Page 71 - AA 2018_09

Supersonic

fly later in 2018, the XB-1 is a third-
scale version of the airliner and like its
bigger sibling, will aim to achieve
a speed of Mach 2.2.
A number of airlines have already
signed on, notably the Virgin Group
and Japan Airlines (JAL), with the
latter investing $10 million in Boom
and pre-ordering twenty aircraft.
The lure of an airliner that can
effectively halve flight times is proving
of interest, and again, fare-pricing is
spoken of in the vicinity of current
business class fares.
Ever faster
The dream of powered flight became
a reality more than a century ago
and as each decade passed more
advancements in design and
performance were forthcoming. In
recent times, airliner innovation
has been seen to build upon existing
technologies in search of increased
efficiency and range, rather than
forging any particularly new frontiers.
A case of evolution, rather than
revolution.
Yet delve a little deeper beyond
the next generation of twin-engined,
widebodied turbofan airliners and the
prospect of supersonic transport is not
only possible, it is becoming tangible.
The disappointing dreams of the
1960s have re-emerged in the skin of
21st century technology and with the
benefit of many hard lessons already
New York and London from 6.2 hours efficient turbofan engines, optimised Boom is promising practical learned.
to a little over half at 3.3. to deal with supersonic flight. supersonic flight “on hundreds A renaissance of aviation may be
Eye-catching is the apparent Boom is currently building a two- of transoceanic routes – making emerging through sonic thumps over
absence of traditional windows, seat testbed, the XB-1, or Baby Boom. it the new norm for anyone Galveston and needle-like aircraft
replaced internally by massive The aircraft will be used to validate who flies business class”. eclipsing the speed of sound, and this
panoramic displays that can be the technologies that will be adopted boom supersonic exciting new era may be closer than
selected to show the outside world by the full-size airliner. Scheduled to you think.
via cameras, the latest movies, or
even a laptop presentation. A smaller, The Aerion AS2 business
unmanned proof-of-concept SX-1.2 jet will seat eight with a
flew late in 2017 to gather subsonic ‘boomless’ cruise speed of
data but the full-size S-512 is planned
for testing in 2021 with deliveries Mach 1.1. aerion
in late-2023, at an estimated cost of
US$125 million.
Capturing the most attention
across the globe is the Boom
Supersonic airliner which is
proposing to carry 55 passengers
at more than Mach 2.0 with seat-
kilometre costs equivalent to subsonic
business class. Equipped with one
tail-mounted and two wing-mounted
engines, the wine glass delta wing and
overall lines hint at the eye-pleasing
Concorde.
However, like all of the modern
contenders, the thirsty afterburning
engines of past supersonic airliners
have been replaced by vastly more
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