Boom Supersonic Successful Test Flight

[Plutonic Panda]

I think supersonic airplanes are gonna happen at some point in the future. It's just a matter of an an advancement in aeronautical engineering to create an engine that is efficient enough to make whatever company is operating money. But it seems to be like nuclear fusion. We're always 10 years away from it.

Isn't this a nonstatement?

We'll have it eventually but it never happens.

Sort of like that old quote about Brazil being the country with the most economic potential -- and it will always be.

Pretty much. But much like me being a guy saying a glass is completely full because air is filling the other half of it.

All this talk about supersonic airplanes has me thinking when we're getting hypersonic airplanes.

[kalvado]

I think supersonic airplanes are gonna happen at some point in the future. It's just a matter of an an advancement in aeronautical engineering to create an engine that is efficient enough to make whatever company is operating money. But it seems to be like nuclear fusion. We're always 10 years away from it.

Isn't this a nonstatement?

We'll have it eventually but it never happens.

Sort of like that old quote about Brazil being the country with the most economic potential -- and it will always be.

Pretty much. But much like me being a guy saying a glass is completely full because air is filling the other half of it.

All this talk about supersonic airplanes has me thinking when we're getting hypersonic airplanes.

The only ones you may experience, though, are hypersonic missiles.

[kernals12]

Concorde was developed in the 1960s. Aviation technology has moved ahead mightily since then

Has it? It moved on mightily in that decade ending with a supersonic commercial passenger plane, a massive passenger jet that changed the whole economics of flying* and a vehicle to put men on the moon and to blast off again. Those vehicles all first flew them in a 4 week window 56 years ago (February 9th 1969 saw the 747's first flight, March 2nd 1969 saw Concorde's first flight and the Lunar Module's first flight was a day later). An explosion of technical triumph, doing several different things that all would have seemed a long long way off at the beginning of the decade

In the nearly 56 years after, only one of those mighty achievements was beaten (the 747, by the A380), and that's the one that, while we don't fly Concorde or LMs anymore, hasn't vanished - you can still fly in what is basically a 60s plane and airlines haven't really divested themselves of these old planes from a company that has some reliability issues because it remains still one of the best planes available for moving lots of people across oceans.

Has the tech moved on 'mightily' when no one has been back to the moon, or flown supersonic commercial for decades? Has it moved entirely in a forward direction given the '60s version of the 737 (until recently, the most popular commercial aeroplane family) was less fatal than the '10s version was?

Sure we have Boom and Artemis coming about now, fuelled by nostalgia just as much as innovation. For over 20 years we've been looking back at those craft from '69 and wondering "have we forgotten how to do it?", and only now are finally getting back "no, we haven't forgotten".

*That's what killed Concorde's commercial viability on arrival - cheap and capacious was more revolutionary, and more profitable, than flashy and fast.

It takes half as much fuel now to move a single passenger a given distance by air than it did in 1990 https://aviationbenefits.org/media/167219/fact-sheet_3_tracking-aviation-efficiency_3.pdf

[kalvado]

Original rationale for Concorde was exactly what you say about high speed trains.

It failed at the first bit (as-high-if-not-higher capacity) in a big way. With a plane half the size that takes half the time, there's no saving in crew or vehicles needed per passenger.

Concorde needed to seat ~250 rather than ~100 to have been more than just a prestige thing. From some googling, Boom is looking at fewer (but much nicer) seats than Concorde. Unless it can get running costs down a lot, it's not going to be the future of flying.

You assume Concorde was envisioned as the only member of its family. If sst took over as a mainstream air transportation, at least for long haul, things would not be limited to one model. Even Concorde B, a pretty modest upgrade, would make a difference with transpacific range.

SST didn't get to the level of mature technology. My impression is that boom is not so much about specific aircraft (which has very low chances of becoming a reality),  but about technology development.  shock wave control is mentioned as a big one. If SST gets quiet enough for overland flight, that's a significant step forward.
One may seriously ask what the prototype is about. It is nothing like advertised product. There has to be some big things behind it in order for investors to buy the concept of prototype.

And sort-of as expected, testing was for quiet supersonic flight. They bet on refraction of the sonic shock in the atmosphere.
I cannot say I am very impressed, but it makes some sense

https://boomsupersonic.com/boomless-cruise