[davidbirk]

Todays airplanes might as well be powered gliders... one company builds the engines and another builds the airframe.

Nature measures the efficiency of the combination of the two, so why not set that combination as the design goal (instead of current sub-goals of low fuel consumption for the engine and low drag for the airframe)?

Clear like mud?

[designtofly]

Indeed. However, you have piqued my interest. I'd be very interested in hearing your approach for this problem and the type of hardware you are working on.

My background is in aerospace engineering, specifically aircraft design and some knowledge in engine design. If you are open to discussing your ideas, shoot me an email at designtofly {at} gmail [dotcom].