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Supersonic

Back to the future
In the early 1960s President John
F Kennedy was proclaiming that,
“We choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because
they are hard…”. It is possible that one
of those “other things” was supersonic
air travel.
The concept of a Supersonic
Transport (SST) had its origins in the
1950s, but truly gathered momentum
with manufacturers and governments
alike in the next decade. Reports
were commissioned by Kennedy as an
Anglo-French consortium gathered
momentum with its Concorde project
and, like the space race, the United
States didn’t wish to be left behind.
The quest for an SST in the United
States saw Lockheed and Boeing
present their designs and full-scale
mock-ups in 1966, but it would be the
Boeing 2707 that would emerge as the contours of its delta-wing, the Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works With high fares and low demand,
winner and move on to the next stage Concorde became an aircraft for the is developing the X-59 QueSST both British Airways and Air
of development. ages – even though only 20 were ever for NASA’s Low Boom Flight France announced the retirement
The aircraft was proposed to built. First flying in 1969, the aircraft Demonstrator (LBFD) project. of the Concorde in 2003. With its
carry around 280 passengers at close could cruise at more than Mach 2, and withdrawal from service, the age of the
to three times the speed of sound. had a maximum passenger capacity supersonic transport seemed to have
However, there were continuing of 128. passed, unable to counter the hurdles
concerns over the aircraft’s operating Commencing scheduled services that had existed since its conception.
costs. Additionally, the project did in 1976, the Concorde was to see both It had been unable to overcome the
not receive complete support in admiration and opposition during costs of fuel-thirsty afterburning
the political arena and there were its life. The US Federal Aviation engines and ease the concerns of
environmental concerns regarding the Administration (FAA) finalised its environmental impact and sonic
effect on the ozone layer, noise levels regulations in 1973 prohibiting flight boom.
and the sonic boom. in excess of Mach 1.0 over land and The vision of hundreds of
Government funding cuts to the to a certain distance offshore, thus supersonic airliners filling the skies
SST program were announced in 1971, restricting the Concorde to trans- and shrinking flight times in a new
and the Boeing 2707’s fate was sealed, oceanic routes, primarily New York to age of aviation was now confined to
never to advance beyond the mock- London or Paris. history – or was it?
up that now resides in the Museum Ultimately, the combination of
of Flight in Seattle. The Boeing 2707 high operating costs, politics and The sonic thump
had made advances in the design of environmental concerns would prove Faster, higher and further are driving
supercritical wing design and had too great for the aircraft. With the forces in aviation, and have been the
been an early adopter of the glass dawn of the 21st Century came a ongoing quest since humans first
cockpit, but this was not enough to perfect storm in the tragic loss of Air NASA has been investigating took flight. And while the initial foray
ever see it take to the skies. France Flight 4590 in July 2000 and the sonic boom using an F/A-18 into supersonic transport could be
The United States’ opponent in the 9/11 attacks a little over a year later. Hornet. nasa perceived as a commercial failure, it
the space race had a greater degree of had undoubtedly proven that such an
success in the SST realm. The Soviet endeavour was indeed possible and,
Union developed the Tupolev Tu-144, even more critically, identified its
with the first aircraft taking flight in shortcomings.
1968 and entering commercial service Central to the supersonic
in 1975. However, despite more than a transport’s woes was the sonic boom.
dozen airworthy airframes being built, The shock wave created by an aircraft
the aircraft was plagued with technical breaking the sound barrier leaves
problems through its life. The Tu-144 a Mach cone in its wake. That cone
program was officially cancelled in radiates out at 360 degrees from the
1983, although there was provision for aircraft and inevitably drags a portion
the aircraft to remain flying in a test- along the earth’s surface, known as
bed and training capacity. the boom carpet. Unfortunately, this
Despite the efforts of the world’s impacts unfavourably on the people,
two superpowers, it would be animals and property that exist below.
the Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde NASA has been conducting
that enjoyed the greatest success. research into reducing the sonic boom
Highlighted by the eye-catching to a noise level that won’t bother those
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