Is Boeing Quietly Moving Forward With ‘Sonic Cruiser’ Concept?
- Posted on May 2, 2012 at 1:20pm by
Liz Klimas
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Boeing unveils its Sonic Cruiser model in 2001. (Photo: Boeing)
More than a decade ago, Boeing’s Sonic Cruiser was first proposed. After only a year or so in the works, the project for the plane that would “change the way the world flies” was scrapped to focus on more efficient aircraft. Or so we thought.
According to reports, the Sonic Cruiser program is not “entirely dead” after a new patent application was filed in April. According to Flight Global, the patent was posted on April 19, showing that “somewhere deep inside Boeing, a team of engineers is even now continuing to fiddle with the last decade’s most high-profile conceptual aerospace flop.”
In 2001 and 2002 when the project was still officially active, the Sonic Cruiser was expected to transport passengers close to the speed of sound. At the time it was abandoned, Fortune magazine reported several questions remained about the project:
The questions surrounding the ambitious project aren’t likely to die along with the airplane. Was the Sonic Cruiser ever seriously intended for production, or was it partly a paper plane aimed at keeping Airbus off balance? If it was for real, why didn’t Boeing grasp its shortcomings more quickly? And why has the company kept the project alive for the past several months when it was clear that the futuristic plane was on life support?
Here Boeing describes the onus for the Sonic Cruiser in the first place and reveals the first model design:
The new patent application, Flight Global describes, is probably not too indicative of things to come for the program in the near future — “just a project some engineers are fiddling around with” — but notes it calls up an “interesting approach to an old and fascinating concept”:
The new Sonic Cruiser appears to be just as fast as the original design unveiled by a beaming Alan Mullaly at the 2001 Paris Air Show. Improvements are focused on reducing the nearly supersonic aircraft’s noise and heat signatures. Rather than embedding the engines under the wing, high bypass turbofans are installed on top of the fuselage. Vertical stabilizers mounted outboard of each engine shields noise generated by the exhaust, while the long aft deck blocks sound waves aimed at the ground. In addition, Boeing’s engineers have proposed variable geometry chevrons on the exhaust nozzles of each engine, which soften the noisy mixing of very hot exhaust air with much cooler ambient air.
Besides the new engine locations, Boeing has also made several aerodynamic changes. The differences are clear by comparing the drawing above with the image shown below, which first appeared in a 2003 Boeing patent filing for the original Sonic Cruiser concept. Notice the differences in shaping in the fuselage, nose and wings.
Comparison of the old design with the new design seen in the April 2011 patent application. (Image via Gizmodo)
In 2002, Fortune stated the Sonic Cruiser was a plane “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Is the industry’s atmosphere ripening to the more futuristic design now?
[H/T Gizmodo]
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tomacz
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 10:39pmobama vetoes flying these in the US,most assembly goes to india, boeing moves corpse offices to australia,the rest of the worlds govts & a/f buy 200 aircraft,,
Report Post »nkawtg
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 4:03pmSo what’s the big deal Boeing. You made an airplane that would fly just as fast in 1954. You remember, it was named the 707, but ever since then, top speeds for airliners dropped considerably.
When you state the Sonic Cruiser will fly close to the speed of sound, you must be talking about .98 to .99 Mach. During my years as a KC-135A Boom Operator, crews were routinely trained in high speed flights at .98 to .99 Mach to learn about Initial Buffet and Control Reversal.
What’s old is new again.
Report Post »Airbornedevildog
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 8:09pmFYI 787 set a the airspeed record for its class this year. Aircraft are getting quieter, quicker and more fuel efficient.
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:54pmSure looks cool, bet the gubberment will figure out how to kill it.
Report Post »Derfel Cadarn
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:49pmSo whose going to fly on the high priced toy when we are all communists?
Report Post »Stu D. Baker-Hawk
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 2:26pmI love it! (Which is why Obama and the EPA will try to kill it.)
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:07pmThe design is only 50 years old. Boeing wanted to fly this when LBJ was President but he and the Democrats vetoed it and told the Armed Forces not to show any interest.
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:09pmIt will knock the French A380 out of the sky. No one will want to spend 6 hours on a plane to Europe or Japan when they can spend 3 hours. That plane will also use less fuel that the A380.
Report Post »ronin_6
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 1:52pmLove it. If it looks beautiful it will fly beautiful. Hope they are still working on the blended body concept as well.
Report Post »AuraStream
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 1:32pmBoeing will build commercial spaceships next for Mars and Meteor visits
Report Post »1WhoQuestions
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 9:44amI would hope Boeing is working on this and many more things. If they can overcome sonic booms to make them far less audible airline companies will flock to that technogy.
The SR-71 was an incredible aircraft. Leaked like a mother on the ground by was airtight when it flew (isn’t that a redundant statement?). It was 25 years ahead of its time.
If all this is what we know about, just imagine the airplane technolgy that we don’t know about. Potentially it could be something far beyond the F-35.
Report Post »1TrueOne55
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:44pmDo any features or the SR-71 look familiar in the video? I believe that after Boeing took over McDonald/Douglas Aircraft the got hold of those patents and then secretly as they are laud to do work on new projects for company profits and future air travel.
Nothing to see here these are not the planes you are looking for.
Report Post »Reason
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 5:09pm@1TrueOne55
Report Post »Lockheed Martin built the SR-71 Blackbird.
