ecoDemonstrator program speeds technology development that helps industry and the environment By Karen Crabtree and photos by Bob Ferguson At a lab near Seattle’s Boeing Field, Tim Rahmes has spent two years developing new turbulence and water vapor sensors that, if successful, would allow commercial airplane pilots to stop hunting for the smoothest air—and wasting precious fuel in the process. So Rahmes, lead engineer and principal investigator on the project, has a lot riding on the outcome of the 2014 ecoDemonstrator program. His improved weather forecasting tools, and the algorithm he developed to run them, will be among 30 environmental technologies tested on board a specially outfitted 787 during several weeks of test flights over the remote desert of Moses Lake, Wash. “I’m excited to fly this and highlight things I know will be groundbreaking PHOTO: The 2014 ecoDemonstrator test airplane, a 787-8, taxies at Moses Lake in Eastern Washington. The airplane has been specially outfitted to flight-test 30 environmental technologies. Frontiers September 2014 17
Frontiers September 2014 Issue
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