Watching a plane’s wings detach isn’t something you want to see in today’s air travel. But that just might be where airplanes are headed, according to one tech CEO.
French entrepreneur Maurice Ricci is the CEO of Akka Technologies, and he has a pretty unique vision for the future of airplanes. And it happens to have a lot in common with the future of trains.
He thinks combining the two modes of transportation — creating a plane that can travel on the ground via tracks / a train that can fly through the air — will improve the passenger experience.
THE PLANE. Akka calls the plane/train hybrid Link & Fly. Late last year, it released a digitally rendered video of the concept in action. With its wings attached, the craft doesn’t look all that different from the planes soaring in and out of today’s airports. The primary difference is that the wings connect to one another over the plane’s cylindrical body, rather than connecting to each side of the plane separately.
Once on the ground, the body of the flying train separates from those wings and the cockpit, dropping onto a platform positioned on tracks. It’s then free to ride the rails. According to the Bloomberg report, passengers would board and disembark the craft at train stations, so they wouldn’t have to find alternate ways to travel to and from airports.
