3 ms·
Can’t you do coast-to-coast? I thought the requirement is no sonic boom over land, but you can fly out over the ocean and then turn around at Mach N. Eg SF<>NYC
by theptip 5y ago
Can’t you do coast-to-coast? I thought the requirement is no sonic boom over land, but you can fly out over the ocean and then turn around at Mach N. Eg SF<>NYC would be an obvious route that is worth adding some miles at the start, if you can go 3-4x quicker.
- dharmab 5y agoA sonic boom is a continuous noise, not just at the transition. You perceive it as a single noise at the ground, but so does every other person along the entire flight path. Boom's aircraft uses a modern design that reduces the loudness of the sonic boom.
- theptip 5y agoThanks for the correction, I did have that incorrect. TIL. Interesting follow-up -- from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom, the angle of the shockwave cone decreases (i.e. gets narrower) as the plane's velocity goes up. I'm wondering at what Mach number would the cone be tight enough that it doesn't intersect land?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mpweiher 5y agoThe boom happens whenever you're flying supersonic, not just when you transition from < Mach 1 to > Mach 1.
- lvspiff 5y agoI hope everyone is given flight suits as just the image of a plane full of people making a 180 degree turn at 600mph to accelerate to 740mph is somewhat comical. I know not entirely what you are suggesting but its immediately the thought that came to mind.
- NegativeLatency 5y agoThe plane might not be efficient at subsonic or transonic speeds.