Clearly, someone over at the Airbus design department has been working just a little bit too hard coming up with patentable ideas. What you're looking at here is patent 8,157,204 (filed back in 2008, just approved) for a double fuselage, double swept-forward wing, double turboprop passenger aircraft. It's totally crazy, but actually pretty smart.
Superficially, this design is a little bit similar to the double fuselage aircraft used by Virgin Galacticand (soon) Stratolaunch, but in addition to two fuselages, Airbus is thinking about throwing in two wings as well. According to the patent, the swept-forward wings decrease drag-inducing turbulence, with the front wing providing 40% of the lift and the rear wing accounting for the remaining 60%. And you can use efficient turboprop engines at the back, since you don't have to worry about ground clearance or debris from the propellers striking the frame of the aircraft.
The other advantage of sticking two fuselages together is that you actually save a whole bunch of weight over two separate planes with two separate sets of wings. Saving weight means saving fuel, and saving fuel means saving money, which is why this idea isn't as crazy as (and let's be honest here) it looks.
Personally, I like this idea because it leaves one of the cockpit areas open for passengers, and if they'd just cover the nose with one big plexiglass window (B-17 style), I'd pay whatever it took to score one of those front seats.
Via Aviation Week
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