The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
CNN: Supersonic Flight Returns?
Too early to call it a sure thing but it looks as if we may see the return of commercial supersonic travel in our lifetimes! And the weird part? They're talkin' about "quieter sonic booms." Hey, if that's what it takes....
By adjusting the shape of the planes wings and tail you can adjust the focus to the shock wave. In doing this you can reduce the angle width of the cone from same 75 degrees down to 40 so that the sound has to travel much farther before hitting the ground. This dissipates the sound (shock wave) to lower levels. Kind of like a suppressor.
Back when Braniff brought the Concorde into/out of DFW, the Sunday morning departures went over my house at over five thousand feet up. The Concord was louder at that distance than a 737 at a couple of hundred yards.
(c) 2007 through 2023, inclusive. All rights reserved.
Ego vadum perussi vestri prandium
"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."
Henry David Thoreau
Blogs: A link here does not constitute an endorsement! Many people have gone nuts in recent years.
4 comments:
Strong message from Al Gore to follow.
Can you imagine the bleating of the carbon footprint police?
By adjusting the shape of the planes wings and tail you can adjust the focus to the shock wave. In doing this you can reduce the angle width of the cone from same 75 degrees down to 40 so that the sound has to travel much farther before hitting the ground. This dissipates the sound (shock wave) to lower levels. Kind of like a suppressor.
If there is a market and access to it isn't regulated to death, then this will happen, one way or the other.
Jim
It isn't just the booms.
Back when Braniff brought the Concorde into/out of DFW, the Sunday morning departures went over my house at over five thousand feet up. The Concord was louder at that distance than a 737 at a couple of hundred yards.
And that was definitely sub-sonic.
Post a Comment