Unconventional Commuter Configurations: A Design Investigation

The results of a design investigation of some unconventional airplane configurations are reported in this paper. The viability of designing canard and 3-surface airplanes to meet commuter airline needs was investigated. This study was conducted on an airplane designed to carry 30 passengers on 600 n.m. stage lengths, cruising at 0.6 Mach number at an altitude of 28,000 feet.

A test ride quality evaluation was also carried out. This indicated that, although considerable performance improvement was possible over existing airplanes of the same type, active ride augmentation systems were needed to achieve airliner levels of comfort. All three airplanes looked good in terms of mission fuel consumption and climb terms. The 3-surface configuration managed to edge out the other two in those same terms.