Erm...no, it's clearly not.

theoretically it is fine though. practically it seems ridiculous. not going to happen. I don't think they meant it as a practical solution though since they said

Lateral thinking suggests

I know. Ii just saw the words "conveyor belt" and though of the legendary thread.

I wonder if they are aware of this:

http://blog.easyjet.com/easyjet-first-airline-to-trial-electric-green-taxiing-system-by-safran-and-honeywell/

Could they not save time as well as money by landing on the baggage carousel?

No reason why it wouldn't work, though I do wonder whether an electrical system could ever deliver the phenomenal braking power modern aircraft brakes develop. It's a normal occurrence to see brake temperatures nudging 450C about 20 minutes after landing - having said that, if this could be captured and not pumped into the atmosphere by the brake fans it might be useful.

Bit of number crunching suggests that each brake unit would need to be able to capture about 2MW during the landing roll. Taxi out? Well, the APU can only supply 90kW and is at 30-40% load just running the normal electrical system, so assuming even 45kW available it's not going to be quick. Again, back of the envelope maths suggests 30 seconds continuous acceleration will get you to about 11 mph, which is going to royally piss off* the queue behind you at places like Amsterdam, where normal taxi speeds are about 35 mph.

So it's a nice idea, but I'll eat my shoes if it ever comes to fruition.

[i]* I know this because I once pootled along at 15 knots and was ordered by ATC to pull onto a parallel taxiway to let the plane behind overtake. Highly embarrassing.[/i]

Someone told me that Concorde used a tonne of fuel just to get to the start of the runway! crazy.

flaperon - that is so interesting.

The sarcasm is overwhelming there.

flaperon - certainly no sarcasm from me. I love aircraft and having grown up under Manchester airport flightpath, I was lucky enough to see so many different types over the years.
Envy you your job as I was never clever anough to apply to be a pilot.

D'oh - sorry, been a long and very tough day (up at 2am)...

🙁 That's the problem with working shifts.

[img] [/img]

It's a normal occurrence to see brake temperatures nudging 450C about 20 minutes after landing

gives me a good excuse to post this 😀

Someone told me that Concorde used a tonne of fuel just to get to the start of the runway! crazy.

I've never worked on a Concorde, but for some of our bigger aircraft we work on 900kg taxi fuel. So 1000kg is believable...

Aircraft carriers with conveyer belts instead of catapults

excellent