Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout • Hacker News Board

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#61

Post by nabilhat » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:09 AM UTC

galacticaactual wrote: post #23

As a (pre-Covid) extreme frequent flyer, supersonic and other rapid point to point initiatives are thoroughly unenticing. Part of the reason I loved long flights was the ability to put away the laptop and zone out to a book or movie with some wine before landing, dealing with immigration, hotels, Ubers, and days of frenetic, high stress meetings afterward. The prospect of trying to optimize how fast we can jump from…

Same here, I'd rather upgrade to a comfy class for 12 hours than spend multiples of the cost to shave off a few. If it's flying on a schedule the only real point is less seat time (okay, also whee fast airplane), much of the time slow airplanes will have left and landed before the fast airplane's next scheduled departure and landing. These will make for one hell of a business owned or leased aircraft, although that doesn't change my preference. If there's one nice thing about air time on a business trip, it's the chance of taking a break from coworkers, like them or not.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#62

Post by Ericson2314 » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:13 AM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #35

ItsDeathball wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still a supersonic jet, just not the one you want. What is essentially a privately-built supersonic fighter jet is still impressive, but how much more investment will they need for the full size passenger version?

I trust Boom has smart people working on these things, but... model aviation doesn't scale up[1]. It's interesting they're going with a scaled-down model instead of a full-scale testbed. The article seems to incidate they're wanting to go from the scaled-down model as a PoC, then onto an actual airline that JAL want's to fly. I'd think they'd need a full-sized PoC first... > “They want to enjoy a first-mover advantag…

My guess is it's more about marketing and perhaps securing investment from those that do not know about aviation.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#63

Post by jazzyjackson » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:25 AM UTC

makerofspoons wrote: post #19

Please don't let COVID-19 kill this thing. They're going to need a lot of money to build the full-size plane and it's going to be hard to get it if airlines are cancelling orders and not placing any new ones for planes: https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/wordpress/2020/05/19/a...

OTOH if flying becomes more rare, then the only demand left will be from people with deep pockets. Maybe the only way there is a market for supersonic jets is if all the other long haul routes go bankrupt.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#64

Post by jazzyjackson » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

nimbius wrote: post #41

Real question: have we solved the radiation problem yet? The concord's solution was to sample exposure with a cockpit Geiger counter and descend to 40kft if things got too hot.

I expect with radiation it's really just the pilots having to deal with it day in and day out that are over their exposure limits right? If so, maybe automating it so the only people on the plane are the passengers would be a good move.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#65

Post by bobthepanda » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

galacticaactual wrote: post #23

As a (pre-Covid) extreme frequent flyer, supersonic and other rapid point to point initiatives are thoroughly unenticing. Part of the reason I loved long flights was the ability to put away the laptop and zone out to a book or movie with some wine before landing, dealing with immigration, hotels, Ubers, and days of frenetic, high stress meetings afterward. The prospect of trying to optimize how fast we can jump from…

The range perhaps doesn't allow this now, but if we could make the really, really long flights much shorter it might be nice. Being confined in a tin can gets old for me after hour 12.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#66

Post by JKCalhoun » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #63

makerofspoons wrote: post #19

Please don't let COVID-19 kill this thing. They're going to need a lot of money to build the full-size plane and it's going to be hard to get it if airlines are cancelling orders and not placing any new ones for planes: https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/wordpress/2020/05/19/a...

OTOH if flying becomes more rare, then the only demand left will be from people with deep pockets. Maybe the only way there is a market for supersonic jets is if all the other long haul routes go bankrupt.

And the people with really deep pockets already have a jet. ;-)

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#67

Post by bobthepanda » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:28 AM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #44

mastazi wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But parent didn't say they wanted that without any refueling. A London - Sydney or London - Melbourne flight would have several eligible refueling locations in Asia and Middle East. Australia - West Coast of the US would be more challenging I guess, but probably not impossible, perhaps some of the diversion airports in the Pacific would be able to support refueling operations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversion_a…

Once you start having refueling stops, you're losing a lot of the benefits to supersonic flight. Many of the inefficiencies are in the subsonic range and now you're going to be in queues for takeoff.

The airports where one might refuel don't necessarily have to be big congested megahubs. Boom's a small plane, I wonder what the runway requirements are?

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#68

Post by JKCalhoun » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

DomenicoMazza wrote: post #18

If I recall correctly the Concorde used about 2 tonnes of fuel rolling on the ground alone.. I wonder how this new aircraft fares for fuel consumption? I believe the Concorde is a marvel. You could travel faster than the rotation of the earth in it! However I don’t think we need more environmentally unsustainable travel.

Yeah, much more excited if there were talk of high-speed rail criss-crossing the U.S.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#69

Post by jazzyjackson » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

abeppu wrote: post #33

Can anyone here comment on the kinds of things you can and can't learn accurately from a scaled prototype? I'd guess that for something that flies, changing the surface area/volume ratio makes a big difference.

Well you can use the same materials and manufacturing process that you intend to use for the full scale model, and know that your carbon composite body holds up as good as the simulations.

Re: Boom supersonic jet readies for rollout

#70

Post by bobthepanda » Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

orbital-decay wrote: post #60

ceejayoz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the issue. It's the third supersonic airliner, not the second; the Soviet Union had the Tu-144.

Which is what I meant - it was designed and built by the state, not a private company, so the careful wording is probably correct. Although come to think of it, Sud Aviation/Aerospatiale was also a state-owned company, and the BAC wasn't private either, so the nitpicking can go on forever.

Britain and France also definitely explicitly paid for Concorde.