Helping people on and off airplanes

I’ve been travelling recently in Peru and Ecuador, and in my 12 airplane takeoffs (and, mercifully, landings) experienced a great amount of checking, form filling, monitoring (and tax paying), all in the name of airport security. There were also endless delays in getting on and off planes.

I looked for patents that suggest ways of improving passenger safety, and found something else. It is an intriguing invention by a Texan private inventor, the Airport system for operations, safety, and security. Here is its main drawing.

 

The nose section of the aircraft would tilt upwards or to the side so that the entire passenger compartment would be removed from the aircraft. A new passenger compartment, "fully loaded", would be placed into the plane. Baggage would in the same way be removed through the tail and the next baggage compartment would be put in place.

l'm not sure about the safety angle, but it would certainly ease the current system of passengers fighting their way off the airplane, as well as the delays in getting on. Passengers seated at the windows could simply walk off at the margins of the compartment.

Putting the luggage in a compartment that would also be easily removed would save time and reduce damage and pilfering. The lavatories, too, would be removeable. The patent contains a vast amount of detail as Mr Allison has thought thought through everything, it seems -- except, perhaps, the cost of building such airplanes, building new facilities for accomodating the new airplanes, and scraping existing facilities.

Comments

[Ben G]

This is a good example of something that is so bizarre on one hand, but actually makes some sense if you look closer. There is nothing more frustrating than just sitting on a runway going nowhere, fast. I've not looked too closely at the patent but one of the biggest hurdles would be the mechanism connecting the passenger part to the cockpit. It would have to be the strongest materials known to man to prevent a mid air 'separation'.

[martin siegrist]

This is a good example of something that is so bizarre on one hand, but actually makes some sense if you look closer.