Super-Fast Domestic Flights?
 

Does anyone know if there any plans for super-fast domestic flights to be available? <BR> <BR>Wouldn't it be great if you could take the Concord from coast to coast? <BR> <BR>Considering how far technology has come, wouldn't you think that you should be able to go coast to coast in less than 6 hrs. and to Hawaii in less than 12 hrs. !!??

While the prospect of flying across the country in 2 hours is certainly enticing, and there would, no doubt, be a market for it from NY to LA (at any price I imagine), unfortunately there is one major scientific obstacle: sonic booms. <BR> <BR>When an object becomes supersonic (traveling faster than the speed of sound - about 750 MPH) is causes a very loud "boom" that can be heard on the ground. This audio pollution restricts the Concorde's supersonic flight to the overseas (unpopulated) portion of the flight. <BR> <BR>I hear that NASA and Boeing have been trying to create a wing design that does not cause a sonic boom, but that there have been few encouraging developments. <BR> <BR>Another interesting note: the reason the Concorde flies only between NY and London/Paris is that it can't carry enough fuel to make a trip over the Pacific. As the Concorde was built over 30 years ago, perhaps more efficient engines could solve this problem, but there are no plans by the major airplane manufacturers to build a new Concorde. <BR> <BR>So when the current fleet of Concordes are retired in the next few years, there will be no commercial options for supersonic flight.

Thanks for the info. Brian. <BR> <BR>I'm surprised that they aren't going to build any new Concordes! Was there a lack of demand for it?

I don't recall the figures, but the cost of maintaining the Concordes is so high that a profit can hardly be made off of them.

My understanding is that a couple of years ago, the both Boeing and Airbus decided to focus their limited research & development funds on developing a super-jumbo jet (800 people) rather than a super-sonic jet, siting airline demand.