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More On Silent Supersonic Planes

Posted by timothy on from the more-of-a-phhhhffftt dept.

Reverberant writes "Popular Science describes the latest attempt at developing a supersonic plane designed to minimize sonic booms. The article describes some of the history behind the research, and recent attempts at validating the theory. Also note that researcher Ken Plotkin is a frequent contributer to alt.sci.physics.acoustics."

8 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. windows by dollargonzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    is it just me being paranoid, or is not having any windows and having cameras send external images to the cockpit a "bad thing." obviously, without computer systems, the planes are almost useless, but if anything happens to the camera, the pilot can't even *see* outside the plane.

    --
    BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
    1. Re:windows by pjt33 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I beg to differ. Instruments can fail, sometimes for unexpected reasons.

    2. Re:windows by the+pickle · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Assuming all hydraulic systems are fully operative, a 777 or 747 can actually do the last 50 feet, too.

      We pilots are there in case something goes wrong, and because ATC doesn't issue the exact same route every single time. Someone has to input the proper arrival procedure for the destination, since weather changes a LOT. ;)

      p

      --
      In Korea, long hair is for old people!
  2. Let's rather make subsonic planes silent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's very interesting, but would not it make more sense to make the normal, subsonic planes more silent? They are much more in use, and the noise causes a lot of grief near airports, especially at night. Here in Brussels, this problem is already for years on the political agenda, being a very difficult problem to solve (economics vs. health...), so silent planes are really a must!

  3. EVERYONE has heard a sonic boom by GuyMannDude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've never heard a sonic boom... so I'm not really sure how loud they are, but a co-worker described it as "pretty much sounds like thunder".

    EVERYONE has heard a sonic boom at one point: the crack of a whip. That sound you hear is not the tip of the whip hitting anything. It's the sound of the tip accelerating beyond the speed of sound and creating a mini-sonic boom. That little flick at the end causes the tip to snap out at incredible speed.

    Now as far as a big sonic boom, I haven't heard one either. I'm sure there are some pretty strict regulations about not creating sonic booms in civilian areas.

    GMD

    --
    watch this
    1. Re:EVERYONE has heard a sonic boom by CvD · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Here in the Netherlands about two months ago a bunch of cities were subjected to sonic booms of 2 F16's scrambling to intercept a commercial airliner that wouldn't respond to any sort of radio contact. It was some sort of charter from Scandinavia to Spain if I remember right (I can't find any news article about it any more). Later turned out to be a huge misunderstanding, but I guess they didn't take any chances and had the jets intercept.

      It was pretty cool... a very low boom as if someone had set off explosives somewhere a distance away. The windows rattled in their frames. I didn't know it was a sonic boom at the time, but it was mentioned on the news later.

      --
      The Official Steve Ballmer Webpage
  4. There will still be protests by SteakandcheeseUm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am almost certain that people wont want it flying over their neighborhoods. I can remember watching a show about all of the hubub people made about the Concord landing at their local airport. You would have thought the world was going to end!

    Then, once they heard the landing (which wasn't any louder than a regular plane landing), they went back to their caves and silently watched the news for another issue to get their panties in a bunch about. *sigh*

  5. Dissapointing... by iawix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The research airplane in this experiment failed to reduce the sound of the sonic boom as much as hoped.

    In fact, this research is primarily intended for the next generation business jets , not the military. The future of such planes is up in the air in the moment, because not only do they have to reduce the wake of sonic booms (they shatter windows and suprise people), the regulations have to change. I for one know that the FAA is slow at that.

    Regarding the need for windows in airliners: A Boeing 777 pilot today needs to be able to see a few hundred feet ahead of him on takeoff, but after rotating off the runway, he doesn't need to see anything at all. Modern airliners can land and auto-flare... that is, land themselves in ZERO visibility conditions. The pilots undergo extra training for this, of course.

    --
    FAA Certified Flight Instructor