Yet another SST is on the drawing boards…
The future of flying has just been unveiled.
On Tuesday, aviation company Boom Supersonic revealed the design for its highly anticipated Mach 1.7 Overture passenger jet, which touts a speed twice as fast as the standard passenger airline.
Full article, HERE from People.
One can only wonder what the cost of a ticket is going to be…
During the last go round on the Concorde, the price for LHR-JFK back then was $7,574, which is equivalent to $12,460 today. With the rising costs, I think $20,000 very possible in the more ‘crowded’ airplane, and probably $30,000 in the ‘spacious’ version.
So it will only be affordable for those ‘special people’ that have money to burn, literally. As far as I know, it is still illegal for an airliner to break the sound barrier over the USA, so I don’t think they would be doing LHR-LAX even if they had the range (which I doubt).
In spite of the price they charged for a seat on the Concorde, I’ve read that they lost money on every flight, and it was the 747 flights that subsidized it’s operation. But pride kept them flying it until the accident.
Still, I always wanted to fly in it once, just to experience what it was like.
Eh, just wait till Starship is running suborbital passenger service. New York to Melbourne (Australia) in less than 2 hours. And a better view.
Biggest problem that I remember with the Concorde and SST in general is that you have to be at a certain altitude to make those high speeds. The faster you go, the higher than supersonic altitude. Law of Diminishing Returns suggests that if you have to spend more time climbing and descending, then you spend less time at speed. That’s why there were limited routes for the Concorde. Useless for shorter flights. At least that’s what I remember from studying aeronautical engineering at U of Washington in the eighties. Entirely possible that they’ve fine tuned things to make it more worthwhile.
Back in the ’80s, as a C-130 pilot, we were flying the overwater route off the East Coast from up North (where, I don’t remember) to the Miami area. We were cruising along at 300 kts true airspeed. On the Air Traffic control frequency, we hear a “Speedbird” call sign, which British Airways uses, announcing that it is a Concorde headed to Miami at FL600 (60,000 feet or so) going Mach. We could see their contrail and I felt like I was stopped, they went by so fast.
It would be great to see a return to supersonic flight for some reasons, but it will be, as you wrote, the realm of the “Elites” to fly on those aircraft. They do need to zoom around leaving a huge carbon footprint to show us peons who’s boss.
I’ll believe it when I see it, especially since this isn’t from an “established” aerospace company.
And yes, despite the high prices, every flight of the Concorde was subsidized by the British and French governments; that is the biggest reason no more SSTs have been built.
I thought the more likely to be built were supersonic business jets, but they haven’t materialized either.
Great. So you can cross the Atlantic 2 or 3 times faster than before, but add security and the time saved ls lost.
Aaand your luggage still ends up in Duluth!
All- Glad to see I’m NOT the only one that is…questioning this.
Hey Old NFO;
The only way I think this would work for JFK or LGA to LAX is to fly over the Pole, so that is a lot of extra fuel, but if this is flying for the “special people” they may not care since they fly to “climate change” summits in private jets anyway. The Technology sounds intriguing though.
Sorry to bring this in here, Old NFO, but the comments section on the post in question is no longer available for additions. On your post of February 13 this year, Heath J said:
“Add “right wing extremist/domestic terrorist” to the list of words that don’t matter to me anymore. Along with bigot, homophobe and racist.
They all need to go for a helicopter ride.”
If Heath J is still reading, I’d be keen to know how this “helicopter ride” attitude amends the situation? There’s a sticks-and-stones element to being called names, but stepping up the tension by saying someone needs to fall from great heights is not helping to resolve the problem. If you mean to dismiss hatred that is aimed at yourself, then say it that way. This helicopter type of comment does not advance the discussion, but instead further divides to a profound degree, and makes more dismissible any good point one might have made prior. But if you’re literally wishing the death of people with whom you disagree who shoot their mouths off, even if they may be objectively viewed as bad actors, then what is to become of us as a society? This is not the way forward.
Back to the topic – did you ever fly in the Concorde (was it just used for British Airways and Air France?), Old NFO, and if so, what was that like, compared to standard commercial flights? In the good old days, I’d go watch planes take off at DFW, and it was a real treat to see the Concordes on their way to London or Paris. It’s amazing that jet travel is fewer than 100 years old, and yet it feels almost routine, doesn’t it? It almost seems like it would be a shame if the SSTs felt no different from subsonic jet travel, because it is, in fact, extraordinary.
Not Going To Happen.
None of those people have ever built an airplane before (and believe it or not, I recognize several of them and not in a good way). This thing will take more money than they have and just looking at it I can tell you it’s gonna have issues with those outboard engine placements – they’re too far out and if you lose an outboard engine it’s gonna suffer extreme issues at supersonic speeds. Probably catastrophic ones.
I don’t know what these folks are up to, but I’m sure they’re all going to make a lot of money from this failed attempt.
While I will never avail myself, I enjoy the thought of advancing the technology as long as I don’t have to subsidize it.
Like looking at a supermodel.
Yes, it will be fast and easy for our meat eating hypersonic overlord.
We will own nothing and eat bugs.
And won’t be allowed to fly, obvs.
Unless it is electric and green, will never get approvals until there is a real awakening and clean sweep of the entire federal apparatus along with a few changes to the constitution regarding taxes and senators. Off the top of my head, the following are not needed and are unconstitutional: FAA, DOT, FCC, EPA, DOE, FBI, HUD, NPR and the list goes on. Let each state and industry be responsible for their actions and products, thus directly answerable to the public.
Site grading is well underway on the northwest portion of PTI in Greensboro. Taxiway across I74 from the production site was built during PTI expansion years ago. Honda has it’s production of their corporate jets on the southeast end. https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/boom-supersonic-unveils-high-speed-jet-to-be-built-in-greensboro/83-95a82636-9f5d-4983-96aa-544f50b20d85
The next generation of SST’s are not supposed to generate sonic booms. Something about the specifics of the curves and angles.
I’m NOT sure that this aircraft will meet that goal or not.
All- Thanks for the comments. Phlegmmy, I got to see one when they landed in Kef. SMALL inside is the thing that came to mind.
The latest iteration of this thing looks like a scale model of the 1970 Boeing 2707-300, but slower. Can’t see how it won’t generate booms.
RE: LAX – JFK flight
Depart LAX to the west, climbing above the Flight Levels*
Turn east once at cruise alt (above FL600).
Descend east of JFK. Turn around to arrive JFK.
Blackbird pilots called those high altitudes they flew at the ‘coffin corner’. This because Vx and Vy converge with altitude. Therefore, with very little maneuvering, the aircraft would depart from controlled flight. Computers nowadays make attainable what was once unattainable, F-117 and B-2 as examples.
Side note: when the shuttle came over the coast to land at Edwards, it was at 100,000 MSL and over Mach 2. The Shuttle’s distinctive double sonic boom was barely heard as I watched it pass overhead.
*The Flight Levels stop at FL600. Maximum altitude for Class A is 60,000. Above Class A, airspace is Class E. Not that ‘anything goes’ in Class E, but it is less controlled than Class A.