Could the 'flying piano' help transform air cargo?

US start-up Aerolane is seeking the secret to airborne surfing. Geese already know how to do it. When you see them flying in a v-formation, they are surfing on the air currents created by formation members ahead and around them. At an airfield in Texas, Todd Graetz is hoping to use that concept to disrupt the market for air cargo. Aerolane has been mimicking the tricks used by migrating birds, aided by modified planes towed into the air by another aircraft. Smoke released from the leading plane allowed cameras installed in the towed aircraft to capture vortices in the air that a glider can exploit to stay aloft. Their latest test aircraft is known as the “flying piano” because of its poor gliding characteristics. Its twin engines idle for electrical power while it glides along with propellers turning for purely aerodynamic purposes. Other tests have measured the tension in the towing line. They spotted when the line went slack, indicating the glider is surfing along on currents generated by the aircraft ahead. Aerolane's plan is to feed all this data into a program that will guide an unmanned cargo plane through wakes and turbulence to exploit the possibilities of gliding long distances without burning fuel. One or more such cargo planes could be towed by a jet, also carrying cargo, to their destination where they would land autonomously.<br/>