The Future of Supersonic Travel

Chuck Yeager began his career as a private in the Air Force during the most intense years of World War II in 1941. His outstanding piloting earned him a post-World War II job as a test pilot. Six years after he enlisted in the Air Force, he would become the first person to travel beyond the speed of sound—Yeager would fly the experimental X-1 Glamorous Glennis at Mach 1.05 on October 14, 1947. His flight proved that supersonic travel was possible and sparked a new race for supersonic technology between the United States and the Soviet Union, both already embroiled in the Cold War.

The U.S. was the first to develop a functional supersonic military aircraft: the Douglas F4D Skyray in 1951. However, this plane never saw combat. Later on, the Soviets were successful in developing and mass-producing the first viable supersonic aircraft: the MiG-19.

The challenge of building a better supersonic airplane soon turned to the commercial realm. Both sides wanted to push the limits of their technology: a commercial supersonic plane would require engines capable of keeping an aircraft much larger than a fighter jet in the air for extended periods of time. In addition, the aircraft’s frame would have to withstand immense pressure from shock waves and endure high temperatures caused by air friction. The French and British soon joined the race, but before then, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the development of the Soviet Union’s own supersonic airliner.

The Tupolev Tu-144 made its first flight near Moscow on December 31, 1968. The plane, developed by the Soviet Union, was the first of its kind. The Tu-144 flew three months earlier than the British-French BAC Concorde. Coupled with the U.S.’s dropping out of the supersonic race—which was going strong at the time—many thought that the Soviets would win the race to build a commercial and financially viable supersonic aircraft.

However, the Tu-144’s early public success did not last for long. At the Paris Air Show on June 3, 1973, the Tu-144 was scheduled to make an appearance to impress possible customers and investors. The Concorde flew before the Tupolev, and the Soviet pilots were dead set on beating their Anglo-French rivals. The Tu-144 climbed into the air, but several seconds after takeoff, the plane disintegrated. This accident caused 14 fatalities, six of them among the crew and the other eight being people on the ground.

The Paris accident delayed the Soviet supersonic program for four more years, allowing the Concorde to enter service in the commercial sector first. The final nail in the coffin for the Tu-144 came on May 23, 1978, when a Tu-144 caught on fire and forced an emergency landing during which two engineers were killed.

With the Soviets’ plane tragically forced out of the picture, the European-born Concorde was set to take the stage of supersonic travel. However, the plane found difficulty in making a name for itself. It could only hold 128 passengers, far less than what the traditional airplane could. The high price of fueling and maintaining such a plane led to the sale of prohibitively expensive tickets that only the rich could afford; one round-trip ticket from New York to London would cost a whopping $12,500. The high price of flying, along with a growing list of public accidents and malfunctions in the technology, led to a widespread decline in interest in supersonic travel. Plane manufacturer Airbus ended maintenance support for the Concorde in 2003, and the Concorde was indefinitely retired after its last flight on October 24, 2003.

The retirement of the Concorde marked the end of the era of commercial supersonic travel. However, NASA and several aerospace companies are now planning to end the 16-year hiatus in supersonic travel. Enter QueSST, a supersonic plane which might just be the future of air transport.

NASA, in conjunction with the aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, has set in motion an ambitious project to revitalize the field of supersonic air travel. It is called the Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST (Quiet Supersonic Transport) aircraft, and its main selling point is its reduction of the incomparably loud sonic booms caused by supersonic takeoffs when breaking the sound barrier. The plane would achieve quiet supersonic travel by using a unique design that obscures the pilots’ vision completely in order to streamline the shape of the craft. However, the QueSST aircraft would have a 4K camera that would allow the pilots to see in front of them, unlike the “droop snoot” (a snoot that droops, obviously) on the Concorde, which dropped down to allow vision during takeoff and landing.

The noise reduction that QueSST brings to the table is important because a particularly loud sonic boom can be so intense as to shatter glass windows or even cause structural damage to surrounding buildings. This is why the Federal Aviation Administration has banned commercial supersonic travel over land. The development of a quiet supersonic aircraft could possibly lift the ban, which may well foment further commercial interest in manufacturing it.

Other government agencies and aerospace corporations are also tackling the development of supersonic technology head-on. For example, the European science consortium, which includes the German Aerospace Center and the French Aerospace Lab, is currently developing the Stratofly MR3, an airplane capable of holding 300 passengers that would reach speeds up to Mach 8—around 5,400 miles per hour, or eight times the speed of sound—at altitudes higher than 98,000 feet. The consortium is exploring the use of ceramic reinforced with carbon fiber to construct the plane, as well as liquid hydrogen for fuel, to improve upon existing technologies.

However, the still-high price of a potential ticket for a seat on one of these airplanes remains an issue. The crafts would have enormous difficulty competing with the already well-established subsonic airplanes used by the aerospace industry.

But one company has avoided this problem by taking supersonic development entirely into the private sector: Aerion, an American aircraft manufacturer based in Reno, Nevada, is developing the Aerion AS2 business airplane. This airplane holds up to 12 passengers, and is expected to cost $120 million to purchase. The plane comes at a hefty price, but its future seems bright enough to make it well worth it.

Supersonic travel, if implemented properly, could cut many flight times in half. Daily trips across the globe would become as commonplace as smaller-scale air travel today. Corporate business trips, governmental state visits, and even family vacations would be revolutionized. But for now, we can only dream about looking down at Earth from 98,000 feet, zipping through the sky faster than the speed of sound.