Bangkok to Los Angeles in just over 5 hours. The second supersonic revolution.

[webfact]

BUSINESS

Bangkok to Los Angeles in just over 5 hours. The second supersonic revolution.

By The Thaiger

 

PHOTOS: boomsupersonic.com

 

When the world’s first supersonic passenger jets took to the skies (in December 1968 – The Russian TU-144, followed not long after by Concorde in March 1969) the two aircraft had been designed with slide rulers and tested in rudimentary wind tunnels. The age of computer design and digital bench testing was a generation away.

 

Still, the feat to design and fly these supersonic passenger jets was an engineering marvel that was, sadly, enjoyed by few.

 

The TU-144 was an early failure, but the Concorde flew on until 2000, when an Air France Concorde crashed just after take-off. It was the final nail in the coffin for the world’s short experiment with supersonic passenger flights (flown commercially by British Airways and Air France).

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/business/bangkok-to-los-angeles-in-just-over-5-hours-the-second-supersonic-revolution

 

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2019-01-30

[Berkshire]

BKK to LA in 5.5 hrs would be awesome.  Would be even more awesome if they can get the price down to reasonable rates.  Regardless, sign me up!

[quandow]

I have flown Bangkok to San Francisco and back for years, EVA air economy plus. Two weeks ago I had enough miles to upgrade to business class. DAMMIT now I'm spoiled forever!!!

[Airalee]

I’ll bet that the round trip ticket cost will make a current first class ticket (not business) look downright affordable.

[KittenKong]

47 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

BKK to LA in 5.5 hrs would be awesome.  Would be even more awesome if they can get the price down to reasonable rates.

I made that flight a year or two ago, but in business class. It took me nearly 4 times as long as the 5.5hrs mentioned, but I enjoyed it very much and arrived feeling refreshed and looking forward to my holiday.

 

I personally dont the see the point of going faster unless the price and comfort are at least as good as on a normal plane in business class.

[neeray]

I read an interesting article about supersonic jets recently. They are something like a foot longer at supersonic speeds than not at ... . That's quite a s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

[neeray]

1 minute ago, KittenKong said:

I made that flight a year or two ago, but in business class. It took me nearly 4 times as long as the 5.5hrs mentioned, but I enjoyed it very much and arrived feeling refreshed and looking forward to my holiday.

 

I personally dont the see the point of paying more to go faster unless the price and comfort are at least as good as on a normal plane in business class.

I love tropical Thailand but I hate my 30 hour travel time. Supersonic would be great but not on my pauper's budget.

[Airalee]

7 minutes ago, neeray said:

I love tropical Thailand but I hate my 30 hour travel time. Supersonic would be great but not on my pauper's budget.

I’d be happy if they could just ditch all the economy class seats and replace them with bunk beds.  Just shelve me, knock me out and wake me up when we arrive.

[neeray]

3 minutes ago, Airalee said:

I’d be happy if they could just ditch all the economy class seats and replace them with bunk beds.  Just shelve me, knock me out and wake me up when we arrive.

Me too !

[ballpoint]

26 minutes ago, neeray said:

I read an interesting article about supersonic jets recently. They are something like a foot longer at supersonic speeds than not at ... . That's quite a s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

The power of friction

[taichiplanet]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The TU-144 was an early failure

was told by someone who would've been privy to details that the Brits/French knew the Russians were getting design info of the Concorde so they passed info that was flawed.

[wwest5829]

3 hours ago, quandow said:

I have flown Bangkok to San Francisco and back for years, EVA air economy plus. Two weeks ago I had enough miles to upgrade to business class. DAMMIT now I'm spoiled forever!!!

Irony. I flew at least twice a year from Kentucky to Praha. One trip, I was beat, upgraded on air miles to Business Class. Only trip I made where I could not sleep!

[Proboscis]

The reason Concorde crashed was because of debris on the ground ruptured a fuel tank. Could have happened to any aircraft.

[steve187]

     

concorde's captains hat

on final voyage

[ballpoint]

27 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

The reason Concorde crashed was because of debris on the ground ruptured a fuel tank. Could have happened to any aircraft.

If anyone has some spare time, this makes for interesting viewing.  The debris was just the final straw in a series of misjudgements and cock-ups - none of them the fault of the aircraft itself, on that short lived flight.

 

[Happy Grumpy]

Pretty slow, compared to Musky's plans. 

