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Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

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Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#261

Post by reso »

bscholl wrote: post #192

Hi - I'm Blake, Founder/CEO at Boom. After watching no tangible progress in supersonics since Concorde was shut down, I started Boom because I want supersonic flight in our lifetime. Not just as a private jet, but something most anyone can afford to fly. Will try to answer as many questions here as I can.

Given that sonic booms are one of the main reasons the Concorde didn't work, is calling your company "Boom" the best idea? Half-kidding.

Having said that, I'm a huge Concorde fanboy, and I really hope you guys can make affordable supersonic travel a reality!

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#262

Post by melvinmt »

bscholl wrote: post #192

Hi - I'm Blake, Founder/CEO at Boom. After watching no tangible progress in supersonics since Concorde was shut down, I started Boom because I want supersonic flight in our lifetime. Not just as a private jet, but something most anyone can afford to fly. Will try to answer as many questions here as I can.

How instrumental was YC in the development of Boom (money/advice wise)?

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#263

Post by bradleyjg »

bertil wrote: post #250
bscholl wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there's a ban on supersonic travel over land in the US since the 1970s. When this is reversed, we can fly SFO-JFK in about 2:20.

Would it make sense for you to fly West from SFO, turn around, go super-sonic over the ocean and fly towards NY — then again, decelerate over the Atlantic, and turn back? i.e. what is the distance from the shore you can boom?

Sonic booms are continuous while going faster than the speed of sound. It isn't just something that happens when you cross the barrier.

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#264

Post by jonknee »

bertil wrote: post #250
bscholl wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there's a ban on supersonic travel over land in the US since the 1970s. When this is reversed, we can fly SFO-JFK in about 2:20.

Would it make sense for you to fly West from SFO, turn around, go super-sonic over the ocean and fly towards NY — then again, decelerate over the Atlantic, and turn back? i.e. what is the distance from the shore you can boom?

... Sonic booms happen anytime you're going supersonic speeds, it's not limited to when you cross the boundary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#265

Post by sounds »

bertil wrote: post #250
bscholl wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there's a ban on supersonic travel over land in the US since the 1970s. When this is reversed, we can fly SFO-JFK in about 2:20.

Would it make sense for you to fly West from SFO, turn around, go super-sonic over the ocean and fly towards NY — then again, decelerate over the Atlantic, and turn back? i.e. what is the distance from the shore you can boom?

Everywhere the plane is supersonic, it emits the boom. Your question implies that the only boom is when you "go super-sonic."

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/68354/is-a-sonic-...

Would a Mach 1 plane hear a boom if overtaken by a Mach 3 plane?

http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/17243/does-a-mac...

I understand why you got downvoted, but I don't think the question was actually repellant. If it were at the top of the thread it would be annoying but here I find it a fun thought experiment.

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#266

Post by bscholl »

nharada wrote: post #226
bscholl wrote: post #192

Hi - I'm Blake, Founder/CEO at Boom. After watching no tangible progress in supersonics since Concorde was shut down, I started Boom because I want supersonic flight in our lifetime. Not just as a private jet, but something most anyone can afford to fly. Will try to answer as many questions here as I can.

Why do you think that other established players haven't entered this space (i.e. Boeing, etc)?

There's a lot of scorched earth in supersonics, since Concorde wasn't an economic success and the Boeing SST project was cancelled.

Since then, there has been research on 300 seat Mach 2.4-Mach 3 vehicles, but these are extremely challenging.

To make this happen and happen soon, you have to start much smaller than the established players usually consider. We're at 40 seats—that's the minimum economic size. Supersonics are hard, so it pays to start as small as you can and scale up over time.

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#267

Post by bscholl »

schwarrrtz wrote: post #239
rsync wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will your pilots do, just as a for instance, if ... say a lone Cessna asks tower for his ground speed ... and then a bit later a navy F-18 pilot also asks tower for his ground speed ? What will they do in that situation ?

i think that depends on how badass the copilot is

Brian Shul is a steely-eyed missile man. :-)

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#268

Post by jonknee »

nether wrote: post #227
paulmd wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. People here are way underestimating the costs to develop and certify a major commercial airframe, especially across the multiple regulatory regimes inherent to international flight. You're probably talking about on the order of a billion dollars even if you're playing it cheap. If you want to start re-engineering components instead of buying off the shelf, that number will go uphill rapidly. This is not a…

How many people did SpaceX start with? Certainly not the thousands of workers it has today. Everything you said about requiring a "national scale corp" was said about launching rockets to orbit as well. Looking at Boom's roster they have some seriously experienced industry vets working for them or advising them. This isn't just fresh grads. They've been through FAA/EASA cert trials of new aircraft, testing and unders…

SpaceX has also had a lot of stuff blow up. That's fine with a rocket, but it's a company killer with a new plane.

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#269

Post by jondiggsit »

oddeyed wrote: post #70
jondiggsit wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely worth it. We live in the future. If you can fly half way around the world to watch an opera and be home by midnight, do it. Riding your bicycle to work isn't going to save the planet, neither is reconsidering a flight. Environmental concerns should be that of multi-national corporations and governments. The 1% flying around the world isn't killing the planet. It's industrial output from cattle and energy p…

Personally, I live in the present. Snarkiness aside, I think you're mistaken. You can't say 'industrial use' or 'industrial output' and absolve yourself of responsibility. The electronics that you wrote this comment on were all built with yucky industrial machines, running on yucky industrial oil which had to pulled out of the ground by yucky, messy drilling machines. And the kicker is that people did all of that bec…

Fully agree with you on the kale salad thing. It's delicious, don't get me wrong, and eating more kale and less burgers will contribute to a reduction in cattle rearing, reduction in methane gas / deforestation.

My main point is it needs to be a national conversation, one the government is involved in.

Re: Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes

#270

Post by neurotech1 »

jessaustin wrote: post #71
aidenn0 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they could make it quiet enough to go over land, transcontinental US flights would be great; LA/NY in 2.5 hours would likely have a pretty high demand. [edit] As someone who flies LA/DC fairly regularly I do have to mention my favorite record of the SR-71 doing that flight in under 65 minutes.

I wonder if the "no booms over land" rule will always remain in force. When I was a child, the planes from Whiteman AFB broke that rule quite often. It was interesting to hear the boom over the phone when speaking with a school friend who lived say eight miles away, and then immediately hear the whole house shaking when the plane got to my end of the circuit. It would have been annoying at night, I suppose, but durin…

I've known test pilots who have flown supersonic routes over continental USA at high altitude and had zero complaints. The boom intensity depends on weather conditions. Other times they did get complaints because the boom sounded like gunshots and got reported to the police.

Cruising above 60000 ft the boom from a larger aircraft might be noticed but not be objectionably loud.

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