What will replace the Concorde plane?

The world hasn't seen commercial supersonic travel in nearly 20 years since the Concorde was retired in 2003, but all that is about to change with the development of a new, environmentally friendly airliner. Meet Overture – the world's fastest airliner that was developed by Denver-based Boom Supersonic.



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The wings of a 747 are nowhere near strong enough to mount an engine capable of supersonic flight. Generally, engines used in aircraft like the Concorde or the F-22 are skinny and long. They also weigh quite a fair amount, further requiring a complete overhaul of the way the engines would be supported.

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Aerospace start-ups are working on making this a reality with supersonic and hypersonic planes. Supersonic means faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1), while hypersonic means travelling at five times faster than the speed of sound (Mach 5).

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Sonic booms due to large supersonic aircraft can be particularly loud and startling, tend to awaken people, and may cause minor damage to some structures. This led to prohibition of routine supersonic flight overland.

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There is a probability that some damage—shattered glass, for example—will result from a sonic boom. Buildings in good condition should suffer no damage by pressures of 530 Pa (11 psf) or less. And, typically, community exposure to sonic boom is below 100 Pa (2 psf).

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Fifty years ago, the federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land. The rule prohibits non-military aircraft from flying faster than sound so their resulting sonic booms won't startle the public below or concern them about potential property damage.

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According to Drela, today's airplane builders actually favor a smaller, lighter, and therefore slower aircraft that peaks its fuel efficiency at slower speeds. (Cars also become more efficient at slower speeds on highways.)

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Why does the Boeing 777 sound like a four engine aircraft when it flies over? No, it is not supersonic. The speed of sound (Mach 1) is approximately 767 mph or 661 knots, so the Boeing 777 flying at 660 knots would be subsonic. However, that's still a very impressive speed!

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The Concorde's retirement was due to a number of factors. The supersonic aircraft was noisy and extremely expensive to operate, which restricted flight availability. The operating costs required fare pricing that was prohibitively high for many consumers.

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Concorde used the most powerful pure jet engines flying commercially. The Aircraft's four engines took advantage of what is known as 'reheat' technology, adding fuel to the final stage of the engine, which produced the extra power required for take-off and the transition to supersonic flight.

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On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on the ground killed. This was the only fatal incident involving Concorde; commercial service was suspended until November 2001.

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Such speed didn't come cheap, though: A transatlantic flight required the high-maintenance aircraft to gulp jet fuel at the rate of one ton per seat, and the average round-trip price was $12,000.

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Currently, U.S. law prohibits flight in excess of Mach 1 over land unless specifically authorized by the FAA for purposes stated in the regulations. The two supersonic rulemaking activities would not rescind the prohibition of flight in excess of Mach 1 over land.

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Current rules prohibit commercial airplanes from flying at supersonic speeds over land because of the noise levels associated with sonic booms and the negative impacts to humans and animals.

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The power, or volume, of the shock wave depends on the quantity of air that is being accelerated, and thus the size and shape of the aircraft. As the aircraft increases speed the shock cone gets tighter around the craft and becomes weaker to the point that at very high speeds and altitudes no boom is heard.

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A Mach number is the ratio of an object's speed in a given medium to the speed of sound in that medium. Mach 1, then, is the speed of sound, around 761 mph at sea level on a standard day. The term is also used as a metaphor for high speeds more generally.

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