[natway09]

Great, For the very wealthy only

[KittenKong]

56 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

The reason Concorde crashed was because of debris on the ground ruptured a fuel tank. Could have happened to any aircraft.

This is true (though there were other contributing factors as mentioned) but the real problem with Concorde as a scheduled transatlantic carrier was that it simply wasnt economically viable. It was viable as a tourist attraction and could have gone on for some years doing short hops over the bay of Biscay of wherever.

But in the end there would never have been any new ones built, so they all had to be mothballed at some point.

 

[connda]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Bangkok to Los Angeles in just over 5 hours

I was happy with Bangkok to LA direct in 14 hours.  Add a layover or two and it's two days.

[Snow Leopard]

4 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

was told by someone who would've been privy to details that the Brits/French knew the Russians were getting design info of the Concorde so they passed info that was flawed.

You are correct. They found a design flaw. The flawed plans were what the Russian stole. 

[Snow Leopard]

Concorde I think could fly for about 5 hours on a full tank. Does fuel efficiency extend to supersonic flight? 

[Snow Leopard]

4 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

was told by someone who would've been privy to details that the Brits/French knew the Russians were getting design info of the Concorde so they passed info that was flawed.

The TU 144 could only maintain supersonic flight with its afterburners on. Guess that seriously limited its range. I saw somewhere the only flights it did were between Moscow and Almaty. Normally a 4-1/2 hour flight. 

[Date Masamune]

It will never happen because of economics Thailand is an backwater nobody wants to fly there except on very cheap tickets. The US airlines pulled out of BKK years ago. I don’t think Thai Airways even serves North America anymore. On the other hand there are two daily nonstop flights on UA to Singapore. A leisure destination for budget travelers, non concern of businessmen on the proposed supersonic jet

 

[hotchilli]

As a retired ageing aircraft engineer I actually worked on Concord in my youth during my apprentice training.

I would love to see a modern version of the supersonic jet brought back to life.

In it's heyday there was nothing in the world that could touch it., and after it's sad demise there was nothing to follow it.

At the time of the crash it was on it's last legs anyway, fuel costs, engine noise etc etc had already spelt the end to it's illustrious days & image.

This time around I hope it will be put into service not just for the elite or the rich business man but made affordable to all.

The original Concord only seated around 100 passengers thus the high cost of each seat!

 

[hansnl]

6 hours ago, neeray said:

Me too !

It seems that bunk beds all over economy would mean  10-15 more passengers.

[Shaksey]

7 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

was told by someone who would've been privy to details that the Brits/French knew the Russians were getting design info of the Concorde so they passed info that was flawed.

Yep, that is 100% correct.

[Shaksey]

Usual slack reporting from that website.

 

Concorde flew until 2003 not 2000.

 

BA Concorde operations made an average yearly profit of £30-50 Million from around 1985 until 2000. The French could never run it properly or make a profit. Total BA profit from the aircraft was around £750 million over it's lifetime of 27 years in commercial service.

 

Concorde was certified at and could easily fly at M2.2 (even on three engines) but the extra wear on the engines, airframe etc at this speed compared to M2.02 which it did fly at in commercial service versus the time saving was deemed not worthwhile. I will bet that if Boom ever enters commercial service it will 'only' fly at M2.0ish for the same reasons.

 

Concores's engines and the aircraft itself were extremely efficient when supercruising at M2.02, at the time and for many years the engines were the most thermally efficient of any thermodynamic machine yet created. Outside of this supercruise envelope however the efficiency was a lot lot lower. 

 

Plans for a b.version were completed but none produced. This would have removed the reheats and added an extra internal combustion stage to the engine, with the aircraft also enlarged giving extra range/capacity and a lot less noise on take-off. This is what would have been the real money maker but a variety of factors came into play at the same time to stop the development happening.

 

[Grusa]

" was told by someone who would've been privy to details"

Talking about privvys, the toilets on Concorde were so small, it was necessary to decide whether to do a #1 or #2 before entering and closing the door. Impossible to turn around!1

[overherebc]

8 hours ago, neeray said:

I read an interesting article about supersonic jets recently. They are something like a foot longer at supersonic speeds than not at ... . That's quite a s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

Stories about Concorde include one about the stretchy carpet used to compensate for that friction induced heat and expansion.

Have a look at the intake design that had flaps to reduce the air intake at full speed. Without that system the engines at full speed ram effect would have caused flame out.

All calculated using real brains and slide rules.

[malibukid]

not in my life time