There were rumors in the early 2000s of a QSP jet being shopped around by LM SkunkWorks to Wall Street. Also really strong rumors that Cessna was working on a similar jet. These projects probably died.
Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
221–230 of 545 posts
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> The end goal is also to be much more efficient than Concorde I would think that is not very hard to accomplish. Their first flight is almost half a century after Concorde’s. Technology has progressed. As an (imperfect) comparison, in subsonic flight ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#Past ): “Jet airliners became 70% more fuel efficient between 1967 and 2007, 40% due to improvements in engine…
While true, the catch is that very little technology relevant to civilian supersonic flight has changed since Concorde. We have composite fuselages and that’s about it. Concorde was close to optimal within the design constraints it was built for and those constraints haven’t really changed - airport parking docks remain the same size, runways are the same length, London and NYC are still the same distance apart, people don’t want to hear sonic booms, and few are able to shell out $$$$ it takes to pay for all the fuel. I have huge respect to Boom for giving this a go but it will be incredibly hard for an aircraft manufacturer to turn a profit.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#223Earlier 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…
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted because you're right: they have the technology, they don't have an engine, and this just looks like a civilian version of a fighter jet pretty much (except it has 3 turbojets). And what people always fail to mention when it comes to supersonic flights is one of the main issue is neither a technological nor an economical one nor a supersonic boom one. Traveling west bound is gre…
If you solve the boom component, can you just keep going West? London, NYC, LA, Tokyo, Singapore, Dubai, London?
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#224Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11329286 I remember seeing this post about Boom going through YC, 9 years ago. It's really cool to see the founder laying out what he wanted to accomplish in the comments and then seeing it happen today. Especially fun looking back at those comments saying it couldn't be done and all the haranguing over the name "Boom" :) Congrats to…
It’s a good start but I wouldn’t say the critics are proven wrong already.
Even getting the full-scale version flying won’t be enough, you need to make the whole operation economically viable so it actually makes sense to operate it.
I’m not saying they won’t manage to do it, but they haven’t proven that they will be able to do it today.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm skeptical. Trans-Pacific would be interesting for some because that's a long time in a plane even with lie-flat seating. But then you need a lot of range because once you have to refuel you've cut into your time advantage. NYC to London or Paris? Sure. But now you still need to find people willing and able to spend $5K+ each way. I'd like to do it but realistically I'm not going to.
First class NY to Paris in a couple of weeks, one way, is ~$6k "best overall", with $10k for "fastest" (checked a random flight on Skyscanner).
And how many people are booking that for that price? Is that enough to build a dedicated service on?
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#226Earlier 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.
That’s overstating it. I literally did this flight in Polaris yesterday (from NYC), and I’d say tickets from LA are more like $5-7k. There are lots of options from LA to Sydney next week in that range.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Especially at 2-3x the cost
I suspect a lot of people here get really excited at the idea of supersonic flight but would never pay the business class+ premium themselves.
Yes, I think many people would at most do it once so they have flown supersonic, and then never do it again.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#228Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11329286 I remember seeing this post about Boom going through YC, 9 years ago. It's really cool to see the founder laying out what he wanted to accomplish in the comments and then seeing it happen today. Especially fun looking back at those comments saying it couldn't be done and all the haranguing over the name "Boom" :) Congrats to…
This is a long way from a supersonic passenger flight, isn't it?
Endless pessimism, even in the face of evidence to the contrary is a hallmark of HN. Thank you for continuing the tradition. May you never hold out hope for anything positive in the future.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are some interesting technological developments around fuel efficiency and minimizing the "sonic boom" that's felt on the ground. Neither of those killed Concorde though, because the entire idea of Concorde turned out to be incredibly faulty. MOST people weren't in such a hurry to get from point A to point B that they'd pay 5x-10x a normal business/first class ticket to cut a trip down by 50% or so. The intende…
> Who are these people who wouldn't rather take a sleeping pill or futz around on their laptop instead? Me. Time is time. A lay-flat seat intercontinental is already $10+ k within weeks of departure, point to point. Not having to plan around sleeping on the plane or whatnot makes international trips feel domestic.
I keep seeing you using this $10k figure, where is that coming from? I’m fortunate to fly intl biz class a lot, and I rarely see prices that high. In September I flew SG from NYC to Singapore in biz class for $4k RT.
Re: Boom XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video]
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
It also had a three person crew, and post 9/11 was the start of structurally higher oil prices, both of which were a death knell. The true nail in the coffin was the development of the lie flat business seat, which meant that you could cross the Atlantic in three hours in a plush but cramped seat, or spend less money to sleep for six on a redeye and arrive well rested. At that point three hours was not a compelling e…
London doesn't even require a red-eye from NYC--or actually from Boston/Washington although it's a very early star--on a conventional jet. I've done it pretty regularly. Not pleasant but I can get to London in time for a late dinner.
BA has one daily morning flight from Boston to Heathrow. The only non-red eye transatlantic out of Logan that I’m aware of.
Always quite busy, and personally I’d much rather not try to get a good night’s sleep on a barely 6 hour flight.