Technocrat

Supersonic Business Jets

zogger
Tue Nov 27 20:29:35 -0800 2007
Science.
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A new company, Aerion Corporation is developing a large business jet that they claim will have a normal cruising speed of Mach 1.5, and that they can surpass mach 1 slightly without a sonic boom, but plan on only doing .95 to .99 over areas that restrict trans mach speeds. The design is an offshoot of a DARPA "quiet jet" program along with help from Pratt and Whitney for the engines and a lot of work on their new wing design.

ed: I had never thought about it before, but besides the Concorde and the Russian variant, has there ever been a non military private plane that was supersonic? I mean a "normal" private/passenger/business plane, not a one off racer or anything like the spaceplanes being developed now.

Supersonic Business Jets
AB3A
Wed Nov 28 18:43:10 -0800 2007
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This is new and fertile ground for general aviation.  The problem with supersonic transportation up until now is that it does leave one hell of a sonic boom behind.  You spend ridiculous amounts of mony for not a whole lot of extra speed.  However, this Aerion concept may pave the way for quiet supersonic transportation.  The only down side as I see it, is the relatively low speed.  For a trans-sonic aircraft to really be effective, one would hope that it would be able to fly at speeds upwards of Mach 2, perhaps even going in to a balistic trajectory and re-entry back to earth. 

Air/Space craft like that could truly be quite efficient modes of travel. However, that's not what's being developed. 
 

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