The advent of air travel transformed the globe, making people from all corners of the Earth more interconnected than ever before. Aircraft stand as incredible achievements of technology, showcasing humanity’s capacity to broaden our perspectives. However, what about the experience of squeezing into narrow seats within a metallic cylinder for extended periods while enduring the sound of an infant’s cries? It isn’t particularly enjoyable nowadays.
The primary attraction of supersonic commercial travel was reducing the duration spent aboard the aircraft. Similar to fighter jets breaking the sound barrier, these flights promised to transport passengers from New York to London in merely three hours. In certain scenarios crossing time zones efficiently, one could potentially reach their destination earlier than when they initially departed.
Even though rapid transit seems appealing, no supersonic passenger jets have taken flight since 2003. How come, as a society, we opted for the less exciting option of traveling at mere subsonic speeds instead?
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The Prospects — And Perils — Of Supersonic Travel
In 1968, the Soviet Union made history when they launched the Tupolev Tu-144 capable of reaching an impressive speed of Mach 2.15. The following year, in 1969, a collaborative effort between France and Britain presented their rival aircraft—the iconic Concorde—boasting a maximum velocity just under that of its counterpart at Mach 2.04. Despite being somewhat swifter but more troublesome compared to the British-French collaboration, the Concorde maintained service for many years longer due to fewer operational issues. Boasting speeds well above those of conventional jets and flying nearly two times higher, the Concorde marked the dawn of a novel era in air transportation.
However, it did not. Speedy flight has a significant drawback: explosive shock waves called sonic booms. In extreme cases, they can be strong enough to break glass, posing quite a substantial issue for something like an entire city.
These supersonic flights are also incredibly loud.
Due to stringent noise pollution regulations, the Concorde was confined to transatlantic flights between London and New York as well as Paris and New York. It rarely ventured onto other routes, even then doing so only sporadically and briefly. This limitation greatly reduced demand for the aircraft, leading to the production of merely 20 Concordes, four of which were not used for passenger transport.
Moreover, the Concorde had an insatiable thirst for fuel, consuming double what a Boeing 747 did, which was detrimental to both the environment and operating expenses. Adjusted for modern currency, a round-trip ticket would set passengers back approximately $66,000. All at once, the wailing infant on a subsonic flight started to seem rather manageable.
Might We See Supersonic Travel Return Someday?
With dwindling interest plus rising maintenance costs over the decades, the Concorde only needed one bad day to get pulled out of the air. That day sadly came on July 25, 2000, when 113 passengers died in a crash. With public confidence shattered, the last Concorde flew in 2003.
Could we potentially witness the comeback of supersonic airplanes someday? Indeed, we could! Currently, NASA is working towards this very objective through their Quesst mission aimed at designing an aircraft that generates soft sonic “thumps” instead of loud sonic booms. Should they succeed with this technology, flying across continents over inhabited regions would be viable, significantly strengthening the commercial appeal.
Indeed, several startups have taken up the challenge to revive supersonic commercial jet travel. This year alone,
Boom Supersonic has successfully conducted tests of its XB-1 aircraft.
, supposedly with no sonic booms, and the company has already secured sales of multiple units (yet to be produced) to United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines.
Several other businesses are also in the process of developing their products.
If everything works out, you could potentially arrive before your departure time soon.
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