61–70 of 112 posts
> At Boom, every engineer is expected to code and to leverage AI. As an engineer I find "leveraging AI" to be a very troubling idea. I'd want to know detailed specifics of just what management believes AI should be used for before I accepted such a job. As a passenger, I damn well don't want to fly on an airplane designed with software that can't count the number of bs in blueberry.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re describing a lay-flat seat. (If you let them know you don’t want to be disturbed, they won’t.)
Are you kidding? On a commercial flight, between the safety briefs, seatbelt warnings, and "turn on/off your devices" there are constant announcements. And the stupid entertainment systems you cannot turn off, or at least that spring to flashing life again after each pointless announcement. I wore my ear defenders on united once, and was woken mid-flight by a steward informing me they were not allowed as i wouldnt be…
AKA they're doing what every other aerospace company has been doing for decades, multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization [0] with simulation in the loop. If you were to ask them how they're leveraging Design of Experiments I bet it'd be met with "design of what?". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multidisciplinary_design_optim...
> XB-1 is the world’s first independently-developed supersonic jet, breaking the sound barrier for the first time in January, 2025. It was designed, built, and flown successfully by a team of just 50 people This is a great headline and very impressive. However, it’s also somewhat puzzling to see the company spend so much investment money to build a small prototype plane that doesn’t resemble a commercial airliner in…
The market for Boom is not commercial passenger flights. So much time is wasted with security, boarding, taxi-ing, waiting at the destination for a gate to unload, etc. that the flight speed is not a big deal. Existing commercial passenger jets could already go faster without going supersonic and save some time, but it doesn't matter. Even if you fly commercial passenger jets at the absolutely face-melting Mach 3.3 o…
> At Boom, every engineer is expected to code and to leverage AI. As an engineer I find "leveraging AI" to be a very troubling idea. I'd want to know detailed specifics of just what management believes AI should be used for before I accepted such a job. As a passenger, I damn well don't want to fly on an airplane designed with software that can't count the number of bs in blueberry.
He seemed almost proud of his inexperience, and nearly said that it gave him an "advantage" because existing engineers weren't willing to "innovate."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Premium cabins tend to be a very small proportion of overall seats and are about overcharging for a little extra legroom and service rather than trading off operational flexibility for unique luxury though. Big difference between charging 3x economy rates for 2x the space for a carefully estimated proportion of seats in a mixed configuration (no brainer) and hoping your layout is so good it justifies thirstier, less…
> Premium cabins tend to be a very small proportion of overall seats Most of the profit on a plane is made in business class. If airlines could fly an all-business configuration, they would. The problem is the smallest planes that can do high-paying routes like LON-NYC are bigger than that customer set. So the airline throws in economy seats, often barely breaking even on those, to fill space. In a world with small a…
I saw Reed Solomon codes were invented for fast, accurate missile guidance and (in my head) that's the connection I made to his super sonic startup
When they say simulate, so they actually mean just using ideal mathematical models in Matlab?
AKA they're doing what every other aerospace company has been doing for decades, multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization [0] with simulation in the loop. If you were to ask them how they're leveraging Design of Experiments I bet it'd be met with "design of what?". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multidisciplinary_design_optim...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Airlines do not dictate airport security Airlines absolutely choose whether to participate in various programs. Digital ID was cited for a reason. And in some cases, the airlines have substantial control—Delta One has a separate security line at JFK. > You cannot simply add gates to airports with even an infinite pile of money You don’t. You outbid someone else for the existing ones.
> And in some cases, the airlines have substantial control—Delta One has a separate security line at JFK. I'm actually surprised more airports don't have VIP level gates that the airlines can pay a premium for allowing them to charge a premium to their passengers. It'd be interesting to see where the price could be that would guarantee enough passengers willing to pay the premium for much reduced airport headaches.
They all do. Delta’s is branded VIP services. They’ll meet you at the curb and shuttle you behind security and in a car to your plane.
But at that point, in most cases, fly private.