What is a Supersonic Aircraft ?

SuperSonic Aircrafts

Living 2 miles north from the Runway 36L at Heathrow Airport is more than an ear shattering experience. Everyday you wake up to the sounds of rotary internal combustion engines bustling through the air as they prepare for their climb out of LHR and into the skies.

As the last flight just nozzles over the roof of your house, and touches down it's been a more than fascinating experience as you cherish the progression of what technology has evolved into, well atleast an enthusiast like me does. Isn't it incredible to even think that just to translate the concept of seeing a bird with two wings, into a fully functional machine which allows us to cross continents in a matter of hours, or even minutes if we consider hypersonic models.

Being in the flightpath of Heathrow, has always see different aircraft take off and land, and from there on my enthusiasm for Aviation has grown day by day. I'd like to share some of the experiences and technical sides of one of my more favourite types of aircraft - Supersonic aircraft.

Essentially superonic means greater than the speed of sound. If we were to express this in normal terms, this means anything higher than 768 mph, given the temperature is 20 degrees centigrade in dry air conditions at sea level (0 ft.). Why is this particular amazing ?

768 mph is only the minimum speed to be Supersonic. Supersonic Aircraft are extremely swift !! The only commercial airliners that's flown at Supersonic Speeds is the Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-160, which served transatlantic routes in 3 hours !! After the sad end of the Concorde era, there's been no commercial plane that's flown at Supersonic speeds for the public.

I'd really hope that in the near future, the idea of operating Supersonic aircraft bcomes viable again. This will open up real opportunities for young innovators in Science to design elements of Aircraft that can help planes be speedy, yet safe and secure. With business being a global connection between all countries, there would always be demand for people to cross countries within hours, and then be back home by the evening. I will introduce some technical jargon related to aviation and physics needed to understand Supersonic aircraft.