Is electric propulsion worth it?

[Dan Thomas]

When it mentions all those tiny suction holes in the wing I can't help but wonder what happens if you fly through a dust cloud or a swarm of bugs or anything really. How much work is it gonna be to inspect and clean those passageways out after every flight?

I worked on a Cessna 400 that had the weeping-wing anti-ice system. Zillions of lasered holes, too tiny to see, on a stainless leading edge cover. Too small for bugs to plug, really, but any dust or other contaminants would cause trouble. The holes in this wing are .12 mm, about .005", a lot larger and lot more likely to make huge trouble in the rain. And the claim of a 50% reduction in profile drag is not supported by any evidence whatever on the website. All of it makes one skeptical, at least. It's just another case of wait-and-see for some proof that it all works just fine.

 

[pictsidhe]

Delft have been working on boundary layer control with suction and other tricks for a long time. Plenty of published research from them. They are a top aero University.
MSSU also worked on BLC, there are a few papers available. Sadly their guru, August Raspet met a premature end.