silent aircraft

Researchers at MIT and Cambridge University have unveiled a design for a "silent aircraft" that would radically reduce the noise emanating from airports. As it turns out, the design from the universities' Silent Aircraft Initiative is fuel-efficient as well. SAI collaborators say the plane, designed to carry 215 passengers, is expected to offer a 25 percent improvement in passenger-miles per gallon when compared with the operating efficiency of current aircraft (and, at 124 passenger-mpg, just slightly better than the 120 passenger-mpg of a Toyota Prius carrying two riders).