The Belgian aerospace company Sonaca will build the wings for the most aerodynamic airplane to date.
© Sonaca
It’s not the first time the Charleroi-based giant demonstrates its international value as a key player. Now they’re taking off on an aerodynamic adventure, signing on to construct the wings of the Phantom 3500, a business jet designed to reduce aerodynamic drag to a minimum to ensure a low fuel consumption.
The wings will have a span of 20 metres and will present a titanic engineering challenge, chasing what’s known as natural laminar flow – allowing the air to flow smoothly over the plane’s surface. At the same time, the wings will require a tough level of precision to meet aircraft certification criteria.
Five dozen Sonaca engineers are teaming up to make this colossal feat happen, and it’s right in their wheelhouse. “This is exactly the kind of engineering challenge that define’s Sonaca’s expertise,” the company’s CEO Yves Delatte pointed out.
We’ve come a long way since the Wright brothers first took flight, and once again, Sonaca is there to propel aircraft engineering forward.
