Scientists studying the ridges on a shark’s body think they have found ways to dramatically cut the skin friction drag on airplane wings. Wind tunnel tests on model wings have shown that using tiny jets to redirect airflow from side to side over portions of a plane’s wing can cut drag by as much as 40 percent, which could in turn make planes 20 percent more fuel efficient, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council said in a news release. The aerodynamic principle at work, called the Helmholtz resonance principle, is similar to blowing across the top of the bottle at the correct angle, which causes air to be pushed in and sucked back out. Scientists at the four United Kingdom universities doing the research hope to have a wing in flight tests by 2012. Airbus is helping to fund the work.

Researchers in Louisiana are hopeful that a pilot program this summer to send a hand-launched CyberBug unmanned aerial vehicle on monthly missions could draw other UAV companies and their lucrative defense contracts to the area. To start, the CyberBug UAV, which was purchased using federal grants, will survey portions of Louisiana’s barrier islands, updating maps and monitoring bird nesting areas, the Thibodaux Daily Comet reported. Business leaders hope that once other companies see UAVs being used more widely in the Gulf, they’ll bring their production facilities to southern Louisiana. Over time, researchers envision partnering with NASA to use UAVs in hurricane tracking, as well as using the small planes to patrol pipelines and power lines.

Even in solar-powered planes, the fuel goes in the wings. Sunseeker II uses four lithium polymer batteries stashed there when it needs an extra boost during takeoff and climb. Those batteries will get plenty of recharging as the plane begins a tour of eight European countries this week, showing off its 56-foot-wide wings embedded with solar panels, Wired’s Autopia blog reported. The plane, designed by Solar Flight, is leap years ahead of its predecessor, Sunseeker I, a solar-powered plane unveiled 20 years ago that usually flew as a glider. Sunseeker II’s solar panels can power its 8-horsepower electric motor continuously in cruise flight, with top speeds of about 40 mpg and a maximum gross weight of 507 pounds. The plane only seats one and there aren’t plans for mass production yet, though several other companies have solar-powered planes under development. Sunseeker II is aiming to prove a point, that general aviation can have minimal environmental impact. Solar Flight will update its Web site throughout this summer’s tour, which includes stops in Italy, Zurich and Barcelona.

Though two companies have modified versions of a DC-10 and a Boeing 747 ready to fight fires, the U.S. Forest Service has been reluctant to let its money be spent hiring such large equipment. The companies flying those planes are hoping for that to change now that a 400-page NASA study says the aircraft are suitable for fighting fires in flat and hilly areas, the Associated Press reported. The NASA study cautioned the planes shouldn’t be used in rugged, mountainous terrain, though, because they’re less maneuverable than the smaller planes currently used in aerial attacks. The operators of the DC-10 say it has been used in rugged areas of California safety by requiring pilots to fly 300 feet above ground level. A smaller lead plane typically flies ahead of the DC-10 to determine how stable the air is and whether there are any downdrafts in the vicinity. The DC-10, which has flown 245 missions fighting fires on a contract with the state of California, can drop 12,000 gallons of water or retardant at once, ten times the capacity of a conventional air tanker. But because the U.S. Forest Service picks up the tab on many forest fire efforts, the plane can’t be used outside of California where the Forest Service money would be paying for it. The 747, operated by an Oregon company, has been tested but not used fighting actual fires. It has a 24,000 gallon capacity. One big benefit of large air tankers is that they can drop a long and thick line of retardant along a ridge in one pass to stop a fire’s advance.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have a way to make carbon-fiber airframes stronger and more resistant to cracking. The process involves adding carbon nanotubes to the polymer that binds layers of carbon fiber together during the manufacturing process, according to an MIT news release. The nanotubes are so small that they fit in between carbon fibers in adjacent layers, creating microscopic “stitches.” The binds between the layers are often the weakest part of carbon-fiber composites, so adding the nanotubes would make the overall assembly much stronger, the researchers say. And because carbon nanotubes conduct electricity, they would do a better job of shielding a plane’s avionics from a lighting strike and dissipating the charge. The process hasn’t been tried out in real-world manufacturing yet, but the researchers say it would add little cost and the assembly process would not have to be modified too much.

