Pier satellite terminal/ Remote satellite terminal

This configuration involves a single terminal where all the ticketing and passenger processing takes place. Connected to this are numerous concourses that lead to one or more satellite structures. At the end of each concourse the aircraft are parked in a cluster. This increases the distance a passenger must walk to get from one terminal to another or one gate to another. People-mover systems are employed in these settings to reduce these walking distances. These systems can be high-speed escalators, monorails or electric-powered carts. This design concept lends itself to a compact central terminal, but is difficult to expand without disrupting airport operations.

Mobile lounge or transporter terminal (remote aircraft parking concept)

This concept is currently in use at Dulles International Airport and Tampa International Airport.

In this concept passengers are transported to and from the building to the parked airplane.

The mobile lounge can also be used as holding rooms for waiting passengers at gate positions.

Airplanes are parked at gates placed along parallel rows. Several sets of parallel parking rows can be created as increased traffic deems such expansion necessary. This design has excellent expansion capabilities and can maintain the pace with increased airport usage. With this concept, aircraft can be parked remotely from the terminal buildings thus increasing the amount of aircraft enplaning and deplaning passengers. Airplane taxiing time to and from the runway is decreased as well as the amount of aircraft engine noise around the terminal.

B-2 “Stealth”: A Flying Wing

An ordinary airplane consists of a fuselage (the main body), two wings and three rear stabilizers attached to the tail. The wings generate lift, hoisting the fuselage­ into the air. The pilot steers the plane by adjusting movable components of the wings and the stabilizers. Adjusting these components changes how the air flows around the plane, causing the plane to ascend, descend and turn. The stabilizers also keep the plane level.

The B-2 bomber has a completely different design: It's one big wing, like a boomerang. This flying wing design is much more efficient than a conventional plane. Instead of separate wings supporting all the weight of the fuselage, the entire craft works to generate lift. Eliminating the tail and fuselage also reduces drag – the total force of air resistance acting on the plane.

Greater efficiency helps the B-2 travel long distances in a short period of time. It's not the fastest craft around -- the military says it's high subsonic, meaning its top speed is just under the speed of sound (around 1,000 ft/sec or 305 m/s) -- but it can go 6,900 miles (11,000 km) without refueling and 11,500 miles (18,500 km) with one in-flight refueling. It can get anywhere on Earth on short notice.

DRIVING THE WING

The B-2 has four General Electric F-118-GE-100 jet engines, each of which generates 17,300 pounds of thrust. Just as in an ordinary plane, the pilot steers the B-2 by moving various parts of the wings. Flying wings have been around for a long time, but in the past, they suffered from major stability problems. Without the rear stabilizers, the plane tends to rotate around its yaw axis unexpectedly. The U.S. military didn't go for Northrop Grumman's earlier flying wing designs from the 1940s mainly because of these concerns.

By the 1980s, advancements in computer technology made the flying wing a more viable option. Northrup Grumman built the B-2 with a sophisticated fly-by-wire system. Instead of adjusting the flaps through mechanical means, the pilot passes commands on to a computer, which adjusts the flaps. In other words, the pilot controls the computer and the computer controls the steering system.

The computer also does a lot of work independent of the pilot's input. It constantly monitors gyroscopic sensors to keep track of the plane's attitude – its position relative to the airflow. If the plane starts to turn unexpectedly, the computer automatically moves the rudders to counteract the turning force. The corrections are so precise that the pilot usually won't feel any shift at all. The B-2 also has a small wedge-shaped flap in the middle of the trailing edge. The computer adjusts this flap, called the gust load alleviation system (GLAS), to counteract air turbulence forces.