The future of supersonic passenger aviation. Passenger aircraft of the future - supersonic speed on biofuel. Subsonic, ultra-jet, environmentally friendly aircraft


Russian President Vladimir Putin, watching the first flight of the new Tu-160 bomber in Kazan, invited aircraft manufacturers to think about creating a supersonic passenger aircraft. The iz.ru portal recalls the history of such aircraft, which were already in operation in the USSR, France and Great Britain.

The future belongs to aviation, to combat aviation, in order to ensure the country's defense capability, and to civil aviation too. But we, as we have just discussed, need to think about the civilian version of such aircraft. With such a huge territory as ours, the flight from Moscow to New York is not much longer than to Vladivostok. Therefore, I am sure that this will be in demand,” said the head of state, commenting on the resumption of serial production of the Tu-160 bomber at Kazansky
aircraft factory.

The first thing to note is that discussing the proposed proposal straightforwardly, in the option of creating a supersonic passenger aircraft directly on the basis of a multi-mode missile-carrying bomber with variable wing geometry, is a rather difficult task. This is not only an expensive solution due to unjustified civil aviation complexity of the design. The cruising speed of the Tu-160 is subsonic - 850 km/h, which, by the way, is 30–60 km/h lower than that of conventional modern wide-body aircraft, which casts doubt on even such a narrow hypothetical niche as a business jet for billionaires. Let us also recall that the cruising speed of both supersonic aircraft that were in commercial operation (Tu-144 and Concorde) exceeded Mach 2 and was about 2200 km/h.

“Of course, we are not talking about creating an aircraft based on the Tu-160. Several projects are currently being developed around the world supersonic business jets, some of them were studied with the participation of Russian scientific centers“Vedomosti quotes a top manager of one of the aviation industry enterprises in this regard.

The issue of resuming the program of a fundamentally new supersonic passenger aircraft is an independent complex topic for discussion by specialists in the design and operation of aircraft. In the event that a sufficiently capacious market niche is found for the aircraft, which covers the costs of its creation and maintenance costs, the issue will move to the second stage, namely, the search in Russia for a design team capable of solving the problem.

On this moment The country is implementing two programs of fundamentally new aircraft (Superjet and MC-21), and the industry is also integrating into the Chinese project of the CR929 wide-body airliner. In fact, they are all built around Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Irkut (Engineering Center named after A.S. Yakovlev), which, as part of the proposed model for reforming the United Aircraft Corporation, will be merged into a centralized company dealing with commercial aircraft.

In the meantime, let's try to remember how the fate of previous supersonic airliners turned out.

First second

Supersonic design passenger aircraft in the world began in the late 1950s. The Soviet Union, concentrating resources, made the car first - in just five years that passed from the moment the decision to begin development until the first flight, which took place “under the Christmas tree” on December 31, 1968.

The machine was extremely innovative for the domestic aviation industry (especially the civilian one); a lot of innovations were introduced into it. Here is the front one that retracts into the fuselage horizontal tail(used during takeoff and landing), and a raised nose that covered the glazing of the pilot's cabin at high speed, and interesting examples of on-board equipment.

The aircraft was actively promoted to foreign markets, but it was never released abroad. The plane crash in June 1973 during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show also gave the car bad publicity.

I had to look for a place for her only within the USSR. However, even with new engines (in the Tu-144D version), the machine, which according to the technical specifications was designed for non-stop flight Moscow-Khabarovsk, could carry it out only with a minimum load.

As a result, passenger service on this route never began, and two aircraft were transferred to the Moscow-Alma-Ata line. The cost of a ticket for the flight was 82 rubles. For comparison: a flight on a subsonic car on the same route cost 62 rubles, and for a similar price (83 rubles) you could fly by regular plane from Moscow to Irkutsk.

Passenger flights of the Tu-144 were conducted only from November 1977 to May 1978. Aeroflot tried with all its might to get rid of an expensive and capricious car that did not completely meet its requirements.

Taking advantage of the crash of an experimental Tu-144D aircraft that occurred near Yegoryevsk on May 23, 1978, regular supersonic passenger traffic in the USSR was stopped in favor of the Il-62. For some time they were used for urgent delivery of small cargo to Far East. The Tu-144 program was finally closed in 1983 after the first domestic wide-body Il-86 was launched into mass production.

