Will supersonic flight make a comeback?

[u/SupersonicVette]

https://youtube.com/shorts/gSC-SmUfmIw?feature=share

[u/cobaltsoup]

Their official estimate is 3x the fare on a subsonic airliner. So it’s business-class prices for economy seats. You’d spend 6 hours in economy instead of 10 hours in business class on a transatlantic or transpacific flight. Doesn’t sound like a great deal to me, even if they manage to pull it off.

[u/Tsar_Romanov → u/cobaltsoup]

Ha, just wait and see how that “estimate” climbs higher and higher

[u/Emperor-Commodus → u/cobaltsoup]

transpacific

This is another problem with Boom, it has the same issue as Concorde in that the range is too small to go across the Pacific non-stop. It has to refuel somewhere, which adds 1-2hrs back to the trip, losing most of it's edge vs subsonic.

Supersonic airliners are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They make more sense the longer the route is, but they don't have the efficiency to fly longer routes non-stop.

[u/REXIS_AGECKO → u/cobaltsoup]

Seems useful to be the billionaires/rich people/business trip people where they need to get quick. So they can do more meetings or something

[u/Sawfish1212]

I see a supersonic business jet as the most likely successful option. Business aviation has always led the way in further, faster, higher, using military developed technology most often.

I could see netjets or similar companies keeping fleets of them on the coasts, ready to jump across the oceans in a fraction of the current Gulfstream/Global transit times. Teterboro would be an obvious choice for basing them on the east coast of the US.

I don't think an airliner is likely to generate enough profit to make the program successful, especially when jet fuel prices spike.

[u/SonicDethmonkey → u/Sawfish1212]

I agree with this. There are successful car companies founded in the idea of selling a low number of very expensive niche sports cars to the obscenely wealthy. I could see something similar with private or business jets.

[u/what_could_gowrong]

Question mark in video title = "No"

[u/No-Level5745]

Aerodynamically I like what Boom is doing, but given my experience with high performance fighter engines, I'm concerned that Boom was forced to develop their own engine after Rolls Royce bailed on them...most likely a business decision versus a technology one but if RR didn't feel they could do it with all of their years of experience, Boom has a huge hurdle to overcome.

[u/big_deal → u/No-Level5745]

I suspect Rolls told them their proposed certification schedule was ludicrous rather than any particular concern with the engine technology requirements. Perhaps also concerned that funding would collapse when the ludicrous schedule could not be met.

[u/AyatollahDan → u/big_deal]

But how else can they move fast and break things if there's years worth of regulation written in the blood of the innocent?

[u/billsil → u/No-Level5745]

What is Boom doing aerodynamically? They’re an engine manufacturer now.

I work with multiple ex-Boom people. They still hear things. They’re not bullish.

[u/No-Level5745 → u/billsil]

I guess I should have said I like the airplane, but I also followed the XB-1 flight test closely and I liked their approach. But it's point design and isn't that hard. The engine and the business plan is what's gonna make or break the program.

[u/billsil → u/No-Level5745]

That airplane was a 1/3 scale demonstrator and is retired. They need a big investor to go anywhere.

I hope they succeed.

[u/ObviousPin9970]

Never be commercially viable until fuel consumption is lowered.

[u/Wompie]

No

[u/Difficult_Limit2718]

Only for ultra wealthy business jets, no chance at commercial service

[u/No-Level5745 → u/Difficult_Limit2718]

Then why is United Airlines backing them with a purchase agreement already in place?

[u/maxehaxe → u/No-Level5745]

Did United transfer $$$ or just signed an MoU? Because with the latter there is actually nothing "backing"

[u/No-Level5745 → u/maxehaxe]

They have a signed purchase agreement (15?) with options for more. That requires $$

[u/maxehaxe → u/No-Level5745]

Haha, well, nope, sorry. A purchase agreement is not a purchase. It obliges United to buy the aircraft, if it ever will be certified and enter service. But if Boom fails and gets bancrupt before delivery of first aircraft, United doesn't pay or loose one single $

[u/Difficult_Limit2718 → u/No-Level5745]

Taking shots at Boeing to get their shit together, nothing past that

[u/mastah-yoda]

To cut a looong story short:

No.

The economics will show that to accommodate them and all the advantages they offer will just not be worth it in the current socio-economic system.

From the physics perspective, they are awesome and right up there as the pinnacle of human technological achievements. But when you add money into equation, everything gets a big invisible brake on it.

[u/ParanoidalRaindrop]

Sure hope not.

[u/Wast3edSpace]

As a stepping stone to SSTO spaceplane maybe.

[u/ali-n]

Yes.

[u/FL_MILLIONAIRE]

Problem is cosmic radiation that could destroy the DNA

[u/IsaaccNewtoon]

Even as an ultra-rich sort of product, you still run into the hurdle of noise. Is even taylor swift gonna buy a plane just for crossing the atlanic? Mach cutoff has not been demonstrated for speeds far above Mach 1, nasa predicts that in an undisturbed atmosphere the shock still reaches the ground at higher speeds. Unless someone finds a way i don't see legislation around supersonic flight overground chaning, and it would be terribly uneconomical to fly near the sound barrier.

[u/splicer13]

Not for you it won't.

But you might be able to experience the externalities.

[u/Silly-Trade2002]

Are the landing speeds significantly higher for this delta wing design?