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Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

forbes.com

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Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#161

Post by throwaway85825 »

randallsquared wrote: post #159
throwaway85825 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overland private supersonic travel should not happen, it would just be a massive unpriced negative externality. The lower the plane flies the fewer people end up hearing the boom. The denser air also requires an absurd amount of fuel to fly through. Commercially uneconomical. Even the military only uses low level supersonic for a last dash to the target.

When Boom was testing last year, the sonic boom never reached the ground, as I recall. That can be arranged at higher altitudes, but doesn't work at low ones.

That's only possible under specific climatic conditions where there's separate temperature/pressure layers. Which is why they asked to repeal the ban on supersonic flight over populated areas. If they actually thought it wouldn't make noise they wouldn't be asking for the rule to be changed.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#162

Post by randallsquared »

throwaway85825 wrote: post #161
randallsquared wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Boom was testing last year, the sonic boom never reached the ground, as I recall. That can be arranged at higher altitudes, but doesn't work at low ones.

That's only possible under specific climatic conditions where there's separate temperature/pressure layers. Which is why they asked to repeal the ban on supersonic flight over populated areas. If they actually thought it wouldn't make noise they wouldn't be asking for the rule to be changed.

The rule bans the supersonic flight regardless of whether it's audible or not, so they'd still be asking for the rule to be changed.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#163

Post by fragmede »

michaelmrose wrote: post #144
budman1 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get those rich people out of the private jets and into the supersonic ones. Then the rich people currently in first class can move into the private jets. Eventually, that means that there will be some seats in the back of the regular plans for everyday wage slaves.

Its not clear why you would think any of this works this way. Not one thing you said makes sense it's like a weird trickle down economics for flights as if better steaks would get oliver twist more gruel

Food is different from airplanes. On a middle class salary, I could afford to take a flight from Atlanta to Liberia and back for $300. Or $250 to get to Vegas and back. Spirit recently went out of business, but in 100 years I bet supersonic jet travel will be available to the middle class.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#164

Post by fragmede »

throwaway85825 wrote: post #131
logicchains wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supersonic flight will never be suitable for the masses compared to normal flight due to basic physics. It will always require much more expensive planes and more fuel. You could have used the exact same argument for normal flight 100 years ago. Supersonic flight being more expensive than normal flight doesn't mean it will always be too expensive for the masses unless you assume there'll be no more economic growth e…

Physics doesnt change. It will always cost more energy to fly faster.

Relatively, absolutely, but look at computers. Yes, more computing still costs more than less computing. Physics hasn't changed, but the cost of computers has. I have, in my hand, for part of a couple months of middle class wages, more computing power than existed in the world in 1960.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#165

Post by fragmede »

budman1 wrote: post #139
dylan604 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But even just a half second of a car horn going off right next to you every so often is intolerable. You must not have a neighbor with a car whose alarm constantly goes off at random points throughout the day right outside your window. You eventually don't notice it. Speaking from experience

live by a railroad track. takes about 6 months till you don't notice it. at all.

Depends on the frequency and duration. Lived near some tracks for years and what got me was waking up in the middle of the night for that freight train that was irregular. The regular passenger train I got used to though.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#166

Post by wizzwizz4 »

tomhow wrote: post #80
SidewaysView wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

WTF? Please don't comment like this on HN. It breaks multiple guidelines. Please take a moment to read the guidelines and make an effort to observe them if you want to keep participating https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html .

In light of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728408: you're appreciated and also it's okay to take breaks.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#167

Post by fragmede »

bobthepanda wrote: post #100
xoa wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...yes, really? Gun fire is indeed stupendously, dangerously loud, which is why we have suppressors and heavy hearing protection for them. And there are indeed significant public/legal fights around outdoor gun ranges that end up near habitation (even if it's not the range's fault at all but rather because construction moved towards it). So I'm not really seeing how that's an argument that people not wearing earpro w…

also, there are neighborhoods with extended amounts of gun violence and discharges and I can't say that the residents "don't mind it"

Keeps rent down tho.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#168

Post by srean »

WalterBright wrote: post #147
srean wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Memories of a kid on a road trip...Interceptors taking off low, at full afterburners, in the dark of the night, screaming across the highway, for their practice sorties... I am more anti-(manufactured)-war than most, but these sights were the stuff of goosebumps (the good kind).

The sound of freedom!

Dunno about that, but sure is a heck of an engineering feat and an audiovisual spectacle.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#169

Post by futevolei »

yborg wrote: post #119

This will free manufacturers to build supersonic private jets for the superwealthy to cruise over flyover America. With normal steerage air travel becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average person, I can't see airlines buying supersonic airliners given fuel costs, they couldn't fill them for what they would have to charge.

Please cite evidence confirming your assertion that air travel is becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average person.

Re: Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

#170

Post by [deleted] »

lokar wrote: post #109
convolvatron wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that seems very unlikely. margins are already quite thin, and the airlines are making most of their money with the higher fare tiers. if you remove some of those customers, then its entirely possible that the base fare will increase in response.

This big airlines in the US loose money overall operating flights. They make it up on loyalty programs and credit cards.

[deleted]
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