Shadowing Practice: 15 Never-Built Commercial Planes we nearly got - Learn English Speaking with Video

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There have been many different wacky and wild commercial aircraft

that never got built and by comparison the planes we do fly on today are totally boring.

This is the official found and explained top list of never built commercial projects.

Starting off our list the right way is the Hawker Siddeley HS141,

the short-range jump passenger jet.

Carrying 119 passengers to a range of over 1,200 miles,

this plane matched those from Boeing and Airbus at the time but with one secret weapon.

It could fly vertical.

With 16 fans built into its wings, this insane plane design was said to change the way we travel, how city airports were designed, and believe it or not,

make air travel 10 times safer.

But because of the oil crisis of the 1970s, this fuel-hungry monster was deemed way too expensive and put out to pasture.

Next up we have the insanely large and versatile Lockheed L500.

This plane was the civil version of the C5 Galaxy and was designed with all sorts of madness.

This plane was so big that you could take your car with you as luggage and fly to Europe for only $75.

It could transport a thousand passengers, take off and land on any surface

and had the sinister motive to force rival Boeing into bankruptcy and end the development of the 747.

It also was marketed to car dealerships, being able to fly cars from automakers in Detroit to sales lots anywhere in the world,

carrying a hundred cars at a time to fill any market demand.

Of course, a few car yards go through 100 cars per day, but this was only the top of the iceberg for the issues with this aircraft.

Rather, the plane had too many military features that were totally unnecessary for passenger use, such as landing on dusty,

half-finished airstrips near the front line with its high-wing design.

I can't imagine that the plane would have come under fire trying to land in Detroit, although I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.

In the end, it was too heavy, too short range, and the 747 beat it in fuel economics.

Speaking of the 747, you bet that Boeing always planned to one-up Airbus

and the 747X was to be its ace in the hole.

Two decks down the length of the plane and carrying over 650 passengers,

this 1990s proposed version of the Boeing 747X would have not only been the biggest passenger aircraft flying in the sky,

but it would crush the efforts by Airbus to build their own double-decker forever.

But why was it never built?

Technology moved too fast.

Boeing saw the future of engineering with the 777 and wanted to bring these aviation advancements to the legendary Boeing 747 program.

This next-gen tech actually doubled the budget for the 747X to $5 billion

and made it no longer share commonality with previous Boeing 747s, making airlines like Lufthansa walk away.

With airlines well aware of the new Airbus A3XX program in the works, they were happy to wait until it was released.

The series didn't get any orders, and by 1997, Boeing pulled the plug.

Boeing's Vice President Mike Blair said at the time, we could just not make a business case for it.

The small size of the market meant the money that we would have to spend on it just didn't make sense.

But they wouldn't be the only builder to make a double-decker passenger jet.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-12 was the first attempt at replicating the Boeing Jumbo Jet 747 success, and they thought, why not just make it bigger?

McDonnell Douglas envisioned this aircraft would be used for transatlantic travel between London and North America,

as well as to apply a trade in Southeast Asia with its high populations.

The high-capacity version would have likely been directed at the Japanese domestic market, and it would have been a freighter as well.

The concept was launched in 1992 with much fanfare and with a heavy marketing campaign,

with plans for a first flight of the MD-12 to take place in 1995 and delivery in 1997.

However, despite all the press,

no airline actually came through with solid order and MD was quickly merged with Boeing ending the project.

But this wasn't the only Zanely aircraft to come out of that era.

Lockheed actually has two aircraft on this list and the second one is much bigger than the L-500.

Meet the Lockheed Martin Very Large Transport.

An insane aircraft designed in 1996

that was bigger than a 747 carried more passengers than the A380 and would have dominated the skies.

It would have been able to carry entire cargo containers, and they would need help from both Airbus and Boeing to build this monster.

But I don't want to spoil the main video on the channel, so go have a watch of that right now and subscribe to not miss any more.

