Supersonic Air Travel is Back! - Quiet Supersonic Transport (8 pics)

Are you ready to travel at supersonic speed? Nine years since the demise of the Concorde, supersonic air travel looks set to take-off once again! Aerospace company Supersonic Aerospace International (SAI) is developing a plane able to cross the Atlantic at the speed of sound.

Primarily meant for business travellers, Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST) will cruise at an altitude of 60,000 feet at speeds of Mach 1.6 to 1.8 (approximately 1,218 to 1,370 statute miles per hour) and have a range of 4,600 miles. That means that a typical 9.5 hour flight from Seattle to Tokyo in a normal aircraft would be reduced to under five hours.

The 12 passenger jet is about 100 times quieter than the Concorde. In order to meet this feat of sound minimization, they have used a combo of aerodynamic shaping of the ‘v-tail’ with the state-of-the-art engine design. This means that the $80 million gull-wing aircraft will create a sonic boom only 1% as strong as that generated by the Concorde

As far as the environment is concerned, the engines used in these jets will meet the prescribed emission standards in high-altitude flights. The Las Vegas-based firm hopes to have the QSST flying within five years, with passenger flights available by 2016.

Quiet Supersonic Transport website