'Silent jet' could save your hearing

Researchers are using military stealth technology for quiet airliner

If you're about to go deaf from living near an airport, there's hope. Researchers at Cambridge and MIT are unveiling a "silent jet" that uses military stealth technologies to muffle noisy planes.

silent jet

Rather than the standard tube-and-wing design of commercial airliners today, the jet is a "flying wing" like the stealth bombers developed in secret a couple of decades ago. If it works, researchers say the plane will make about as much noise as a washing machine. But don't start buying up cheap property along flight paths anytime soon--the earliest these jets are expected to fly is 2030.

(Photos: Silent Aircraft Initiative)

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by Brian Tong