Perhaps one of the reasons most people are so blasé about the miracle of human flight these days is that for the most part, we're totally cut off from it. Peering through the milky, scratched glass of a passenger plane window offers just a tiny, claustrophobic glimpse of the world falling away beneath you – what the pilot sees would make the layman's heart sing with joy.
And that's the simple thought behind the Triton concept design. It's aim is to give passengers the most involving and magnificent experience possible, and maybe even inspire them to become pilots themselves.

The odd design places the pilot's cockpit in a central fuselage, but each wing features its own passenger pod with a full panoramic front window. Each front passenger seat has a second tandem seat behind it, though, so there will still be cheap seats where the bulk of your view is taken up by someone else's noggin.
With a 42-foot wingspan, the Triton will be powered by a 450-horsepower Rolls Royce turboprop. A larger propeller will be used at a slower speed to reduce noise in the cabins, and there's intentions to build a hybrid electric version that can fly silently over noise sensitive areas if need be.
Design firm Micronautix estimates it'll cost over US$60 million to get the Triton engineered, manufactured and certified, so it's not likely to fly any time soon, but it sure is a nice looking thing ... and I'm right on board with the idea that passengers should be able to see more when we take to the skies.