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All Sonic, No Boom
Popular Science ^ | March 2007 | Eric Hagerman

Posted on 02/17/2007 8:21:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv

If you're ever lucky enough to fly a Quiet Supersonic Transport between New York and Los Angeles, you'll have just enough time to get through a movie -- a short one. Instead of the usual six hours, it will be a 1,100mph, two-hour hop. The QSST, as the proposed luxury private jet is known, could be the first civilian supersonic plane approved for overland routes, thanks to aerodynamics designed to muzzle its sonic boom. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works has been developing the project for six years under a $25-million contract from Supersonic Aerospace International (SAI), founded by Michael Paulson, son of Gulfstream founder Allen Paulson. The 12-passenger QSST would fly at between 47,000 and 57,000 feet with a range of 4,600 miles (Chicago to Rome, for example), and it doesn't need an extended runway. Configured with 12 club chairs, a spacious bathroom and a sweet A/V system, the QSST is aimed at diplomats or executives with plenty of money -- but little time -- to spare.

(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: airplane; plane; qsst; sst; technology
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To: SunkenCiv

Air Force, what do you think? Maybe a smaller version?


21 posted on 02/17/2007 8:48:44 PM PST by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: A. Pole
Methinks that Xavier's Academy for Gifted Children wants one. . . in black.

VTOL model. . .


22 posted on 02/17/2007 8:49:10 PM PST by Salgak (Acme Lasers presents: The Energizer Border: I dare you to try and cross it. . .)
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To: SunkenCiv
Watch the "Flight Simulation 4:00 Video" at the QSST Website. It's a pretty cool CGI of one of these in flight. Nice advertising. Any idea what the music is from?
23 posted on 02/17/2007 8:49:52 PM PST by BlueOneGolf (The 2nd Amendment...America's ORIGINAL Homeland Security! http://www.ar15.com)
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To: RedCell
Maybe Nancy will want one of these.

No. It'll be to small. And to quiet.

Now if you could make the 747 or A380 supersonic, that she'd want.

Don't worry about the cost, fuel economy, emissions, or noise. Nancy's not.

24 posted on 02/17/2007 8:51:52 PM PST by mountn man (The pleasure you get from life, is equal to the attitude you put into it.)
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To: NicknamedBob; NormsRevenge; BlueOneGolf

Thanks.


25 posted on 02/17/2007 8:52:59 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Thursday, February 15, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: NicknamedBob
# Cost (projected): $2.5 billion development cost; $80 million per aircraft

Damn. That's just $1.5 million over my budget. Guess the slopes in Gstaad will have to wait a few hours longer.

26 posted on 02/17/2007 8:53:13 PM PST by Alter Kaker (Hard headed brainwashed trained monkey)
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To: PAR35

Actually the fuselage, vertical stabilizer and nose are similar to the SST. It's interesting too that the nosewheel is located so far back, again similar to the SST. I have no idea how far along this design concept is, but the SST had a very sophisticated fuel management regime to shift the CG fore and aft depending on the phase of flight it was in. I kind of wonder if this one has to jump through the same hoops, or if they've broken new ground in supersonic flight.


27 posted on 02/17/2007 8:54:53 PM PST by kylaka
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To: Dashing Dasher

Wanna go halvcies on one?


28 posted on 02/17/2007 8:57:01 PM PST by null and void (This sentence no verb...)
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To: RedCell

I said before that NASA has a launch facility in the VA portion of Delmarva. Give her that hypersonic vehicle, and launch her from the Chesapeake Bay to SF Bay.


29 posted on 02/17/2007 8:57:26 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: NicknamedBob

I'm surprised the unit cost is as high as 80 million. You can get an F-22 for 120 million....


30 posted on 02/17/2007 8:59:32 PM PST by newguy357
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To: SunkenCiv

31 posted on 02/17/2007 9:01:40 PM PST by hamboy
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To: ChildOfThe60s

By the time this is available, they'll have robotic hairdressers the size of a present-day hair drier.

And it'll include a robotic face-stretcher, too.

< };^)


32 posted on 02/17/2007 9:02:23 PM PST by Erasmus (Zwischen des Teufels und des tiefen, blauen, Meers.)
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To: PAR35
He meant optimized for supersonic cruise I think :)

One thing Boeing does better than anyone else, optimization of all the conflicting/competing variables to make a vehicle like they do.

You can go all the way back to the B-17, and see that in play.
33 posted on 02/17/2007 9:02:56 PM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: SunkenCiv
I think companies like NetJets and FlexJet will buy them on a very large scale once the plane enters production. The reason is simple: unlike the Concorde, the QSST will meet even the stringent ICAO rules on noise and exhaust emissions, thanks to technologies vastly more modern than the technology used on the Concorde (which is essentially late 1950's knowledge of aerodynamics).

By the way, by limiting the top speed to around Mach 1.6, it drastically lessens the need for expensive heat-resistant structural materials, since the structural heating of plane flying at Mach 1.6 is much lower than the Concorde's Mach 2.1 cruising speed.

34 posted on 02/17/2007 9:06:13 PM PST by RayChuang88
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"Concord Man" is just a nickname I guess, like the earlier characters, "Titanic Man" and "Hindenberg Man".

Concord Man Recalls Luxury Airplane Flights Of Long Ago
County Press | By Eileen Shomo and Sue Fritz
Posted on 02/17/2007 10:08:56 AM EST by Tribune7
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1786511/posts


35 posted on 02/17/2007 9:10:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Thursday, February 15, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
CAPITALIST PIGS!!!

I want one....
36 posted on 02/17/2007 9:11:10 PM PST by Dallas59 (Case Closed)
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To: NormsRevenge

The artists conception slideshow is interesting. I noticed the pilot appeared to be wearing a 'do rag'. Which may be appropriate, since some rap stars will probably buy one.


37 posted on 02/17/2007 9:11:41 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....nearly 2,000 years and still working today!)
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To: NicknamedBob

" $80 million per aircraft"

Can I pay you LATER??


38 posted on 02/17/2007 9:12:35 PM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Reagan would vote for Hunter)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
"Can I pay you LATER??"

As I suggested in my private FReemail to you, not too much later ...

39 posted on 02/17/2007 9:15:07 PM PST by NicknamedBob (You may not grok eating the sandwich, but the sandwich groks being eaten.)
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To: SunkenCiv

BTTT


40 posted on 02/17/2007 9:15:19 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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