Gray Creech blogs from NASA's Green Aviation Summit

(Editor's Note – NASA'sAeronautics Research Mission Directorate is holding a two-day Green AviationSummit conference Sept. 8-9 at NASA's Ames Research Center in NorthernCalifornia. Gray Creech of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center's public affairsstaff is attending the summit, and will be periodically blogging on thehighlights of the event as they proceed. His first blog is posted below.)

By Gray Creech
NASA Dryden public affairs
Sept. 8, 2010, 8:15 a.m. PDT
Welcome to the 2010 NASA Aeronautics Research Mission 
Directorate’s Green Aviation Summit, a proverbial peek-behind-the-
curtain for a look at the future of green aviation!

We’re “summiting” here at NASA’s Ames Research Center in 
Mountain View, Calif.,  just a stone’s throw from the southern end of 
San Francisco Bay, in the heart  of Silicon Valley. Bear with me as I 
get our blog going. I could use a cup ‘o java to help bring coherence
to the conversation…

Let me introduce “green aviation” -- It’s more than “eco-friendly” 
flight; it’s a compilation of radical ideas about the next generation of 
airplanes making  less noise, producing less harmful emissions, and
achieving better fuel economy.  

Imagine standing at the end of an airport runway as a jetliner swoops 
low, and still being able to hear someone next to you whisper. Imagine
these quieter planes being less polluting because of leaner combustion
technologies and cleaner fuels. And imagine these aircraft consuming 
fuel in a miserly fashion, due to better aerodynamics and lightweight 
composite construction, etc.  

I’ll keep you posted the next two days as the Summit unfolds – after I 
get that first cup of coffee! I’ll be back soon…