Tag: Blake Scholl

Commercial Supersonic Travel Could Shrink the World

Panelists: Moderator Peter Coen, project manager of commercial supersonic technology, NASA’s Langley Research Center; Michael Buonanno, deputy chief engineer, QueSST X-Plane, Lockheed Martin; Robert Cowart, director of supersonic technology development, Gulfstream Aerospace; Vik Kachoria, president and CEO, Spike Aerospace; Blake Scholl, founder and CEO, Boom Technology; Gurdip Singh Ubhi, business development executive, Rolls-Royce

by Tom Risen, Aerospace America Staff Reporter (2017-2018)

Advances including aerodynamics, propulsion and composites can make supersonic flight more affordable and open more travel routes than the commercial flights once offered by the British Airways Concorde, a panel of aviation executives said during the 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum in Denver.

Supersonic flight can “shrink the world” the same way subsonic jet flight did by making it easier for families to visit relatives or vacation or for executives to make business trips, Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Colorado-based startup Boom Technology, said June 6 in the “Supersonic Transport” panel.

The Concorde had a top speed of Mach 2, or more than 2,000 kph, when it flew commercial flights between 1976 and 2003. The plane was too expensive to fly on limited commercial routes, however, so it “was an economic catastrophe,” Scholl said.

Advances including carbon composites and improved propulsion, however, make it more affordable to build a new generation commercial supersonic jet, Scholl said. In 2018, Boom plans to test the XB-1, a prototype version one-third the size of a supersonic airliner it hopes to debut and certify in the early 2020s.

Supersonic flight, however, creates noise that can not only disturb people and wildlife, but also can have environmental impact — like causing avalanches in mountain ranges, said Vik Kachoria, CEO of Spike Aerospace in Boston.

For this reason, the FAA banned supersonic flights over land even before Concordes began flying over the Atlantic. Reducing the noise of a sonic boom could make it more acceptable for regulators in the U.S. and Europe to allow supersonic flight routes around the world that could take hours off travel time.

To address the noise problem, Spike is developing its S-512 Quiet Supersonic Jet, which aims to cruise with 18 passengers at Mach 1.6 without producing a loud, disturbing sonic boom on the ground, Kachoria said.

This new generation of supersonic commercial travel will be available mainly to the “super rich for now,” Kachoria said, adding there will be a demand for people to travel to London for important business meetings within three or four hours.

“We’ll figure out how to do it better, faster, larger,” he said.

Selling supersonic jets or commercial flights to the wealthy who can afford it “breaches the market; it opens the door,” said Robert Cowart, director of supersonic technology development at Gulfstream Aerospace.

 

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All 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum Videos

The Future of Commercial Supersonic Flight

Panelists: Moderator Robbie Cowart, director, supersonic technology development, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.; Mike Hinderberger, senior vice president of aircraft development, Aerion Corp.; David Richardson, director for air vehicle design and technology, Advanced Development Programs, Lockheed Martin; Blake Scholl, founder and CEO, Boom Supersonic; Kevin Welsh, executive director, Office of Environment and Energy, FAA

by Tom Risen, Aerospace America Staff Reporter (2017-2018)

Executives from companies aiming to manufacture a new generation of supersonic airliners and a representative from the FAA working to create regulations to enable them to fly over land spoke about their efforts June 29 during the “A Path to Supersonic Commercial Travel” panel discussion at the 2018 AIAA AVIATION Forum in Atlanta.

The British Airways Concorde, which stopped doing commercial supersonic flights in 2003, only flew over oceans because commercial planes in European and U.S. airspace are forbidden from breaking the sound barrier over land to prevent community disturbance from a sonic boom.

Mike Hinderberger, senior vice president of aircraft development at Aerion Corp., said his company plans to begin offering flights by targeting the business jet set the Concorde catered to.

“We would love to go Mach 2 and Mach 2.5,” Hinderberger said of the Aerion AS2. But, he said, Mach 1.4 will be the super cruise speed of the plane because it would balance fuel burn to enable better range and limit noise. Aerion aims to fly the AS2 in 2023 and deliver to customers in 2026. The company is working with Lockheed Martin to design and develop the plane.

NASA has also contracted Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works to design, build and do initial test flights of the agency’s newly named X-59 low-boom supersonic demonstrator aimed at reducing the noise of a sonic boom. David Richardson, director for air vehicle design and technology at Skunk Works, said NASA and the FAA have a “once in a generation shot” to certify commercial supersonic aircraft to fly over land.

“If we don’t get it right, right now I don’t think we are going to be able to do this again in 30 years; someone will say, ‘look at what happened back then,’” Richardson said.

There are landing and takeoff noise standards to certify subsonic planes, and one was specifically written for the Concorde, but none exist for new commercial supersonic planes other than a provision for testing. The pace of how that new certification process unfolds “is going to be critical in the design, development and advancement of these aircraft.”
said Kevin Welsh, executive director of the FAA’s Office of Environment and Energy.

Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Colorado-based Boom Supersonic, said his company is among the firms aiming to do commercial flights over oceans until regulations enable flights over land. To avoid certification snags with the Boom supersonic airliner, Scholl said, “we have a rule — no new technology on the plane if it has not been certified.”

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All 2018 AIAA AVIATION Forum Videos