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We all like to design airplanes on paper,
but it doesn't mean anything until you actually put it up in the air.
[737 ecoDemonstrator In partnership with American Airlines and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).]
[David Akiyama, ecoDemonstrator Program Manager]
The ecoDemonstrator is a flight test program,
and the objective is to innovate and to
accelerate the maturity of environmental technologies.
We will be looking at technologies that could help
improve our airplane performance by at least 10%.
One percent in fuel efficiency improvement for these very optimized
commercial airplanes that we are designing is a tremendous amount.
Where does an idea like that come from?
We look at natural examples.
For instance, a bird doesn't keep its wing shape constant over a flight,
you see it constantly adjusting.
And so you take that idea and you apply it to an airplane,
and you are able to morph the wing
using the same kind of concepts you observe in nature.
The adaptable trailing edge technology involves articulating
the last small part of the wing, maybe 5 inches of the way,
and you just rotate that downwards or upwards.
By changing the shape of the trailing edge, it allows you to optimize
the wing both at takeoff, at landing, and also at your cruise.
And so that allows you to burn less fuel and also to reduce community noise.
The variable-area fan nozzle is also a shape-morphing technology.
They are able to open up the fan exhaust area in takeoff,
which allows us to burn less fuel,
and I think that's what ecoDemonstrator is about.
Accelerating technology and getting them to the market so that our airplanes,
which do so much good for the world, they bring people together,
we can do it with a minimal environmental footprint.
My kids are only 5 right now.
I have twins, a boy and a girl,
and they don't understand enough for me to explain in detail,
but I take great satisfaction in my job because if we do it right,
I am going to make the world a little bit better place for them.
[BOEING]