*New Step In Technology*

How many times have you cursed whenever an aircraft flew passed your house with that ear-shattering boom?

Well, in a few years all that noise would be a thing of the past, thanks to an initiative involving Britain's Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a 'Silent Plane'

The Cambridge-MIT Institute's 'Silent' Aircraft Initiative was launched in November 2003 with a bold aim: to discover ways to reduce aircraft noise dramatically, to the point where it would be virtually unnoticeable to people outside the airport perimeter.

The work carried out at both institutions has included measuring and recording the noise levels produced by different parts of conventional aircraft, and comparing with models of potential aircraft designs, including the blended wing-body aircraft.