Boom Supersonic Successful Test Flight

[kernals12]

This morning, over the Mojave desert, the startup Boom successfully broke the sound barrier in their XB-1 aircraft. This is the first time ever that a civilian aircraft has flown supersonic in the United States. The company hopes to release a commercial airliner, called Overture, in the early 30s.

We truly live in exciting times

[GaryV]

We truly live in exciting times

I'm sure the inventors and manufacturers of the SST thought the same thing.

[Max Rockatansky]

We truly live in exciting times

That's a subjective opinion.  The age we live in feels pretty dull and unexciting to me.

[kphoger]

The company hopes to release a commercial airliner, called Overture, in the early 30s.

Yeah, because the Concorde was just so-o-o-o profitable...

[kernals12]

We truly live in exciting times

That's a subjective opinion.  The age we live in feels pretty dull and unexciting to me.

We've got driverless cars, large language models, and GLP-1s.

[Max Rockatansky]

We truly live in exciting times

That's a subjective opinion.  The age we live in feels pretty dull and unexciting to me.

We've got driverless cars, large language models, and GLP-1s.

I already think modern times are boring and dull, no need to sell it to me.

[kphoger]

The age we live in feels pretty dull and unexciting to me.

driverless cars

I already think modern times are boring and dull, no need to sell it to me.

It's hard to think of something that would make cars more boring than to remove driving from them.

[LilianaUwU]

ooh boy, yet another K12 thread that's basically the same thing as the last one. time for me to go back to bed.

[1995hoo]

ooh boy, yet another K12 thread that's basically the same thing as the last one. time for me to go back to bed.

Unlike the others, this one is actually based on fact. Boom's test aircraft did go supersonic three times earlier today. Hopefully they continue development and succeed in delivering their passenger aircraft. Of course, as my avatar shows, I'm not exactly unbiased on the topic!

[GaryV]

I hope they at least change the name. "Airplane go Boom" is not a thing you want to advertise.

[kalvado]

ooh boy, yet another K12 thread that's basically the same thing as the last one. time for me to go back to bed.

Frankly speaking, boom is an interesting company. A lot of signs of moderate scam, but not a very clear cut. It's totally unclear what this prototype is about, but it's flying...

[DTComposer]

We truly live in exciting times

That's a subjective opinion.  The age we live in feels pretty dull and unexciting to me.

We've got driverless cars, large language models, and GLP-1s.

These times aren't nearly as exciting as the 1990s-early 2000s - the dawn of the web, for better or worse, was like a shiny new toy every few weeks, and the idea of the world's information being at your fingertips was mind-blowing for un-told millions of people. It's also the time frame that both cell phones and PCs went from a luxury/novelty item to an everyday device.

Geo-politically, you could argue that today is "exciting" - just not the good kind. I'd take the 1989-2000 version of "exciting" by far.

And if you go further back, I'd argue that the dawn of the jet age, the space race, satellite technology, and the rise of television (i.e. 1950s-1960s) was more exciting (although I wasn't there).

All of the those things represent humankind pushing the boundaries of communication and exploration. Compare to the things k12 lists:
  -SST: trying to revive a failed (from an economic standpoint) technology, without (from what I can see) anything that would make it more feasible this time around;
  -GLP-1s: While a great breakthrough for diabetes treatment, it has also become the latest in a long-line of fad medicines, causing scarcity for people who actually need it. I'm sure we'll go through the same "oh, we didn't know about the long-term-effects" process that we have for so many other things. Just humans once again trying to circumvent Mother Nature for superficial purposes.
  -LLM: AI already came with the specter of a Skynet-type takeover in so many people's minds; and the technology has so quickly been used for negative purposes (deepfakes, mis-representing people, cheating, trying and failing to replicate actual human creativity, etc.) that any greater positive that might be happening will always be overshadowed.
  -Driverless cars: enough about these has been said in other threads. As someone who's been stuck behind a confused Waymo on multiple occasions, I'm sure the tech will get there - just not anytime soon.

[kernals12]

ooh boy, yet another K12 thread that's basically the same thing as the last one. time for me to go back to bed.