Researchers at a New Hampshire company are developing a new way to remove ice from cars and airplanes that would be more efficient than relying on hot bleed air from engines. The IceController sends a jolt of several thousand watts of electricity across a fine steel and copper mesh, melting the layer of ice closest to the surface of a wing in a second or less; air flowing over the wing removes the rest of the ice, Scientific American reported. The technology has been used to de-ice cables on a suspension bridge in Sweden since 2005. Using a clear film treated to conduct electricity, the system can also work on building windows and car windshields. While the company has tested the system on airplane wings, there aren’t plans for large-scale production or retrofit kits yet. The technology holds promise for in-flight de-icing because jets could save fuel if bleed air from the engines didn’t have to be ducted to the leading edges of a plane’s wings.

Truckee Tahoe Airport, near the California-Nevada border, faces many of the same issues related to nearby housing developments as countless other airports in the nation. But officials there may be close to finding a way to keep neighbors at ease and reward pilots who follow noise abatement rules, the Sierra Sun reported. As soon as this summer, officials could install Multilateration Surveillance sensors on cell phone towers across the city, which would let residents and airport officials see who’s flying where in the area. The technology is similar to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B. But while ADS-B requires both ground sensors and GPS signals to determine aircraft positions, Multilateration Surveillance uses a denser network of small ground stations to triangulate aircraft positions based on transponder returns. It’s already used at several European airports to keep track of planes taxiing on the ground. At Truckee, the system would let residents see which planes are flying over their houses, and at what altitudes Airport officials point out that they wouldn’t be able to punish pilots who fly too close to housing developments – but they could reward pilots with hangar or fuel discounts when they stick to local noise abatement procedures.

State troopers in Washington will be using a new tool this holiday season to bust drunken drivers: a Cessna 206 equipped with a forward-looking infrared camera. The Washington State Patrol started using the pair of planes full time this summer to track down stolen vehicles, aggressive drivers and speeding cars, the (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian reported. A federal Homeland Security grant paid for the $375,000 cameras. The planes can follow drivers, using the camera to zoom in and document when a driver speeds or cuts off another car, then directing troopers on the ground to the car’s location so it can be pulled over. The planes have already been used several times to catch speeders and aid in car chases—in one instance, recording a Ferrari as it screamed down a Seattle freeway and then kept up with it when the driver sped off unexpectedly once he was pulled over. During the holidays, troopers plan to keep the planes in the air to respond when drivers call in other drunken drivers, using callers to help the planes find the suspected drunken drivers.

Students at the University of Michigan flew a remote-control plane powered by a propane fuel cell for more than 10 hours recently, besting the previous record for such a flight by an hour and 15 minutes. The Endurance remote-control plane has an 8-foot wingspan and flew laps in a holding pattern over the course of a day, according to a news release from the University of Michigan. Adaptive Materials, a nearby company that develops fuel cells, contributed the fuel cell used in Endurance. The plane could have flown for about five more hours, but was not equipped with the lights needed for night flight. The Oct. 30 test flight went from sunrise to sunset on that day. It indicates that with the right kind of fuel cells, small unmanned aerial vehicles could stay aloft for nearly a day at a time on military or surveillance missions. The students who developed Endurance are already planning a future 20-hour test flight. The team of engineering students is also working on a solar-powered plane that could stay aloft for 36 hours.

A $10 million Army grant recently awarded to the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of New Mexico could help spur development of tiny sensors and electronics that would make a six-inch-long, four-ounce surveillance plane a reality. Dubbed “the bat,” the plane would use a tiny onboard radar array to navigate and would be powered by solar cells and a small battery, according to a news release from the University of Michigan. The plane’s equipment would include detectors for nuclear radiation and toxic gases, as well as very small cameras. There is no timeline to have “the bat” flying or in production, though the five-year grant could be extended for another five years after that depending on how the research progresses. The small unmanned aerial vehicle could scout ahead of advancing troops, or take up a position atop a building or telephone pole, gather data and then fly to another spot.