500ks

Ah, the eternal J85…

kent.misegades

So is it battery or hydrogen powered? Does it run on bio-diesel? Sounds that what passengers really want are airlines that don’t cancel flights and the end of a TSA that gets in the way of pleasurable, affordable air travel as we had in the 60s through the 80s. Mach 5 passenger travel? Who really believes that this is anything other than a weapon delivery system?

joe5

Haven’t we been here and done this before? Kelly Johnson is rolling in his grave.

rekabr52

Don’t believe I be a-getting on a Mach 5 airliner regardless of how small. At that velocity a problem could become catastrophic rather quickly or are the passengers going to wear full pressure suits, helmets, and parachutes?

1 reply

RichardKatz

Progress is a series of crawls, occasional leaps, and failures, some catastrophic. If this thing achieves a safety record on par with current commercial travel, I’d buy a ticket tomorrow. Since landings and takeoffs are the significant safety threats, if this idea can somehow slow down to land at current jet propelled aircraft speeds, it’ll possibly be safe. Landing at speeds of an F-104 Starfighter? Uh…probably not. As for high speed disasters, well, that possibility seems like a quick way of dying. Certainly beats agonizing in a nursing home somewhere!

jbmcnamee

I’m happy to see research like this being undertaken to expand our knowledge of high speed flight. It’s something that may benefit the military. However, I question whether it will end up producing a viable civilian transport aircraft. That is mainly because of the economics of operating such a craft. The Concord was a good aircraft, but the huge cost of operation basically made it uneconomical as an airliner due to the small number of seats available for paying customers. I suspect the same would apply here.

500ks

Tried poking your head outside of a subsonic airliner at FL370?

Arthur_Foyt

Considering how crappy most other places in the world are; why the hurry to get there?