No agreement

The Tu-144 became the first supersonic passenger aircraft to take off, but the British-French Concorde, whose first flight took place in March 1969, entered commercial operation earlier. Since the development was a joint Franco-British one (Concorde translates as “consent”), the car was received by British Airways and Air France (seven units each).

Concorde performed its first flights in January 1976, these were the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio de Janeiro routes (with an intermediate stop in Dakar). Subsequently, the plane was used for flights to the USA: to Dulles Airport (in the suburbs of Washington), but mainly to New York. Planes also flew from London to Barbados, Toronto, Miami and Singapore, and from Paris to New York, Mexico City, and Caracas.

The planes were expensive and could not compete with economical transatlantic “heavy-lift” aircraft such as the Boeing 747. The Concorde actually crossed the Atlantic in half the time: 3.5 hours instead of 7. But it consumed twice as much fuel as the 747s (and three times as much as the newer ones). Boeing 777), at the same time, had four times less passenger capacity and required special maintenance, which, moreover, could not be saved due to the small number of aircraft in the series.

As a result, the key indicator - fuel consumption per 100 km of flight in terms of one passenger - reached 17 liters, with a similar indicator for wide-body competitors ranging from 2.5–3.5. Even the optimistic design figure for the total operating cost per passenger back in 1972 was estimated to be twice as high as that of the 747s of its day.

Spare parts were also produced in small series, almost to order, and incurred incredible overhead costs for the operator. At the same time, the plane did not carry side cargo (except for very small ones), which further reduced the opportunity to earn money on a transatlantic flight.

An expensive, stylish car, a symbol of a bygone era, was maintained only by high prices for tickets. The widely held opinion about unprofitability is incorrect: it brought operating profit because there were enough people with a lot of money to pay for a status flight. Cars on the New York–London main line departed with an average of 70–80 passengers on board out of 100 seats, and the flight paid for itself with only 35 tickets sold.

At the end of the operating period, the press wrote that British Airways extracted up to $30–50 million a year from its Concordes, Air France much less - up to $3 million. The main difficulties of the companies were that they spent enormous effort on maintaining a fleet that Moreover, they received it partially through government support. The British received two of their seven aircraft for the symbolic price of 1 pound, and the French took three for 1 franc each.

In addition, until the mid-1980s, governments heavily subsidized airlines, financing up to 80% of their operating costs. There were no prospects for expanding the business; the aircraft remained a narrow niche offer for very rich people, an element of prestigious consumption.

In the spring of 2003, both airlines made a joint decision to stop using the aircraft; the last flights took place in November of the same year. The 2000 disaster near Paris, where a French Concorde with 109 passengers and crew members crashed, dealt a strong blow to supersonic vehicles. The reasons also included the general crisis in the air transportation market after September 11, 2001 and the rising cost of service. In addition, the machines continued to fly in the technical form of the late 1970s, and the project to modernize their on-board equipment (in particular, cockpit electronics) required significant money and efforts to organize the production of small batches of products.

As a result, airlines decided that they would make more profit from the business classes of conventional airliners.

Konstantin Bogdanov

The founder of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, announced his readiness to launch a dozen into the sky, the era of which, according to the businessman, is returning. Previously about the development of supersonic passenger aviation NASA said. Despite many years of “pausing” mass production supersonic aircraft, this topic continued to be discussed and the designers did not stop working on projects.

Screemr

When it comes to the future of travel, passengers' top priority is getting to their destination as quickly as possible. It is speed that lies in the concept of the supersonic project. passenger airliner Screemr, introduced in 2015 by Canadian engineer Charles Bombardier and designer Ray Mattison. The name of the founder of Bombardier is quite well known. As for his partner, designer Ray Mattison has already worked at Cirrus Aircraft and Exodus Machines, and he also owns the concept of a hybrid aircraft with a motorcycle “Icarus” (Icarus wingless aircraft).

The Screemr plane must travel 10 times the speed of sound and fly from London to New York, for example, in just half an hour. According to the authors of the project, Screemr will be launched using an electromagnetic gun and fly on a liquid rocket engine (kerosene or liquid oxygen). As a result, it should accelerate to 12.4 thousand km/h. It is assumed that the Screemr cabin will be able to accommodate up to 75 passengers, in addition, such an aircraft is expected to operate transcontinental flights.

