6 ms·

Isn't one of the main drawbacks of supersonic flight the noise?

idoh 6y ago
From their website: Overture flights will focus on 500+ primarily transoceanic routes that benefit from supersonic speeds—such as New York to London or San Francisco to Tokyo. Overture won't generate a sonic boom over land cruising at subsonic speeds. Its passengers won't even notice breaking through the "sound barrier," which will be inaudible and uneventful.
eikenberry 6y ago
The traditional solution was to only allow supersonic flights on the coasts where the jet could fly out over the ocean for the boom.
- repiret 6y ago
  There is a common misconception that the boom happens once while accelerating through the speed of sound. In fact it happens continuously while traveling supersonic. The Concord mostly (only?) flew transatlantic mostly for that reason. The US military hasn’t always been shy about continental supersonic flight. I grew up near Beale AFB where the SR71 was stationed and hearing a sonic boom was not an uncommon occourance in the 80s.
  - russellbeattie 6y ago
    Huh. As soon as I read what you wrote, I thought, "that actually makes sense", but then I wondered how it worked. Happily, Wikipedia's entry on Sonic Boom is detailed, with animations and specifics - including altitude and temperature, which affect if the boom is heard or not at ground level. Very interesting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom
  - eikenberry 6y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out. Didn't even think to look it up as I had just assumed it was that way forever.
phkahler 6y ago
In particular the sonic boom. There are ways to reduce that and they are trying to.
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  Can they reduce it enough that it would be acceptable for flying over land?
- Alupis 6y ago
  It's interesting... you'd think the military would have gone down this path already, and perhaps came up short? The ability to fly supersonic NOE (Nap-of-the-Earth) into enemy territory without leaving a trail of very loud sonic booms seems like it would be something of interest. B1-B Lancer's exist to do exactly this, but are quite noisy. Which either means I'm wrong and the military doesn't care about being quiet, or Boom will eventually reach the same conclusion... or Boom has something truly revolutionary that nobody else has achieved.
  - dillondoyle 6y ago
    Or maybe the military has technology we don't know about yet?
    - Alupis 6y ago
      I'm not so sure. Airplanes are hard to keep secret when they're flying around, and existing planes have their capabilities pretty well figured out by now. It's not every day a new airframe is built. I'd expect the $100MM USD F-35 to have all the latest tech, being the newest fighter available.
      - jazzyjackson 6y ago
        I expect the $100MM USD F-35 to cost half as much as they report, Area 51 style ;)
      - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago

idoh 6y ago

From their website: Overture flights will focus on 500+ primarily transoceanic routes that benefit from supersonic speeds—such as New York to London or San Francisco to Tokyo. Overture won't generate a sonic boom over land cruising at subsonic speeds. Its passengers won't even notice breaking through the "sound barrier," which will be inaudible and uneventful.

eikenberry 6y ago

The traditional solution was to only allow supersonic flights on the coasts where the jet could fly out over the ocean for the boom.

repiret 6y ago
There is a common misconception that the boom happens once while accelerating through the speed of sound. In fact it happens continuously while traveling supersonic. The Concord mostly (only?) flew transatlantic mostly for that reason. The US military hasn’t always been shy about continental supersonic flight. I grew up near Beale AFB where the SR71 was stationed and hearing a sonic boom was not an uncommon occourance in the 80s.
- russellbeattie 6y ago
  Huh. As soon as I read what you wrote, I thought, "that actually makes sense", but then I wondered how it worked. Happily, Wikipedia's entry on Sonic Boom is detailed, with animations and specifics - including altitude and temperature, which affect if the boom is heard or not at ground level. Very interesting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom
- eikenberry 6y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out. Didn't even think to look it up as I had just assumed it was that way forever.

phkahler 6y ago

In particular the sonic boom. There are ways to reduce that and they are trying to.

Judgmentality 6y ago
Can they reduce it enough that it would be acceptable for flying over land?
Alupis 6y ago
It's interesting... you'd think the military would have gone down this path already, and perhaps came up short? The ability to fly supersonic NOE (Nap-of-the-Earth) into enemy territory without leaving a trail of very loud sonic booms seems like it would be something of interest. B1-B Lancer's exist to do exactly this, but are quite noisy. Which either means I'm wrong and the military doesn't care about being quiet, or Boom will eventually reach the same conclusion... or Boom has something truly revolutionary that nobody else has achieved.
- dillondoyle 6y ago
  Or maybe the military has technology we don't know about yet?
  - Alupis 6y ago
    I'm not so sure. Airplanes are hard to keep secret when they're flying around, and existing planes have their capabilities pretty well figured out by now. It's not every day a new airframe is built. I'd expect the $100MM USD F-35 to have all the latest tech, being the newest fighter available.
    - jazzyjackson 6y ago
      I expect the $100MM USD F-35 to cost half as much as they report, Area 51 style ;)
    - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago