Boom....The new Concorde...?

[nuffsaid]

Yet another attempt at a reboot....JAL and Branson (Boom Supersonic in Denver)

Would be good though...The new Concorde? JAL buys into Branson's supersonic dream

 

[editor]

It's really pulling at my heartstrings....

“Think about for a moment the families that are separated because of the long flights. Think about the trips not taken because when you add up the lost hours, the trip just doesn’t feel worth it....”

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Scholl said he started the project because he was “sad that I never got to fly on Concorde”.

 

[DotCommunist]

is calling it Boom a good idea given that s the noise the engine made on the last concorde flight

 

[TruXta]

is calling it Boom a good idea given that s the noise the engine made on the last concorde flight

Perfectly sets them up for boom and bust jokes when the wheels come off.

 

[8ball]

It's really pulling at my heartstrings....

"Think about the pain suffered by people who can't be arsed sacrificing a few extra hours to see their rellies but have heaps of cash..."

 

[Crispy]

Trouble with Boom is that there is no currently available engine that's suitable. Everything in the civilian world is high-bypass and subsonic and everything military is far too high-maintenance, and with no thought given to noise. Engine development is *not* cheap.

 

[DotCommunist]

Trouble with Boom is that there is no currently available engine that's suitable. Everything in the civilian world is high-bypass and subsonic and everything military is far too high-maintenance, and with no thought given to noise. Engine development is *not* cheap.

can't they just remake a concord engine. They must still have the blueprints in a filing cabinet somewhere

 

[DaveCinzano]

can't they just remake a concord engine. They must still have the blueprints in a filing cabinet somewhere

Probably a torrent somewhere - fire up the 3D printer and job's a good 'un

 

[existentialist]

can't they just remake a concord engine. They must still have the blueprints in a filing cabinet somewhere

The Concorde engines were, effectively, military. High-servicing needs, and very noisy.

 

[Dogsauce]

Would it be possible to build a supersonic catapult or trebuchet? Then maybe we could test it by firing Branson into the sun. It'd add to his tally of world records at least.

 

[krtek a houby]

Mushrooms and tardigrades, that's the way forward

 

[Crispy]

The Concorde engines were, effectively, military. High-servicing needs, and very noisy.

And built with 50 year-old metallurgy, tools, quality control and institutional knowledge.

 

[Teaboy]

And built with 50 year-old metallurgy, tools, quality control and institutional knowledge.

I can't imagine they were particularly energy efficient. Then again I can't imagine any engines that power something through the sound barrier are energy efficient.

 

[Crispy]

It's not quite as bad as you'd imagine. There's a huge increase in drag as you approach the sound barrier, but supersonic cruising is only ~2x harder than Mach 0.85, where regular passenger jets live. Here's coeffecient of drag against mach no.



Concorde crusied at >Mach 2 but it needed afterburner to get through the barrier.

 

[A380]

I’m a bit surprised that no one has taken a Cold War era supersonic fighter /bomber and retrofitted a four place cabin on the cockpit as an oligarch aerial conveyance.

 

[mauvais]

I can't imagine they were particularly energy efficient. Then again I can't imagine any engines that power something through the sound barrier are energy efficient.

They were remarkably efficient, for some definition of efficient anyway. It becomes difficult to make an objective comparison because obviously nothing else except military kit ever performed the same kind of role.

Some discussion here: In what way are the Concorde's engines considered efficient?

 

[kebabking]

I’m a bit surprised that no one has taken a Cold War era supersonic fighter /bomber and retrofitted a four place cabin on the cockpit as an oligarch aerial conveyance.

I'm not - you'd never get it signed off in the west, and anyone with the cash to do it in Russia wouldn't touch cold war era soviet aircraft with a 400ft burning bargepole.

The one to watch would be an SU-34 FULLBACK - it's a big fucker, and it's currently go two seats side-by-side. In structural terms it wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to put a fuselage extension in to make it a four man cockpit instead of two.

The, err... regulatory regime for people with large wedges of cash would be of some assistance in getting it signed off...

 

[A380]

I'm not - you'd never get it signed off in the west, and anyone with the cash to do it in Russia wouldn't touch cold war era soviet aircraft with a 400ft burning bargepole.

The one to watch would be an SU-34 FULLBACK - it's a big fucker, and it's currently go two seats side-by-side. In structural terms it wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to put a fuselage extension in to make it a four man cockpit instead of two.

The, err... regulatory regime for people with large wedges of cash would be of some assistance in getting it signed off...

It would have to be Russians as you say for the cash and attitude to regulations - I can see the Romanians signing it off. This would also mean it would have an awesome ( if you were 13) paint job....

 

[DownwardDog]

The one to watch would be an SU-34 FULLBACK - it's a big fucker, and it's currently go two seats side-by-side. In structural terms it wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to put a fuselage extension in to make it a four man cockpit instead of two.

The "Platypus" needs special nitrogenated fuel (and associated infrastructure) to get the thermal efficiency of the engines to slightly above abysmal so it's not really suitable for flying anywhere other than, er, between RuAF bases. See also Tu-160.

The Hunter based bizjet that never happened would have been a bit of a looker.

 

[SaskiaJayne]

Concorde flew supercruise which is supersonic flight without afterburners for longer than all other supersonic jets ever flown put together.

 

[OzT]

Probably that's because Concorde was the only jet able to fly supercruise?

Or so I believe . . . . maybe now the other jets can

 

[DownwardDog]

Probably that's because Concorde was the only jet able to fly supercruise?

Or so I believe . . . . maybe now the other jets can

F-104 was the first mass produced a/c to do it though not for any useful duration.

F-22 and all the 4th gen Eurocanards (Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen) can.

F-35, see F-104.

 

[bemused]

At $5000 a ticket you could go first class on a slow plane.

 

[OzT]

Cheers DownwardDog, though I'm not convinced F-104 did supercruise. Looking it up the F-22 did but was a later production than Concorde.

How do people knwo this stuff!! You a jet plane enthusiast?

 

[Crispy]

Probably that's because Concorde was the only jet able to fly supercruise?

Or so I believe . . . . maybe now the other jets can

Some military planes can, but only two civilian planes ever have (AFAIK), the other being later versions of the Soviet TU-144 "Concordski"

 

[DownwardDog]

Cheers DownwardDog, though I'm not convinced F-104 did supercruise. Looking it up the F-22 did but was a later production than Concorde.

How do people knwo this stuff!! You a jet plane enthusiast?

When the F-104A got the "Dash 19" engine it had 13,000lb dry thrust and would do M1.05 at FL250 without AB. Supercruise! It would also do 820+ KIAS on the deck and M2.4 at FL730. That was one hot ship, if you had the stones to take it there...

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

At $5000 a ticket you could go first class on a slow plane.

And there lies the reason this new Concorde won't take off. If what has to be discussed just can't wait a few hours you video conference it, otherwise you fly in comfort and get some rest, arriving ready to do business. When flying west you save time, Conc used to leave London at 1030 and arrive in New York at 0930. However it would leave JFK at 0900 and arrive in Lon don at 1700, a whole business day lost. Far better to fly overnight, get some sleep and hit the ground running.

 

[2hats]

supersonic cruising is only ~2x harder than Mach 0.85, where regular passenger jets live.

Sitting in the cruise around 50-60kft in less dense air also helped to some degree.

 

[8ball]

It was never supersonic. They just flew in a straight line rather than go in the funny curves you have to go in to avoid blowing the gaff on the "round world" conspiracy"!.