12th Commentary - Supersonic Travel Once More ?
This commentary is on the article entitled 'Sydney to London in two hours', dated 26th March 2006.
The article is about the testing of a scramjet, codenamed 'HyShot III', that could achieve speeds of Mach 8 - 8 times the speed of sound. The report also states the possibility of achieving speeds of Mach 10 by June this year. All these tests are supposed to create a new super-fast jet engine that could allow people to travel from Sydney to London in 2 hours.
I do agree that the success of such a test is a great step forward for high-speed travel. However, I do wonder how much different the new types of planes would be from the now defunct Concorde, except for the greater speeds possible. As we know, the Concorde was the fastest passenger planes ever, at speeds of around Mach 2. However, there were problems such as noise pollution that restricted the number of places the Concorde could fly to, and a high construction cost that limited the number of Concordes produced. Furthermore, the high prices limited the number of people that could afford to fly. Would new supersonic passenger planes still have such problems? How would companies make the new planes more economically viable? These are some of the questions the creators of the new engines have to solve before the dream of flying from Sydney to London in two hours can be fufilled.
Safety is another major concern that the companies will have to ensure. As we know, the Concorde was brought down partly because of serious accidents, especially one that killed a large number of passengers. If the new planes and engines can be safe enough, there would be no problem from this area. If that is so, then more would want to fly supersonic - just like the times of the Concorde.
It is my hope that supersonic fights would be achieved once more in the near future; faster, cheaper, quieter and safer than ever before.
The article is about the testing of a scramjet, codenamed 'HyShot III', that could achieve speeds of Mach 8 - 8 times the speed of sound. The report also states the possibility of achieving speeds of Mach 10 by June this year. All these tests are supposed to create a new super-fast jet engine that could allow people to travel from Sydney to London in 2 hours.
I do agree that the success of such a test is a great step forward for high-speed travel. However, I do wonder how much different the new types of planes would be from the now defunct Concorde, except for the greater speeds possible. As we know, the Concorde was the fastest passenger planes ever, at speeds of around Mach 2. However, there were problems such as noise pollution that restricted the number of places the Concorde could fly to, and a high construction cost that limited the number of Concordes produced. Furthermore, the high prices limited the number of people that could afford to fly. Would new supersonic passenger planes still have such problems? How would companies make the new planes more economically viable? These are some of the questions the creators of the new engines have to solve before the dream of flying from Sydney to London in two hours can be fufilled.
Safety is another major concern that the companies will have to ensure. As we know, the Concorde was brought down partly because of serious accidents, especially one that killed a large number of passengers. If the new planes and engines can be safe enough, there would be no problem from this area. If that is so, then more would want to fly supersonic - just like the times of the Concorde.
It is my hope that supersonic fights would be achieved once more in the near future; faster, cheaper, quieter and safer than ever before.
posted by Raylen at 7:34 PM
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