Would a concrete plane fly?

Question

I know it sounds crazy... concrete flying.. but remember that a jumbo airplane made of steel flies easy... so why not?

Answer 1

offcourse it wheel, if you can make the concrete to make wings and the desired chord and ratio of lift and also you'd be able to move that plane so fast that it can produce lift more than it weighs then it will fly, doesn't matter what material your using as long as you have the engine capable of moving it fast enough if it's heavy like concrete or whatever.

Answer 2

Since when are "jumbo airplanes" made of steel?

Closest is inconel skin of X-15 but that by far isn't jumbo, and it really wasn't an airplane. --But like many intelegent people have stated it sure could. Just requires enough dynamic pressure, not aerodynamic lift.

A baseball thrown fast enough with the right spin will generate lift, a kite that is essentially a flat plate can fly through just the wind impacting its lower surface. I could make a 4x8 sheet of sheetrock fly with just 20MPH of speed. Its really quite elementary stuff folks!

Answer 3

Yes but it would require an airspeed of 37,000 mph. OK, just a joke back to you. I think you're confused because concrete ships float but you couldn't (reasonably) get a concrete aircraft off the ground. It has to do with creating enough low pressure on top of the wing to allow lift and for concrete to be made thin enough it would fail in elasticity.

Answer 4

You could make a concrete plane, but it most likely be very inefficient and not very durable. Steel, aluminum, and other metals have beneficial properties which allows for flexibility without yielding which concrete does not. Without allowing for flexibility in the design, the plane would have to be quite heavy in section to take the required forces during flight.

Answer 5

A concrete truck will drive down the highway and a concrete boat will float,but nobody has made a concrete plane, or a steel one for that matter.

Answer 6

It depends on what the filler is.
There is a compitition where colleges build canoes out of cement, but they are made with fiberglass as a filler instead of rock.
Just a few months ago a university discovered that it could make plastic 30,000 times stronger by adding proccessed glucose from wood.
I wouldnt be suprised if they came up with a cement that was stong enough for flight.

Answer 7

If there is enough speed, lift, and good aero-dynamics. But I'm not guaranteeing that a airplane the size of a Buluga is going to fly!

Answer 8

You can fly a rock if you can produce enough propulsion versus mass, but then you've basically got a rocket, not an airplane.

The better question being, why would you want to?

Answer 9

yes it will if you study the shape of the wings to generate enough lift without bending the wings to much and putting a powerplant(engine)that will power it yes it will fly a planes maximuim takeoff weight is only limited by the wings and engine so if you look up glider wings and do the profile but not too long then it will fly

Answer 10

What helipilot said, and there is very little steel in a airplane, compared to the amount of aluminum.