The speedy air

Ever thought of being in a ultra-fast form of travel? Oooh yes…..am talking about a supersonic plane able to fly from continent to continent within minutes. But then,how can you fly across millions of kilometers within minutes? Impossible, right? Oh no….science has it😌.

If you look at the passenger airliner in the skies today,the view is not that much different from what you would have seen fifty years ago. But the rising fuel prices,increasingly stringent pollution limits as well as the high demand of air travel have taken the designers back to the drawing board. This has brought about new shapes and new engine technologies to emerge promising a great shake-up in the field of aviation

Of course,it would be wrong to say that there has not been changes in plane technology, right? Earlier innovators focused so much on creating better engine turbines that would run for miles with low fuel consumption rates. Today, there has been changes in the control- wire- systems making it easier for the pilots and not necessarily to the passengers which may go unnoticed. But despite these advances, aviation engineers know that there is still more to be done.

Take for example fuel prices. Although recent planes have 60-70% low fuel consumption rates than those of early years,fuel prices still weaken this industry. Therefore, engineers are coming up with ideas that would help solve the problem. Take for instance a plane that flies on a battery. That would be insane, right? But then, everything has it’s own disadvantages.

The sonic boom is created by aircrafts that fly at a speed greater than that of sound. It can startle humans and wildlife on the ground. To avoid this,the Federal Aviation Administration has forbidden supersonic flights over land.This is why the Concorde used to fly at supersonic speeds only across the seas limiting it’s travel routes. But engineers are hard at work on ways to quiet the sonic boom. NASA is hoping to create supersonic airplane to convince the FAA to lift it’s ban, opening doors for commercial airlines to offer supersonic commercial flights over land.

To really make a difference, particularly in fuel consumption and engine noise,planes will also need radically new propulsion systems mounted into the airframe. And like car designers, aircraft manufacturers are beginning to explore electric and hybrid engines. Boeing’s sugar Volt concept,for example, would use a hybrid- electric propulsion that combines fuel burning engines(turbines),electrical motors and electochemical storage batteries. The hybrid systems would allow the operators to choose either to draw power from the turbines or the batteries.

This may just be the start of supersonic speed airplanes and it may not be so vigorous,but the future holds more on these aircrafts. “Let us give future a chance.”