Speaking of big aircraft, this one is bonkers.

It's half boat, half plane, and called the Aerecon Dash 1.6 wingship.

By flying over the surface of the water on a bubble of pressure, it would be far bigger than an aircraft that we have today and far more fuel efficient.

It was so large that it was essentially a flying city with enough seats for thousands of passengers, enough room to house everything from hospitals to five-star dining,

or given a military application, hundreds of tanks, and perhaps even carry nuclear warheads.

But like many of the planes on this list, the Aeron wingship was simply too big, too technically risky, and too expensive.

Flying higher than commercial aircraft at 40,000 feet, this futuristic aircraft was made for a new world of aviation.

The first biggest advantage of the Sonic Cruiser, and its namesake, was its speed.

It was designed to be a subsonic aircraft flying just under

the speed of sound around 10 to 20% faster than a normal jet aircraft.

But that would mean an eight-hour flight was only six hours, and that was a real game-changer against normal planes flying across the Atlantic.

But it was never built due to rising fuel costs, and its technology was rolled into the 787 that we use today.

But it wouldn't just be the Americans that were thinking bigger is better, and one company came up with an incredible aircraft called the Sahoy KR 860.

Bigger than both the 747 and A380,

this extreme passenger transport was planned to carry over a thousand passengers using escalators to move them on and off the plane,

entile rail cars with cargo and even carry liquid petroleum gas, which it could use as its own fuel supply.

It's the perfect blend of Western engineering and post-Soviet Russian ingenuity, but it never got built.

Taking a step down in scale was the superb FMA IA-36 Condor, famous for having five engines in its tail.

Built to be the new plane of South America, this aircraft could have eliminated the dominance of Boeing and Airbus from the entire continent.

Although the choice to have the engines in the tail was certainly interesting.

Imagine those passengers sitting right in the middle was effectively a ring of engines.

The noise would have been deafening.

Add up all the heat that would have come in in flight

and these passengers would have been sitting in a section that was definitely loud, hot and dark.

Super economy perhaps?

Talk about the flight from hell.

Interestingly and unlike many others on this list, it wasn't economics that eliminated the Condor, but politics.

A change in the government of Argentina changed the course of history and this amazing aircraft was never built.

Now this aircraft on the list is a sore spot for me because it's incredible as it is cute.

The Saab 1073

or as I call it the baby 747 was ready to bring wide-body aircraft design to the regional plane market.

With only 87 passengers on board, its nose could open right up and allow passengers to disembark and board in under five minutes, and it could land anywhere,

from grassy fields to deserts to busy international airports.

Plus, in my opinion, it looks just darn cute.

Before we get to our number one on the list, there are some special mentions that didn't really deserve their own category, but are noteworthy anyway.

While the 728 Jet would have been an absolute game-changer for aviation in Europe, the fact that it was betrayed by those who made the orders to eliminate the competition proves

that it was never a golden child.

As well as being one of the lowest viewed videos on the channel shows that the curse is still going strong.

This plane would have filled the entire 50 to 130 range market,

beaten the Airbus A220 to the market and taken rival Embraer head on for Europe.

There is also what is called the plane train.

Now I hear what you're saying, Nick, this isn't a plane, it's 90% a train.

But it's actually only because of the rise of planes that this train design, more efficient, quieter and much faster than trains at the time, could exist.

The only issue was totally rebuilding the rails for this creation, something that almost happened, but egos got in the way.

Again, if you want to find out, you can check it on the channel.

There are two other planes that nearly got made based on existing aircraft,

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the 7J7, J for Japan, and the Boeing 747-500.

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These planes use what is known as prop fan technology, combining the very best of jet engines with turbo props.

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They were far more fuel efficient and would actually allow much cheaper airline tickets.

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but they were super loud sounding like a chainsaw

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and the technology never got as far as a technological demonstrator such a shame

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because we almost had one of these insane looking 747s ever made

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and lastly i haven't mentioned any of the supersonic aircraft from this list let me know

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if you want me to do another video just focusing on all the supersonic aircraft

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that we lost now for our number one never built commercial aircraft we have the Tupolev 2404.

