NASA's X-59 supersonic jet makes 1st flight

[X3 Skier]

Except private business travel significantly increased during that time frame which is the target market of the recent SST ventures on several levels. Put together a fractional owner SST program and that would be quite revolutionary in the aviation industry.


As mentioned, none of the current “quiet” supersonic technology support an aircraft sized to move 100 pax let alone 50. At your typical global bizjet loads, 10-15 pax is average, which does fit into the current SST projects and current engine abiliti

Interested in what firms are pursuing a Supersonic Biz Jet (what Mach Target) and the status thereof. My interest is in Airline application.

I believe that Boom’s XB1 reached Mach 1.1 using engines derived from ones originally first delivered in the 50’s and then was retired before any further testing towards its originally stated Mach 2.2. Mach1.1 is about .1+ Mach faster than some existing Biz Jets capability IIRC. So the technology for a supersonic Mach 1.0+ Biz Jet certainly is in hand. Mach 2, is likely a different situation

Thus my interest in what Biz Jet companies are doing and the status.

The X-59 is single-place and no one is talking about a 50 or 100 seat X-59. Tool develpment and validation, OTOH, does include propulsive effects so there is likely to be some valuable transfer. OTOH, I don't think Boom, their status, or their actions are an accurate reflection of pretty much anything QUESST related. I don't believe they have a role in it at all.

Nauga,
'til the wheels fall off

Never said the X59 class of planes would scale to an airliner. My comment was about the fact that no engine exists or is planned for a 50-100 pax airliner.

X59 is an interesting science project. Totally unrelated to the economic feasibility of a SS Airliner unless it can be shown to reduce the Sonic Boom to levels acceptable for daily occurrences of populated areas, thus negating one obstacle.

 

[Bell206]

Interested in what firms are pursuing a Supersonic Biz Jet (what Mach Target) and the status thereof. My interest is in Airline application.

My info is dated but have seen 1.6-1.8 mach as targets for this size aircraft. But, haven’t seen, read, or heard much of any airliner applications since NASA canceled their civilian SST project in the late 1990s. However, after that cancelation Gulfstream, Dassault, and one other OEM continued supersonic bizjet research.

As to status, outside what has been publicly released for Boom, Spike Aero, and Aerion, haven’t really followed it much. But I do recall, Gulfstream has developed some sort of sonic boom tech and taken their current aircraft to .995 mach in the past 10 years or so as part of their research.

Unfortunately, given supersonic flight over land is prohibited by most NAAs, until they and ICAO develop a new rule structure not much incentive to pursue, which is why the start of the X-59 flight tests has been widely anticipated in those circles. And with the updated actions by ICAO, FAA, and EASA in reference to civilian supersonic flight, it appears the regulatory side is waiting for those results as well.