Lapcat

Lapcat was developed by designers from Reaction Engines and was financially supported by British aerospace company BAE Systems. According to the developers, the Lapcat should reach speeds of up to Mach 5, that is, about 6 thousand km/h, which is two and a half times the speed of the Concorde. Thus, it will be possible to fly, say, from London to Sydney in just four hours (flight time on a regular plane will be 20 hours). The aircraft is supposed to use the Yatagan conceptual engine, which exploits the thermodynamic properties of liquid hydrogen.

"Concord 2"

The project of the supersonic passenger airliner Concorde 2, capable of flying at a speed of Mach 4.5, was presented a year ago by an aircraft manufacturer Airbus company. A plane should fly from London to New York in just an hour, and from Tokyo to Los Angeles in three hours. According to the developers, Concorde 2 takes off vertically and flies along specially designated air corridors at an altitude of approximately 30.5 km. The YouTube channel even posted a video schematically demonstrating the aircraft's capabilities. It was described as "the tallest roller coaster with steep ascents and descents and high speeds."

The patent obtained by Airbus describes three different types engines: ramjet, twin turbojet and rocket. It is planned that they will be used at different stages of the aircraft’s journey to its destination. At the same time, according to the engineers, unlike the first Concorde, the sonic boom (a classic obstacle to the development of supersonic air transport) in Concorde 2 will be quieter. It is true that the number of passengers that the new plane can carry on board is limited to only two dozen, which means that the flight will be very expensive.

Antipode

This is another concept presented by the restless Charles Bombardier at the end of January of this year. If previously supersonic projects limited themselves to reality, then specifications look absolutely fantastic. Its maximum speed is Mach 24, which is 12 times the speed of the Concorde. Therefore, a New Yorker can fly on such a plane to London in 11 minutes, to Shanghai in 24 minutes, and to Sydney in 32 minutes. Almost teleportation.

Engineer Joseph Haseltine, who was involved in the Bombardier project, proposed using an innovative aerodynamic phenomenon called “long penetration mode” (LPM): special nozzles on the nose of the aircraft draw in air, cooling the airframe with it. This would solve the problem of the aircraft overheating at this speed. Antipode will be able to take off from any airfield using reusable booster rockets. They are attached to the wings of the aircraft and, when it gains the required speed and altitude, they are dropped and returned back to base. A serious disadvantage of the project is the capacity of the aircraft - the cabin is designed for only 10 passengers. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to use it on expensive business trips or as a military aircraft.

Projects of supersonic aircraft of the future


December 31, 1968 the legendary Soviet took off on its first flight Tu-144 aircraft, which became the world's first passenger supersonic airliner. The first, but not the last. And even though such flights have now stopped, the idea of ​​traveling faster than the speed of sound has not faded away. And this review of ours is dedicated to history supersonic and hypersonic aviation, as well as her future.



The Bell X-1 is an experimental aircraft built in the United States specifically to explore the possibility of supersonic flight. This flying vehicle was equipped with a rocket engine, and was lifted into the air by another, larger device. The Bell X-1 was the first to break the sound barrier. It happened on October 14, 1947.





Even now the Tu-144 can be called the most beautiful and stylish creation domestic aviation. This aircraft became the world's first passenger airliner designed to fly above the speed of sound. Unfortunately, his story was quick and tragic. It carried passengers for less than a year - two high-profile accidents cast serious doubt on the reliability of this vehicle, and the profitability of flights was very negative. But the Tu-144 appeared in the film “Mimino” - it was on it that the main character of the film flew, becoming a civil aviation pilot. But the plane was cut out from “The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia.”



The fate of the French Concorde aircraft was much more successful. This supersonic airliner took off just two months later than the Soviet one, on March 2, 1969, and operated on passenger airlines from 1976 to 2003. The reason for decommissioning is still the same - a high-profile accident and unprofitability. The crisis in the air transportation markets after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as the development of online communications, also had an impact.



But the history of supersonic passenger aviation did not, apparently, end with the death of Concorde. After all, it is expected that in 2017 the QSST (SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport) aircraft from the famous American company Lockheed Martin will make its first flight. This airliner is designed for only twelve passengers - it is intended for charter business transportation.

