Plans To Place Aircraft in Service by 2011

Details are emerging about the first of TWO SSBJ projects that were to be discussed at the 2004 NBAA Convention. Aerion Corporation, an advanced engineering group formed to reintroduce commercial supersonic flight, has taken the wraps off a new business jet design that could enter service in less than six years.

"The Concorde may have been relegated to museums, but the world has not slowed down. Indeed the reverse is true," noted Aerion Vice Chairman Brian Barents. "The world's major businesses and governments have a clear need for faster travel. Aerion's engineers have been at work for many years developing the fundamental technologies to make this possible."

The Aerion supersonic business jet (SBJ) incorporates patented supersonic natural laminar flow technology that substantially reduces drag at supersonic as well as high subsonic cruise speeds. This efficient design allows the development of an aircraft that can use existing powerplant technology.

Moreover, the aircraft will be fuel efficient at cruise speeds just below the speed of sound, allowing it to perform short and long-haul overland missions with the same economies as today's large business jets. Range is roughly the same at both subsonic and supersonic speeds and will exceed 4,000 nautical miles. The aircraft has a low boom signature and boomless cruise up to Mach 1.1. Its maximum cruise speed will be Mach 1.6. 

In the Aerion SBJ, New York to Paris flights will be reduced to four hours and 15 minutes versus about seven and a half hours in subsonic models. The SBJ will fly coast to coast at speeds up to .99 Mach in less than four hours. Thanks to its straight-wing design and full-span flaps, typical approach speed will be 125 knots and the aircraft will be able to operate routinely from business airports with runways of no more than 6,000 feet.

Aerion's design philosophy is to utilize demonstrated technologies and to minimize complexity. The Aerion SBJ therefore is designed to cruise efficiently up to 51,000 feet, its certification limit. The aircraft's wings will be made from carbon fiber composites for the required level of stiffness to weight, employing construction methods common on modern fighters. The fuselage will be of conventional aluminum alloys. The aircraft's top speed of Mach 1.6, eliminates the requirement for special high-temperature materials and complex systems.

Aerion is engaged in advanced development and has recently completed the initial design cycle. To date this has included: in-flight testing of a supersonic natural laminar flow wing section; extensive computational fluid dynamics analysis of the entire airframe; finite element analysis; engine/airframe integration studies; and initial systems design. By next summer, the company will have completed a second design cycle that includes high- and low-speed wind tunnel tests, as well as continued optimization and CFD analyses. The company has selected the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 to power the aircraft. Engine and nacelle integration will allow the aircraft to meet strenuous Stage IV noise requirements.

Over the next year and a half the company will be engaged in discussions with major airframe manufacturers and first-tier suppliers to establish risk-sharing partnerships to conduct detailed design, testing and certification of the aircraft. Aerion projects a five-year program with two ground test articles and three flight test aircraft. The company expects the price of the aircraft to be competitive on a price/performance basis with today's largest business jets.

FMI: www.aerioncorp.com