SFO to JFK in less than an hour? It could happen.
Chad Bellay/AP -
In this 2009 file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, an
X-51A WaveRider hypersonic flight test vehicle is uploaded to an Air
Force Flight Test Center B-52 for fit testing at Edwards Air Force Base.
A B-52 will carry the the X-51 WaveRider “scramjet” unmanned test craft on its wing from Edwards Air Force Base out over Point Mugu. At about 50,000 feet over the ocean, the B-52 will drop the craft which, if all goes well, will reach speeds of about 3,600 mph (or Mach 6) if only for about 300 seconds, according to The Los Angeles Times.
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But hypersonic commercial flights are not outside the realm of possibility over time. EADS has been working on its own vision of hypersonic commercial flights promising Paris-to-Tokyo journeys of under 3 hours. But they’re not expected any time soon. The European Commission has set aside $6.15 million to test out high-speed planes.
Supersonic flight is not unprecedented. The Concorde aircraft flown by Air France and British Airways hit speeds of up to 2 mach or about 1,350 mph, but were notoriously inefficient and expensive. The program was not economically sustainable. And that will be a factor for commercial airlines evaluating hypersonic flight.
Still, I’d be willing to bet there’s a market for high-cost but extremely fast cross-country flights. As The Times reported, a coast-to-coast trip at X-51 speeds would take 46 minutes. And, at that clip, who cares about airline food or if the Wi-Fi works?
Check out the video simulation of WaveRider.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/sfo-to-jfk-in-less-than-an-hour-it-could-happen/2012/08/14/5c3cede2-e5c3-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop
3600 seconds is one hour of time. So if this is going 300 seconds if I divide 300 by 60 I get how many minutes I get 5 minutes of time. So, five minutes traveling 3600 mph should take us 3600 divided by 12 segments of 5 minutes in one hour equals 300 miles traveled in 5 minutes. So, for example if a plane was traveling a 50,000 feet or higher at 3600 miles per hour and started out at a speed of 3600 miles per hour somewhere above 50,000 feet it would reach somewhere in the vicinity of over 50,000 feet above San Francisco in 5 minutes or less. However, this has nothing to do with the time it takes to take off or land. Also, This isn't a practical thing to do for traveling between SF and Los Angeles because of the extreme sound breaking windows (or worse) from Los Angeles to SF. But if a vehicle was flying high enough not to generate shock waves that broke windows, people, animal life etc from the shock waves it still would take at least 1/2 hour to travel between SF and Los Angeles because of takeoffs and landings which is 15 minutes slower than what it presently is. So, this kind of travel would only be useful over about 3000 miles or so in distance and only if the planes were traveling well above 50,000 feet. Because, for example, something traveling this speed at 1000 feet might kill every living thing on earth within a mile of it or even 10 miles of it including breaking all ear drums on all mammals, breaking all windows or worse of every window in any building or car etc. Imagine a 9-11 type terrorist actually doing this one day which is an actual possibility about 30 to 50 years from now!