Bleeding Edge

From my swift sojourn to the Farnborough Airshow in old England, in order to discuss our New Concorde SuperSonic airplane plans — there is a whole lot to discuss, about our business meetings, but here is an article of interest about the future of the SuperSonic flight. This was written by three coolheaded and experienced journalists from WSJ:

“New York-London in 3½ Hours? Supersonic Travel May Be Back.”

Both giants like Boeing and startups are racing to make flying faster than the Concorde viable…

By Andy Pasztor, Robert Wall and Andrew Tangel
July 18, 2018 5:32 a.m. ET

[Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com, Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com and Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com]

“FARNBOROUGH, England—Fifteen years after the Concorde last flew, supersonic air travel is back in the aerospace industry’s sights.

Investors, plane makers and equipment suppliers are pushing to revive superfast airliners and business jets. The big questions: Will regulators go along, and will passengers be willing to pay? The Concorde cut the time to fly from New York to London or Paris to about 3½ hours, about half today’s typical journey. But it was an economic failure.

The latest efforts, highlighted by exhibits and discussions at the international air show here, reflect support from major aerospace companies, buttressed by promising research into reducing the sonic boom that occurs when planes exceed the speed of sound.

Backers include Boeing Co. BA -1.18% , Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT 0.03% and closely held Colorado startup Boom Technology Inc., which aims to start flying a reduced-size demonstration craft late next year. An initial goal for Boom’s proposed airliner is to slash the time for transcontinental trips by more than half. Round trips between the U.S. West Coast and Asia could be completed within the same day, for business travelers—the plush cabins would offer only premium seats—in a real hurry.

“This was the future we were all promised,” said Steven Isakowitz, president of Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit think tank for the Pentagon. In an interview earlier this month he cited both technical advances and “extremely interesting” NASA research into reducing the shock wave and noise, commonly called Sonic Boom.

A brief history of supersonic flight: 1947 – The first plane to reach supersonic speed: the rocket-powered Bell X-1, with legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager at the controls.

PHOTO: UNDERWOOD ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

The first supersonic jet fighter, the F-100 Super Sabre, made by North American Aviation, now part of Boeing Co.

The first flight by a commercial supersonic transport plane, achieved by the Soviet Union’s TU-144.

A prototype of the British-French supersonic Concorde made its first flight two months later.

PHOTO: EUGENE UMNOV/SPUTNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Concorde makes its first appearance at Farnborough Air Show by flying low over the spectators.

PHOTO: ALISDAIR MACDONALD/MIRRORPIX/GETTY IMAGES

The Concorde makes its first commercial flights, seven years after its maiden test flight. Here, the first British Airways flight aloft.

PHOTO: VICTOR CRAWSHAW/MIRRORPIX/GETTY IMAGES

The TU-144 begins commercial service.

The TU-144 is retired from service.

An Air France Concorde crashes outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four more on the ground. It is the first crash for the Concorde, and leads Air France and British Airways to withdraw the plane from service for nearly 16 months for safety modifications.

Both Air France and British Airways ended their Concorde service in 2003.

Here, spectators watch the last-ever British Airways commercial Concorde flight touching down at Heathrow airport in London.

2018
NASA plans to test the noisiness of its experimental X-59 QueSST—being built by Lockheed Martin Corp., it is named for its quiet supersonic technologies—by making supersonic flights over selected communities in the U.S. starting in late 2022.PHOTO: NASA

“It’s going to be doable,” Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s chief executive, said in an interview at the show. He expects supersonic technology to be “viable within the next decade,” and that further advances will eventually allow flights connecting cities around the world within several hours. The bigger challenge is the economic case, he added: “Are there enough travelers who would pay a premium to fly faster?”

Boeing is still trying to answer that question. Will twice as fast be enough, “or do you really have to go a lot faster on a longer route?” asked Greg Hyslop, the company’s chief technology officer.

Weeks ago, Boeing unveiled a concept for a passenger-carrying hypersonic aircraft, theoretically capable of flying many times the speed of sound. But some experts predict it could be two decades away. Boeing declined to provide a timeline.

Proposed Passenger Jet Could Reach Supersonic Speeds

A supersonic passenger jet in development by Boom Technology Inc. could slash transcontinental travel times in half. The aircraft could start carrying passengers as early as next decade. Photo: Boom Technology (Originally published Nov. 15, 2016)
For Boom’s founder and chief executive, Blake Scholl, a decade is too long to wait. Buoyed by some early orders plus a strategic investment from Japan Airlines Co. , Boom has also benefited from the afterglow of successful startups such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Mr. Scholl said his company, which is roughly two years behind its original timetable, wants to end the era of air travel that is “low on excitement, low on progress and high on frustration.”

Closely held Aerion Supersonic has spent 16 years developing a super-swift business jet. General Electric Co. and Lockheed Martin are backing plans for the latest version, the three-engine AS2, which aims for a maximum “super cruise” speed 1.4 times the speed of sound.

Among the prime marketing targets: People wealthy enough to pay a premium for speed “because they can,” chief executive Brian Barents said in an interview Tuesday.

An Air France Concorde flying in 2001. The supersonic jet made its last flight in 2003 after having flown safely more than 2,5 million passengers.

PHOTO: ERIC FEFERBERG/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Many proposals for supersonic airliners and business jets have surfaced and sunk over the years, brought down by reasons from high fuel prices to environmental concerns to Concorde-era rules barring civilian aircraft from breaking the sound barrier over U.S. territory.

Supersonic proponents have recently stepped up lobbying of lawmakers.

In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration has moved to begin a public dialogue over regulations.

The current debate isn’t over lifting the ban on breaking the sound barrier over land. Rather, it is about waiving or revising noise restrictions on planes climbing from or descending toward U.S. airports to begin or end supersonic routes over water.

Some recent innovations have prompted the FAA to consider whether there is a possibility of reintroducing supersonic flight, Carl Burleson, the agency’s acting deputy administrator, told a federal advisory group earlier this summer.

A fact sheet posted on the FAA’s website in May says “lighter and more efficient composite materials, combined with new engine and airframe designs” may make supersonic transport viable, so the agency plans to propose new rules. One would cover “the range of permissible supersonic operations”; the other, the procedures for gaining authorization for supersonic flight tests.”

Yours,

Dr Churchill

PS:

Now may be time to open up our own kimono a little by announcing that…

Our company Seattle Supersonics that has developed the New Quiet Concorde — hopes to have concluded flight tests in 2019, with service beginning in 2020…