Allure of supersonic travel | Sunday Observer

Allure of supersonic travel

4 December, 2016

Last week, we focused on the airport of the future. But right now, waiting in an airport for a long flight is every traveller’s nightmare come true. Do you like to travel in a metal tube for 12 or more hours, non-stop? No one does, especially, if you are in cattle class (sorry, economy class) but that is the reality of long-haul travel. If you travel to North America, you are looking at a good 24 hours of your life for the flights and transit times at a couple of airports.

But what if you can fly faster? Most people would like to try that option, even if the tickets cost substantially more. A flight from London to New York, perhaps, the most in-demand international route, now lasts eight hours at least. What if you can get into a plane at Heathrow and be in New York in just three hours or less? Indeed, this gives rise to the tantalizing possibility of travelling to North America from Asia, in just 6-7 hours.

Do you remember the days when something close to this was already possible? Yes, the sleek looking Concorde, born as a result of Anglo-French collaboration and operated mostly by British Airways and Air France, flew at supersonic speeds. Supersonic means travelling faster than the speed of sound. In fact, the Concorde managed to fly at twice the speed of sound - 2,180 Km per hour.

When it took to the skies commercially 40 years ago, there was nothing quite like it. The Concorde, of which only 26 were built, never really recovered after the crash in Paris on July 25, 2000 in which all 113 passengers and crew were killed. Commercial flights ceased in October 2003 and the remaining aircraft are displayed at museums and airfields.

Interest

But, the idea of supersonic travel never faded even after the Concorde’s demise. It has even rekindled interest in Hypersonic travel – at five times faster than the speed of sound. How will you benefit from travelling at hypersonic speed? At that rate, you can get from London to Sydney in as little as two hours. Right now, you are looking at 24 hours. Or you can get from London to New York in less than one hour. Supersonic or hypersonic, viable plans are underway to bring back ultra high speed commercial air travel in less than 10 years.

We already have the technology for supersonic air travel – but the problem is, the world has moved on since 2003 and a lot of things have changed. There are tighter noise and emissions levels for starters – the sonic boom emanated by a supersonic plane is a strict ‘no-no’ over land areas. Over water, there is greater allowance for sound. The challenge, therefore, is to build quieter, less polluting engines. Today’s normal jet engines are much quieter than they were 10 years ago and the same parameters will apply to supersonic travel.

Several designs and technologies are already competing for supersonic travel and they might all emerge winners, just like jets and turboprops which now exist side by side. Sir Richard Branson has unveiled the prototype for a new supersonic aircraft that promises to halve air travel times and send passengers between London and New York in three hours and 15 minutes.

The XB-1 has been nicknamed ‘Baby Boom’ and is claimed to be the world’s fastest civil aircraft ever made and promises to give passengers affordable air travel. ‘Affordable’ is a relative term here - the price of a supersonic one-way flight between London and New York is currently set at Rs.460,000. Since the first commercial flight is slated to take place only in 2023, inflation may raise this price. The new aircraft has a cruising speed of Mach 2.2 or 1,451mph, which is 10 per cent faster than Concorde’s speed of Mach 2 and 2.6 times faster than other airliners. The new planes are set to carry 40 passengers at a time.

Another new supersonic commercial aircraft could be making trans-Atlantic flights in around four hours as early as 2023. The Aerion would be able to fly London to New York in 4 hours and 24 minutes. Test flights of the supersonic jet, which can fly at speeds of Mach 1.5 over water where noise is not restricted, are expected as early as 2021. The jet will accommodate just 12 passengers and there are plans to build 600 jets over the next 20 years at a cost of $110 million each. The craft is being developed with a range of cutting edge features, including carbon fibre wings that mean the jet can run on less fuel and landing equipment that minimizes space in the fuselage when stowed.

Technology

The third alternative is NASA and Lockheed Martin’s Quiet Supersonic Technology (Quesst). Their low-boom shaping technology is designed to control the shock waves that are generated as the plane crosses the speed of sound barrier. This would drastically reduce the sonic boom to a level that would permit supersonic travel over land. This would open up routes such as California to New York, as well as routes across Asia.

The hypersonic plane would take off using a regular jet engine, before rocket boosters kick in to start a sharp ascent, sending the plane soaring above the atmosphere. Ramjet engines, currently used in missiles, would then take the plane up to altitudes of about 30km as the plane cruises at speeds up to mach 4.5, or 4.5 times the speed of sound. The turbojets would reignite to enable landing. This is quite complicated unlike the other two which have a more or less conventional approach, but NASA’s backing may pull it through.

Both airlines and passengers will win if supersonic travel gains ground, literally. First, the airlines can do away with a very elaborate meal service. Shorter travel times will mean that aircraft can be rotated much sooner – today, a one-way flight from Dubai to New York can easily ‘block’ that plane for nearly 15 hours. However, a supersonic plane will be back at the original destination during the same period, which makes it possible to use it again after one hour of refuelling and maintenance. Airlines will probably have higher margins on ticket sales as only a few people will be able to afford the higher fares at first. But, there is no doubt that Supersonic travel will bring the world closer together and it is only a matter of time before the fares come down, especially, if oil prices do not soar. It will be the next big frontier in travel. 

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