A new generation of supersonic private jets could trigger a boom in luxury high-speed flight — without the sonic boom normally associated with breaking the sound barrier.
Lockheed Martin’s advanced Skunk Works unit is designing a small, 12-seat passenger jet that would travel at 1,200 mph (Mach 1.8) but which would produce only a whisper of the annoying crack once emitted by the retired Concorde.
The sleek, 130-foot-long QSST (for “quiet supersonic travel”) aircraft is being designed for a Nevada consortium called Supersonic Aerospace International, or SAI, at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.
Aimed at business executives and diplomats, the QSST will fly at nearly twice the speed of conventional business jets and have a range of 4,600 miles nonstop — Los Angeles to New York in just over two hours.
It could be ready for boarding by 2013, according to the company.
Meh.
How about New York to London in less than an hour? Now that’s more like it.
And hell, while we’re on the topic of outlandishly silly-ass engineering feats, can we get a fricking space elevator up and running already?
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