Welcome to the next step in the future of business aviationand the SSBJs - supersonic business jets - preparing to fly us beyond Mach 1. Unlike their predecessors, the modern-day aircraft designers of these machines intend to achieve their goals with little to none of the picture-frame-shattering sonic booms that brought an end to supersonic flight over the US. Waiting in the wings, if you will, are several developmental aircraft racing for the hangar door to demonstrate supersonic flight. We also provide some hints about what’s next in the perpetual quest for supersonic flight. These aircraft offer the fastest travel currently available. Here, we examine 10 of the fastest private jets, ideal for traveling in comfort and luxury while cruising miles above the Earth at nearly supersonic speed.
Over the ensuing years, business aviation manufacturers continued to satisfy their clientele’s hunger for speed by offering aircraft capable of cruising within a cat’s whisker of Mach 1. The regulation was finalized on March 28, 1973, but within aviation circles this was viewed as just a setback rather than a sunset for supersonic flight. Acting under this authority, the FAA proposed a regulation to restrict the operation of civil aircraft at speeds greater than Mach 1, unless authorized by the FAA. First, Congress passed the Aircraft Noise Abatement Act of 1968. Traveling at approximately Mach 0.80 to 0.85 (or 80 to 85 percent of the speed of sound) these jets make themselves to be the world's fastest set of subsonic (less than the speed of sound) jetliners.Little did the pilot and observers know that the sonic boom that shattered the desert calm that morning also became the harbinger of doom for supersonic flight - at least over the continental US. All four jets have four jet engines to propel the plane, which allows the plane to attain cruising speeds of 500 to 900 km/hr (or 150 to 250 m/s). When thrust is greater than drag, an airplane will accelerate forward. A high-lift wing surface, for example, may create a great deal of lift for an airplane, but because of its large size, it also creates a significant amount of drag. Drag is created by any object moving through a fluid, or in this case an airplane through air, which produces friction as it interacts with that fluid because it must move the fluid out of its way to do its work. It is provided by the airplane's propulsion system in this case by a jet engine.ĭrag is a force acting on all airplanes.
Thrust is the force that propels an airplane forward through the air. This great rearward force is balanced with an equal force that pushes the jet engine, and the airplane attached to it, forward.
#AVERAGE SPEED OF PASSENGER PLANE SERIES#
A jet sucks air into the front, squeezes the air by pulling it through a series of spinning compressors, mixes it with fuel, and ignites the fuel, which then explodes rearward with great force out through the exhaust nozzle. Other "jumbo jets"include the 717, 757, 767 and 777, which are used as cargo or passenger jets.Īll four models uses the jet engine which operates on the principle of Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an opposite but equal reaction. The 747 the first in its class of wide bodied "jumbo" jets, which would later become the premier transcontinental jet in the world went into service in the early 1970s and seated as many as 490 passengers. Today's jet airliners carry anywhere from 100 passengers to nearly 600 over short distances and great lengths. Modern large commercial-airplane manufacturers, such as The Boeing Company and Airbus Industries, a conglomerate of European manufacturers from Britain, Germany, France, and Spain, offer a wide variety of aircraft with different capabilities. Along with the popular Boeing 777, the 747 is a key element of the Boeing long-range market strategy."īeichner, Robert J., and Raymond A. "And, the 747 continues to be the world's fastest subsonic jetliner, cruising at Mach 0.85 - or 85 percent of the speed of sound. Power: Three 14,000-pound-thrust P&W engines "Such aircraft generally cruise at speeds of approximately 540 mi/h or 870 km/hr and at altitudes high enough that aircraft pressurization is required." Aerospace Industries Association of America, 1997: 316. Four jet engines propel the plane, which reaches cruising speeds of 885 km/hr (550 mph)."Īir Transportation. The 747, the first of the wide-bodied commercial jets, had its inaugural flight in 1970. "This Boeing 747, commonly called a jumbo jet, makes a cargo-transport flight. "747 Jumbo Jet." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia.