Aviation expert Henk Hesselink of the Netherlands Aerospace Centre believes that one day airports could be using circular runways instead of today’s straight runways. He claims his 3.5 kilometre wide runway systems would be safer, more efficient, and less noisy, with planes experiencing only headwind and no crosswind.

Crosswind is indeed the stuff that fuels scary YouTube videos, where planes experience lots of yaw, which is going side to side, given them that goose landing on water quality. I typed in ‘crosswind’ and picked the first video – have a look.

As planes could be able to fly from any direction, noise pollution could be reduced. As well, up to three planes could take off at the same time, while nowadays they taxi to the runway and then queue up to take off. Finally, part of me would love to roller skate on one of those runways and I’m sure some cyclists would love to join in as well.

(Links: bbc.com, fastcompany.com)