Airbus inspires future engineers with its awe-inspiring ‘Bird of Prey’ concept plane

via Anna Hesser / Flickr and Todd Lappin / Flickr

The earliest known attempts by humans to fly usually involved a person donning wings, like Daedalus and Icarus in Greek mythology. Countless people died in these attempts when they jumped off cathedrals and mountain tops only to discover their wings didn't work.

This attempt soon evolved into flying machines that looked similar to birds and in 1903, the Wright brothers were the first to take to the skies in an airplane.

Now, the engineers at Airbus are taking us back to man's first attempts at flight while looking towards the future with a new concept plane that resembles a bird of prey. The company doesn't plan to build the concept but it is based on realistic aviation ideas.

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The Bird of Prey design was unveiled at the Royal International Air Tattoo event to underscore the U.K.'s aerospace industry leadership, and also highlights the 50th anniversary of Airbus as an aircraft manufacturer.

via Airbus

The goal of the concept plane was to encourage young people to enter the field.

"Our 'Bird of Prey' is designed to be an inspiration to young people and create a 'wow' factor that will help them consider an exciting career in the crucially-important aerospace sector," Martin Aston, a senior manager at Airbus, explained.

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The concept plane drives the point home with "Engineering is great," written across its side.

The plane is also an example of an eco-friendly, sustainable aircraft.

"One of the priorities for the entire industry is how to make aviation more sustainable – making flying cleaner, greener and quieter than ever before," Aston continued. "We know from our work on the A350 XWB passenger jet that through biomimicry, nature has some of the best lessons we can learn about design. Who can't help but be inspired by such a creation?"

One has to wonder if they had Star Trek in mind while designing the concept plane. Captain Kirk's longtime Klingon enemies flew in spaceships inspired by birds of prey.

These women are bucking stereotypes and building a product that’s disrupting an industry.

True

If Beyoncé is to be believed, women run the world.

GIF via "Run the World (Girls)."

But in STEM careers, women are often underrepresented.

According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, only about 14% of engineers in the workforce are women.

Now, the root cause of this problem is a complicated one, and it starts early. As a society, we tend to condition ourselves to believe in inherently flawed gender roles. Little boys play with Legos while little girls play with dolls. And this imbalance affects the careers people see themselves in and aspire to. Throw a lack of representation and unconscious bias on top of that, and we find ourselves with a system that’s inherently flawed in ways that are difficult to resolve.

Things may be changing for the better, though.

Just this year, Dartmouth made history when the Thayer School of Engineering graduated a class that was 54% female. No other national research university had ever granted more bachelor's degrees in engineering to women than men.

Pratt & Whitney is part of this larger trend. Their female engineers are bucking the status quo.

GIFs via United Technologies.

And what they’re working on is shaking things up, too. They’re building Geared Turbofan Engines — and they're game-changing.

If that isn't impressive enough, this engine is up to 75% quieter than the standard engine. These engines are greener, they save on fuel, and they're quieter — good riddance, air and noise pollution.

The aviation industry is growing.

And the number of commercial aircraft is increasing — it should more than double in the next 20 years. Innovations like this engine are forward-looking, sustainable solutions to that growth — and the diverse talent building it is a sign of even more progress.

With all of these advancements, the future is looking bright.

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aviation

Airbus inspires future engineers with its awe-inspiring ‘Bird of Prey’ concept plane

RELATED: One teen found a genius way to make airplane air up to 55 times cleaner

RELATED: They spent 20 years developing this aircraft engine. Can it change the future of aviation?

These women are bucking stereotypes and building a product that’s disrupting an industry.

If Beyoncé is to be believed, women run the world.

But in STEM careers, women are often underrepresented.

Things may be changing for the better, though.

And what they’re working on is shaking things up, too. They’re building Geared Turbofan Engines — and they're game-changing.

The aviation industry is growing.

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