An examination of high-speed aircraft – Part 1: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

This paper provides an examination of the modern high-speed aircraft industry, including a compilation of recent developments and planned aircraft. The potential for a civil high-speed airliner is examined from a financial and contemporary perspective. Mach 4 is introduced as the economic line, below which high-speed flight is shown as financially viable. Despite this, a preliminary analysis from historic data highlights flight below Mach 2.12 as relatively low risk, with a hypersonic airliner not envisioned until the next century. Several challenges that are less discussed in literature are reviewed here with safety and reliability being the principal among them. This paper hence serves as the first part, which is followed by a comprehensive review of high-speed vehicle accidents.

Keywords

• Hypersonic
• Supersonic
• Aviation
• Market trends
• Future trends