Frankly speaking, boom is an interesting company. A lot of signs of moderate scam, but not a very clear cut. It's totally unclear what this prototype is about, but it's flying...

Building an aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds isn't something you can really fake.

[kphoger]

Building an aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds isn't something you can really fake.

At what point did |kalvado| accuse them of faking a supersonic flight?

[kernals12]

-SST: trying to revive a failed (from an economic standpoint) technology, without (from what I can see) anything that would make it more feasible this time around;

Jet engines have become far quieter and more efficient since Concorde was developed.

GLP-1s: While a great breakthrough for diabetes treatment, it has also become the latest in a long-line of fad medicines, causing scarcity for people who actually need it. I'm sure we'll go through the same "oh, we didn't know about the long-term-effects" process that we have for so many other things. Just humans once again trying to circumvent Mother Nature for superficial purposes.

It's a cure for obesity. That alone makes it one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in human history. Today, the FDA approved it as a treatment for kidney disease and studies say it may help treat Alzheimer's and alcoholism.

[kernals12]

Building an aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds isn't something you can really fake.

At what point did |kalvado| accuse them of faking a supersonic flight?

He claimed they were a "moderate scam"

[GaryV]

Jet engines have become far quieter and more efficient since Concorde was developed.

But sonic booms aren't any quieter. I'm sure supersonic speed will still be restricted to out over the ocean.

And it wasn't the efficiency of the engine that killed the Concorde. It was not enough customers willing to pay the extra cost to get there faster.

[kernals12]

Jet engines have become far quieter and more efficient since Concorde was developed.

But sonic booms aren't any quieter. I'm sure supersonic speed will still be restricted to out over the ocean.

And it wasn't the efficiency of the engine that killed the Concorde. It was not enough customers willing to pay the extra cost to get there faster.

And part of the extra cost was due to fuel consumption.

[kphoger]

He claimed they were a "moderate scam"

While I cannot speak for |kalvado|, I should note that the word 'scam' in contemporary usage can encompass things that aren't outright faked.  I see that Boom is two to three years behind schedule, didn't even have an engine selected until recently, and now somehow managed to squeak out a flight.  Meanwhile, supersonic flights overland in the US are prohibited by the FAA (Boom received special permission for testing purposes), commercial airlines already fly slower than they're able in order to save money on fuel, and a supersonic transoceanic flight would only gain a few-hours advantage at the cost of exorbitantly priced tickets anyway.  Not truly a scam, perhaps, but easily targeted as an over-promising and under-delivering opportunity for cash-happy venture capitalists to squander their money on.

But sonic booms aren't any quieter. I'm sure supersonic speed will still be restricted to out over the ocean.

For the sake of clarity, sonic booms are the reason for the FAA prohibition of overland supersonic flights.

And it wasn't the efficiency of the engine that killed the Concorde. It was not enough customers willing to pay the extra cost to get there faster.

And part of the extra cost was due to fuel consumption.

Fuel has only gotten more expensive, and most passengers have only gotten more price-conscious when buying airline tickets.  The cheaper fuel may have been a game-changer back when the Concorde was still flying, but color me skeptical about its being a game-changer nowadays.

Plus, the Concorde was basically government-funded to the tune of something like 80%, and they never really got anything back in return.  Because it flopped.

[kphoger]

Living in Wichita, though, I do wonder if there might be a market for private supersonic jets.  You know, so the next time Kim Kardashian flies from LA to Paris for some cheesecake, the overseas portion will take three hours less.

[DTComposer]

GLP-1s: While a great breakthrough for diabetes treatment, it has also become the latest in a long-line of fad medicines, causing scarcity for people who actually need it. I'm sure we'll go through the same "oh, we didn't know about the long-term-effects" process that we have for so many other things. Just humans once again trying to circumvent Mother Nature for superficial purposes.

It's a cure for obesity. That alone makes it one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in human history. Today, the FDA approved it as a treatment for kidney disease and studies say it may help treat Alzheimer's and alcoholism.

First, my understanding is that it's only been approved for kidney disease in people who already have diabetes, but feel free to source something different.

