Congrats to Boom, but also r/killthecameraman
Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
151–160 of 545 posts
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#152I know nothing about Boom. Why is this impressive? We've achieved supersonic for passengers before. Are we meant to be interested just because someone is taking up the mantle again, or is there some new design that makes it impressive?
Concorde was a large program backed by two governments and designed and built by nationalized aerospace companies. This is a strictly private affair, so no tax dollars behind it, just private funds. The end goal is also to be much more efficient than Concorde, which was a pretty brute forced effort which multiple large afterburning engines. They hope to make the production model capable of supercruise.
There were plans for a Concorde "B" model that aimed to increase efficiency through wing and engine modifications, allowing the removal of the afterburners: http://www.concordesst.com/concordeb.html
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#153holy wow!!
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're betting that they can make supersonic travel sustainable and profitable with a new aircraft and engine design. The Concord wasn't either of those. The business case is apparently solid enough that several airlines are partnering with them during development. This is the first actual demonstration that they can achieve supersonic flight in their demonstrator aircraft, so it is a significant milestone but they…
I suspect it'll only ever be a toy for billionaires. For the rest of us, isn't air travel supposed to be something we're giving up/ramping down due to climate change?
What if this ends up being more efficient for long flights over oceans due to the ability to fly in thinner air?
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right. Whether I arrive in London at 4pm or 8pm doesn't really make much of a difference. (Admittedly it probably lets you arrive on the continent without a red-eye--depending on supersonic over land rules--as you pretty much have to do today.)
I still prefer shorter flight time. I rather spend those hours in hotel bed or eating at restaurant than sit/lie in the airline seat.
All other things being equal, sure. But I'm probably not paying thousands of dollars to save a few hours. Maybe if that amount of money is basically pocket lint, but that's a tiny percentage of the population.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there hasn't been supersonic civil aviation There still isn’t, and this is not a very interesting stepping stone. We already knew that we could fly a plane quickly. This company has no engines for their allegedly full scale plane. The last manufacturer dropped them a few years ago, and there has been no movement in that direction. This demonstrates the easiest part of what they’re trying to do, not the hardest. Thi…
Might as well tell the folks at SpaceX to not land on the moon because it we already "knew" we could do it because it has been already been done before. This sort of pessimism to dismiss this achievement is exactly how to lose and stay comfortable. Ladies and gentlemen, dismiss the above take.
And if someone proposed to run a company for flying to the moon after every rocket engine manufacturer actively and overtly dropped them and they had no rocketry experience themselves, I would be equally skeptical.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#157I know nothing about Boom. Why is this impressive? We've achieved supersonic for passengers before. Are we meant to be interested just because someone is taking up the mantle again, or is there some new design that makes it impressive?
It's not a huge deal for humanity, but it's exciting for aviation enthusiasts and those studying the air travel space.
To my layman's eye, they've built a civilian version of a trainer/fighter jet, now all they have to do is scale it up to airliner size :) Long way to go but you have to start somewhere.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once you get out of the atmosphere, drag (and fuel consumption) is ~0. So theoretically possible, but I'm not sure if that's what he was talking about. Certainly Overture won't be capable of that.
Fair, I hadn't considered the intercontinental ballistic passenger missile approach.
ICPM! That's a new acronym you just coined!
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#159“Currently, all civil aircraft flights are prohibited from operating above Mach one speeds over land in the United States.” [1] Mike Bannister’s excellent book Concorde talks at length about how “handsomely profitable” the BA service was (as opposed to the Air France one) from 1984 until the 2000 crash and subsequent grounding put them in to a spiral where keeping enough people certified was too expensive. One part o…
Concorde experiences one fatal crash in 27 years: entire product line gets cancelled.
Meanwhile, Boeing 737 MAX... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
New York to Sydney for $100 in 4 hours? My bullshit alarm is blaring. Unless they have a secret teleporter project they aren't telling people about. If you're burning dinosaurs to do that it is not happening, not unless oil becomes magically free and even then I think you would struggle to make ends meet.
> New York to Sydney for $100 in 4 hours? My bullshit alarm is blaring LA to Sydney is $10k on a good day for lie flat. You could probably charge $15 even 20k a seat and (a) turn a profit (b) filling the plane.
Did you miss the part you quoted that said "$100 in 4 hours"? It does not say $100k.