Recently, the idea of ​​hypersonic passenger aviation has become increasingly popular. It involves the creation of aircraft that will be able to ascend into suborbital orbit and fly there at speeds that are unthinkable in the atmosphere (5 Mach and higher, where M is the Mach number, a relative value exceeding 1000 kilometers per hour).



Until now, the idea of ​​hypersonic flights looks like a fantasy in the minds of most ordinary people. However, the first aircraft to break the hypersonic barrier was launched back in 1959. We are talking about the American rocket plane North American X-15, which for 50 years held the record for altitude and flight speed among aircraft. These characteristics were 107.96 km and 7274 km/h, respectively.



The famous American research company DARPA conducted two tests of unmanned aerial vehicles in 2010 and 2011. aircraft Falcon HTV. Raised into the upper atmosphere using launch vehicles, Falcon HTV-1 and Falcon HTV-2 accelerated to a speed of approximately Mach 20, which became an absolute record for man-made objects. True, both launches ended unsuccessfully - the devices lost flight stability and crashed into the ocean. And they had nothing to do with civil aviation - the project was rather military. However, DARPA has proven that hypersonic flight has a great future, and the record, which lasted about fifty years, can easily be broken several times at once.



But there are also projects in the world for passenger hypersonic aircraft. The most famous and well-developed of them is the SpaceLiner device, work on which has been carried out at the German Aviation and Space Center since 2005. Like other similar projects, SpaceLiner implies that it will rise to its flight altitude not independently, but by means of a rocket. And only after reaching a mark of several tens of kilometers, it will be able to begin to pick up speed, which, by the way, according to the authors’ plans, will reach Mach 28. This will allow you to travel from London to Australia in just 90 minutes. The technology seems to be taken from a science fiction film, but very real existing devices use a similar lifting principle.

With a good source of energy, even a rock or an entire house will fly, but there are problems with this because there is little progress in the development of energy production and storage. I can also add that the American Knight Hawk stealth aircraft in general should not fly, but thanks to the on-board computer and electronics, which in real time monitors the critical flight parameters of the aircraft and does not allow and limits the transition of the aircraft to critical flight modes. Electronics did something that lifted a flying iron into the air. All these concepts are designed for new nanotechnology materials and a completely different type of engine. Who knows, maybe these techno fantasies will fly. The dream liner took off because it used carbon, carbon, plastic, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. Thanks to lithium-ion batteries, it has become possible to create a flying motorcycle or quadcopter. The main thing is a powerful and economical source of energy, and in aviation and spacecraft this is a huge problem

Source: © sites Even a rock or an entire house can fly with a good source of energy, but there are problems with this because progress in the development of energy production and storage is weak. I can also add that the American Knight Hawk stealth aircraft in general should not fly, but thanks to the on-board computer and electronics, which in real time monitors the critical flight parameters of the aircraft and does not allow and limits the transition of the aircraft to critical flight modes. Electronics did something that lifted a flying iron into the air. All these concepts are designed for new nanotechnology materials and a completely different type of engine. Who knows, maybe these techno fantasies will fly. The dream liner took off because it used carbon, carbon, plastic, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. Thanks to lithium-ion batteries, it has become possible to create a flying motorcycle or quadcopter. The main thing is a powerful and economical source of energy, and in aviation and spacecraft this is a huge problem

Source: © Fishki.net With a good source of energy, even a rock or an entire house will fly, but there are problems with this because progress in the development of energy production and storage is weak. I can also add that the American Knight Hawk stealth aircraft in general should not fly, but thanks to the on-board computer and electronics, which in real time monitors the critical flight parameters of the aircraft and does not allow and limits the transition of the aircraft to critical flight modes. Electronics did something that lifted a flying iron into the air. All these concepts are designed for new nanotechnology materials and a completely different type of engine. Who knows, maybe these techno fantasies will fly. The dream liner took off because it used carbon, carbon, plastic, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. Thanks to lithium-ion batteries, it has become possible to create a flying motorcycle or quadcopter. The main thing is a powerful and economical source of energy, and in aviation and spacecraft this is a huge problem

 

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