Second, it's not a cure for obesity (even the vaunted AI will tell you that). It's a management strategy - if you go off the drugs, you gain the weight back. It's been lionized as the latest "miracle drug" for obesity, and too many people are mis-using it (looking at Hollywood, where people think 15-20 pounds is enough to need an obesity drug).

While obesity is a serious issue for many people, there are many more who will continue to do anything to avoid lifestyle choices that could prevent or manage their weight gain.

Third, if the long-term prognosis for GLP-1s as a treatment for diabetes (and diseases hastened by diabetes) continues to be good, then I'd consider it as a "great medical breakthrough." As an obesity treatment, it doesn't even crack the top 100.

[kphoger]

Second, it's not a cure for obesity (even the vaunted AI will tell you that). It's a management strategy - if you go off the drugs, you gain the weight back. It's been lionized as the latest "miracle drug" for obesity, and too many people are mis-using it (looking at Hollywood, where people think 15-20 pounds is enough to need an obesity drug).

Then there's my uncle, who takes it for diabetes but, because of the weight loss side effect, now looks like a skeleton.

[english si]

High Speed Rail can claw back its high development costs by being able to run as-high-if-not-higher-capacity service (you can run big trains frequently) with lower-operating costs than if the same service was lower-speed (because the two big operating costs are trains and staff, with the savings coming from each train and crew doing more trips in a day more than outweighing the extra electricity costs of high speed). High Speed Air can't work if it is a Concorde model of a lower-capacity service with higher-operating costs than normal speed.

Concorde cost more to run per flight than the contemporary 747, and only held about a fifth of the passengers, so it was more than five times the cost of a jumbo per passenger for the airline to run it. And with the speed restrictions over land, the only travel flights it did were long-haul. A massively premium product!

Unless you had a cancelled business class flight, were very lucky, and they could squeeze you on the Concorde instead, Concorde was really really expensive. Concorde was typically pricier than first class on a Jumbo, but (while it did have first class perks like fancy food and lots of booze) had a worse cabin (less room, no in-fight entertainment) than economy in a Jumbo. The only reasons to take it were prestige* and speed**.

Concorde only was completed as a project because France and the UK were waning powers (especially after their previous collaboration that was the Suez debacle) looking for the prestige they had not that long before. It only carried on because Air France and British Airways (the two flag carriers) had spent a fortune backing their government's R&D investment and needed a return on that. It stopped as soon as it was clear to not be a net boon for the airline anymore.

The biggest shame of those beauties all being grounded is that they looked really good in the air, and are fantastic in a flypast. Now when the Battle of Britain is commemorated, they get the Spitfires that flew in the battle up in the air, but the thirty-years-younger Concordes can do no more than sit in the museums and do their nose thing in salute - they used to fly with them.

*My grandparents still have their commemorative cheap plastic model from their flight on display alongside other important memorabilia of their lives. It would look out of place if you didn't know what it meant.

**Which was only useful westbound - leave London at 8am, arrive NYC about four hours later at 7am and easily be able to make a 9am Manhattan meeting. But the other way - leave NYC at 9am, arrive London four hours later and it's 6pm and you've missed a whole day anyway. (I'm using London, rather than Paris, as their being on Berlin time exacerbates the problem) Or take an overnight flight and you jump from 11pm to 8am with less than 4 hours sleep - you'd usually be better off in First on a slower plane with more time and comfort to sleep!

[Scott5114]

GLP-1s means people can keep eating unhealthy food that makes corporations money while also paying money to pharmaceutical companies to counteract that unhealthy food. So the main thing it cures is lack of profit.

My wife was briefly on a GLP-1 and had to discontinue it because it completely wrecked her digestive system. Even though she stopped taking it about a year ago, it seems like the effect is permanent. I made Swedish meatballs on Friday and they upset her digestive system so badly she had to miss work on Sunday. (I had no problems with them, so it wasn't an issue with germs or undercooked meat or whatever.)

[kalvado]

ooh boy, yet another K12 thread that's basically the same thing as the last one. time for me to go back to bed.

Frankly speaking, boom is an interesting company. A lot of signs of moderate scam, but not a very clear cut. It's totally unclear what this prototype is about, but it's flying...

Building an aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds isn't something you can really fake.

Yes, but for now it's a very big hobby project - until there is something we don't know about.