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Guys...
Concorde used supercruise (supersonic flight without the use of continuous after burner) as a basic design parameter....and its persistance is sufficient for it to cross the Altantic (just).. not to mention its also quite quite fast in supercruise.. (M2.02, fastest recorded was M2.23)
Just a comparison; in the supersonic cruise part of its flight Concorde matched the efficiency of the 747 Classic series...but getting there was, unsurprisingly massively fuel hungry, thanks to the use of turbojets rather than fans...
The issue with supersonic flight over land is that the sonic boom WAS the only factor that prevented it from becoming a reality....
The tests undertaken by the USAF/NASA and the FAA with both the B-58 and the XB-70 during the 60s proved the lingering suspicion that any large and heavy aircraft flying supersonically over the ConUS was never going to be acceptable....hence the legislation banning it.
That it was formulated around the planned time of introduction of Concorde (which was then delayed not entering commercial service til 1976) was a co-incidence....not necessarily a deliberate 'protectionist' measure.
The aim of that NASA programme was to try to 'reshape' the boom form to reduce the initial rate on increase of overpressure and the rate of decrease...in real terms the pressure change is not a problem to people and things.. its the rate of change of that pressure that doe the damage.. like hitting a wall at speed... the speed doesn't kill you, its the slowing down..
If that pressure curve can be refined and the max overpressure reduced then overland ss flight may be acceptable... and then the market for much higher speeds will be open again....
Remember Concorde was retired not because of its direct operational costs were excessive, (fuel, crew etc) but because a single user (BA) was being asked to shoulder ALL of the product support cost.. a cost increase, in the order of 80%, which the business plan could no longer support profitable operations.. remember she would have in all probability been retiring this year anyway...
I miss her everyday... around 17.25 as she flew directly over my office coming bakc from NYC...
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