak.

Philosophically speaking, what is the difference? Not much, not much at all actually. In fact, I don't think it would be very hard to build, or very costly. Also I don't believe the time from conception and prototype design to use in the battlespace has to be very long either. This is one way our military can save money. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new series of eBooks on Aurcraft Cleaning. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Future Concept - Futuristic Aircraft Landing Gear Reverse Thruster Spinners

Is it possible to harness some of the kinetic energy and friction which is involved with landing a large airliner, and reusing that energy to stop the aircraft quicker? I believe it is, and I believe there are new materials being made now that can easily make that possible. If you have a few moments, I'd like to explain.

You see, when a large airliner lands those giant tires go from 0 to 125 miles per hour in one second, some tires spin as the aircraft flies while on approach already. Nevertheless when the aircraft touches down it puts a lot of wear and tear on the tires, and the aircraft braking system is under tremendous amount of pressure.

If we can reduce the weight of the tires by speeding up the tire prior to landing, and the tires wouldn't need to be so heavy, or heavy duty, have to be made so strong with so much steel belts inside. These tires are extremely expensive, and quite costly to keep replacing all the time. What if there was a propeller system underneath the aircraft which would cause the tires to spin using the relative wind or ram air flow from the forward motion of the aircraft? That makes sense right?

Sure it does, and now I'd like to discuss with you the regenerative component to this propeller, which will be mounted on the landing gear frame. You see, after the tire touches the ground, the shock absorber will push the tire upward, and that can switch the propeller the other direction, as the tire spins around once it has the weight of the plane on the runway. In other words the propeller would then act as a reverse thruster, which will slow the aircraft down quicker, meaning the aircraft doesn't need such giant brakes.

Remember brakes weigh a lot, and on an airliner they are rather large and a very important component to the aircraft. They also require hydraulic fluid, hydraulic pumps, and all sorts of other things. By making those components smaller, as the aircraft will now be slowed down with reverse propeller thrust, that means we can shave even more weight off this aircraft. Now then, these small modifications may not seem like much, but if the propeller blade is the proper type, and creates a fan like condition, it could provide quite a bit of reverse thrust. Plus the propeller will be made very light materials, which are very strong - perhaps a carbon nanotube composite material.

Maybe more research and development along this line of thinking makes sense at this point. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. If you have any other aerospace design questions, concerns, or other similar topics please shoot me an e-mail.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.worldthinktank.net/ - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

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