- Boeing debuted a hypersonic passenger plane concept at the the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conference last week.
- It could one day get you from London to New York in two hours, Aviation Week reports.
- The aircraft could be airborne in 20 to 30 years.
Boeing has debuted a hypersonic passenger plane concept that could get you from London to New York in two hours, Aviation Week reports.
The corporation has joined forces with hypersonic specialists to study a passenger aircraft that would have capacity to cross the Atlantic in just two hours, or the Pacific in three, according to the trade publication. The initial concept vehicle was unveiled at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conference which was held in Atlanta this week.
The proposed aircraft would travel at speeds of Mach 5 (about 3,836 miles per hour) and cruise at some 95,000 ft. This equates to more than 2.5 times faster and 30,000 feet higher than a Concorde.
“When you look at the problem of getting from Point A to Point B anywhere in the world, the question is how fast do you want to go and how fast is fast enough?” Kevin Bowcutt, Boeing’s senior technical fellow and chief scientist of hypersonics, said.
“Supersonic isn’t really fast enough to go overseas and back in one day. For the business traveler or the military, where time is really important, that’s an interesting point. Mach 5 is where you can do that. You can get across the Atlantic in about two hours and across the Pacific in about three hours.”
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg tweeted the concept out.
We just revealed a new hypersonic vehicle concept @AIAA Aviation – a
concept that one day could redefine aviation and connect the world faster than
ever before. What do you think? https://t.co/AvsNlc7aLf pic.twitter.com/P5nbxGnlOd— Dennis A. Muilenburg (@BoeingCEO) June 26, 2018
The passenger concept could have military or commercial applications, Boeing said in an official release, adding that this is just one of several hypersonic vehicle concepts that its engineers are studying.
“We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before,” said Bowcutt. “Boeing is building upon a foundation of six decades of work designing, developing and flying experimental hypersonic vehicles, which makes us the right company to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.”
Bowcutt added that it’s possible a hypersonic passenger vehicle could be airborne in 20 to 30 years.
