Re:Boom Wants to Bring Supersonic Civilian Travel Back
by wazoox on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @04:06PM
(#12791197)
A 40 seater is only slightly bigger than say, a Dassault Falcon. Dassault has been building supersonic jets for 60 years; they certainly know how to build a supersonic private jet, but they never actually tried it. Apparently, there are no suitable engines available (tough problem). And is there a market?
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Re:Boom Wants to Bring Supersonic Civilian Travel Back
by daleg on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @04:31PM
(#12791398)
There are tons of suitable engines and engine designs. The big problem is: Who would buy it? No manufacturer in the already niche, thin-margined, and overstocked business/charter jet market is going to be the first penguin off the iceberg to find that out. Even with a new subsonic model, one flop can mean a rapid financial death for the company.
There are plenty of other considerations outside of the factory floor and design rooms to consider - operating costs, the availability of qualified A&Ps to fix the thing, the parts network, the cost of the parts (if you buy a $15M plane, you're going to pay $15M plane prices for spares and overhauls). Insurance will surely take their pound of flesh for something that's A) a company's first product B) a new category, and C) supersonic. Finally, with the general public being decidedly anti-aviation, the noise profile of this plane might very well limit where it can fly in and out of. It's a basic matter of aeodynamics, and the same problem that the Concorde experienced almost 50 years ago.