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A research team has demonstrated the use of a novel control method in an aircraft with no tail. The technology allows an aircraft to be as smooth and sleek as possible, making it safer to fly in dangerous areas where radar scans the sky for sharp edges. While conventional aircraft rely on protruding fins to enable steering, a tailless design is controlled by active air flow — in which jets of air are blown onto different surfaces of the aircraft body, corresponding to which direction the aircraft is moving. This technology could be employed to make commercial airplanes more fuel-efficient by removing existing steering parts that create a lot of drag.