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One of the most insane large aircraft designs didn't come from the west but from the heart of Russia.

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It could carry 1,200 passengers over two decks actually inside of the wing itself

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and would need six powerful engines to get it into the air.

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But it never made it past the concept stage

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and would forever be a major could have been in the world of aviation.

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For power, the aircraft would have either had six prop fan engines, yes, the same ones that were proposed in the Boeing 747-500 and the 7J7 we just mentioned,

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or six turbofans in the rear of the fuselage.

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The former being offered as it would be cheaper and more available in the new Russia at the cost of fuel efficiency.

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The passenger cabin would make up around one-third of the interior space of the wing

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and would be split into six double-decked sections for a total of 1,214 seats in all economy.

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But there would have also been a movie theater, lounges, spas and more, all with high degrees of noise cancellation.

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But we can't imagine that it would have been the most comfortable.

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You see, because the plane was so wide, there would have been few windows per passenger and it would have been rare to get a window seat.

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And that the The way the physics works on a blended wing aircraft means that every time you turned, you would feel extreme G-forces.

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And lastly, the fact

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that there are six gigantic engines above you in the back of the cabin makes it seem like a hot, dark, loud nightmare.

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Just like the Condor.

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At the end of the day, it's pretty obvious to see why this super blended wing design never went ahead.

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There simply was no market.

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What do you think?

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Which planes do you think deserve the number one spot?

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Let us know down in the comments.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “15 Never-Built Commercial Planes we nearly got”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: aircraft, plane, passenger, Boeing, built. This video has 130 sentences and 2017 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:46. The speaker talks at a natural 158 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
airline noun	/ˈɛɹˌlaɪn/	A company that flies airplanes to transport people and goods.
aviation noun	/ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/	The art or science of making and flying aircraft.
prop noun	/pɹɑp/	An object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports.
blend verb	/blɛnd/	To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other.
eliminate verb	/ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/	To completely remove, get rid of, put an end to.
changer noun	/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒɚ/	Someone or something who changes things.
decker noun	/ˈdɛkə(ɹ)/	Something having a certain number of levels.
supersonic adjective		Greater than the speed of sound (in the same medium, and at the same temperature and pressure).
lastly adverb	/ˈlæstli/	Used to mark the beginning of the last in a list of items or propositions.
cabin noun	/ˈkæbɪn/	A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those…
rival noun	/ˈɹaɪvəl/	A competitor (person, team, company, etc.) with the same goal as another, or striving to attain the same thing. Defeating a rival may be a primary or necessary…
cargo noun	/ˈkɑɹɡoʊ/	Freight carried by a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle.
airstrip noun	/ˈɛə(ɹ)stɹɪp/	An aircraft landing field, usually with one runway and only basic facilities.
automaker noun		A person or company that manufactures automobiles; usually used to refer to a large corporation such as General Motors, Toyota, and so on.
betray verb	/bɪˈtɹeɪ/	To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
carry over verb		To transfer (something) to a later point in time.
add up verb		To take the sum of; to total.
come under verb		To come underneath (something).
come up with verb		To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
make up verb	/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/	To constitute, to compose.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was said · was deemed · was designed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been · haven't mentioned

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, can't, wasn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: aviation /ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/, dealership /ˈdiːləʃɪp/, envision /ɪnˈvɪʒn̩/, fuselage /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/, cancellation /kænsəˈleɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: aviation /ˌeɪ̯.viːˈeɪ̯.ʃən/, eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/, commonality /ˌkɑ.məˈnæl.ə.ti/, demonstrator /ˈdɛmənstɹeɪtə(ɹ)/, escalator /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like airline, aviation, prop.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 15 Never-Built Commercial Planes we nearly got - Learn English Speaking with Video

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