Ran into this photo gallery at the Telegraph depicting renderings of a proposed super sonic transport (SST) being developed by Supersonic Aerospace International. It is a pretty bird aimed at the business class traveler, essentially a Mach 1.6 private jet that is quiet enough to be used at more airports than the old Concorde SST. Given the immense costs of fuel used to fly any "super cruise" plane, I don't see a valid market for it during hard economic times. Sure there are some sheiks out there who would love such a toy, but even they have felt the pinch the last year. Unless there is a huge turnaround in the global economy in the next decade, the timing of the aircraft will be poor.
Interestingly, Lockheed's Skunkworks designed the 'QSST', or Quiet SST, plane. The lack of afterburners should reduce takeoff noise considerably, but the F-22A Raptor pilots have found that it is more economical to use afterburners to reach supersonic speeds and then throttle back to cruise. It will require a lot more fuel pushing through the so called "sound barrier" of denser air from what they've said.
You can visit the home page of SAI here and get more information.
It would make a great model kit though, look at those lines!
Reviews of movies, anime, and the occasional TV show mixed with warnings on Blogger spam. Also to be found are musings on whatever I am thinking about - all from the point of view of being left to watch everything from the sidelines of life.
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