USPATRIOT101
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 9:32amIt’s like the SR71 meets Aurora.
Report Post »thegodfather
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 8:26amObama likes the idea…as long as it can operate on solar power
Report Post »tomloy
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 7:04amIt’d be a great design. If Boeing can make this profitable and fuel efficient, it paves the way for the next step, which is a supersonic airliner.
Report Post »BigJTrucker
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 8:02pmI hope they build it in South Carolina, free from the onerous thumb of the machinist union and their
Report Post »perpetual strike threats…
Wringeaux
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 6:35pmI remember the old SR-22 spy planes got better mileage, the faster they went. I wish my truck could do that.
Report Post »johnVMFA122
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 10:36pmThe aircraft you are thinking of is the SR-71, and it’s cousin, the A-12. They were replcaed by an aircraft that is So top secret that even the vice president is kept from knowing it’s identity. This bird can sit on the tarmac at the distance of a football field and all you will see is the landing gear. Hypersonic flight gets it to any position on the globe and relaying actual time hi rez data in less than two hours from the order to turn and burn.
The truth is that our aviation tech is so far advanced that what flies today for commercial use was already obsolete strategically thirty years ago.
Report Post »peccatumDei
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 6:09pmWhen the Sonic cruiser was first proposed, the development of supercruise engines for the military was already well underway. Think about it: Boeing can develop this plane as a subsonic aircraft, get the airworthiness certificate on the airframe etc. Eventually though, supercruise technology is going to be available in the commercial sector and at that point, Boeing could upgrade this plane to be a fuel efficient SST, and be YEARS ahead of Airbus.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 5:42pmIt is sonic and not super sonic.A 747 will cruise at .85 mach. This will barely approach the the speed of sound.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 5:33pmBoeing continues to lead the Manufacturing Renaissance; and yesterday stocks closed higher than ever on the manufacturing forecast.
TEA
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 5:05pmI hope Boeing goes ahead with this project. That would give America a much needed emotional and technological “lift.”
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:48pmwe need to get this administration outta office so we can get innovation back,which is AMERICAN life blood…. all the thing AMERICAN have discovered,invented to make life better world wide…..yes AMERICAN EXCEPTIONISM ……regardless of what O’kenyan HUSSAIN and his verson of NASA going out to put muslims on a pedestal…..remember when the whole world looked at AMERICA for leadership,freedom,help…..it was the pravada,socialists,commies media during W‘s administration told us that the world hated AMERICA so they could get their commie socialist liberal guy in office you see what this guy has done to AMERICA don’t you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:46pmQuestions: Is this a rebirth of the Concord? Is the government going to support this in the end with massive funding as France/Britian had to do with Concord? Or will capitalism finally be allowed to either make it work or not work based on the free market and have government keep their hands off the works?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 5:00pmDoes it run on Batteries or Solar Power?
Report Post »Sol Invictus
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 5:21pmConcorde (not Concord) would have been a commercial success had it not been for the whining environmentalists of New York who said the noise would damage their delicate ear drums. The US banned it from flying in many areas. I notice it says this rip off of the original design would fly at “close to the speed of sound”. No danger of it breaking the sound barrier then. It was these “sonic booms” that worried people in the ‘60s and ’70s when Concorde started flying.
Report Post »Chris
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 10:06pmBoeing walked away from the SST project because there was no way that they could make money with it. Concorde was the same generation and it was a huge money sink, burning money faster than jet fuel. It was more than just no being allowed to overfly the US because of the sonic boom problem – the seat price for the transatlantic route they flew didn‘t cover the operating cost and it didn’t have the range for the trans-Pacific route.
Report Post »When the concept came back in the 80′s the NASP project advanced the technology a lot more, but still not enough to allow the aircraft to pay for itself.
If Boeing can make money with it now (and I hope that it can) then it means that the technology has advanced enough to allow it to happen.
The technology development during these big programs is substantial, but between them the NASA aeronautics program (among others) has been continuing to work to make it possible.
sndrman
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:46pmwe need to get this administration outta office so we can get innovation back,which is AMERICAN life blood…. all the thing AMERICAN have discovered,invented to make life better world wide…..yes AMERICAN EXCEPTIONISM ……regardless of what O’kenyan HUSSAIN and his verson of NASA going out to put muslims on a pedestal…..remember when the whole world looked at AMERICA for leadership,freedom,help…..it was the pravada,socialists,commies media during W‘s administration told us that the world hated AMERICA so they could get their commie socialist liberal guy in office you see what this guy has done to AMERICA don’t you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Chris
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 10:08pmSo far they haven’t been putting muslim outreach on our performance plans
Report Post »Clmsadjman
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:32pmHope they make it we need a leg up really hate those Airbus aircraft very noisy and when there is turbulance they really rock and roll nothing like a Boeing plane and my commercial pilot friend loves Boeing hates Airbus.
Report Post »FedUpAlready
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:22pmhttp://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/30980296/detail.html
Maybe they’re trying to get in on the ground floor of the tourist trips to space, like this one won by a college student for a trip in 2014. Maybe we can become the taxi to the stars instead of hitching rides from Russia.
Report Post »grudgywoof
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 3:43pmGo for it Boeing! I have not seen real inovation in aircraft since the Concord. That’s what the world needs is something like this funded with private money.
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