The fastest commercial airplane ever charted is the Tupolev TU 144. The aircraft, which was unveiled more than half a century ago, clocks in at a whopping 1510 mph. Unfortunately, Tupolev TU 144 was so unstable that the nine aircraft produced were decommissioned for passenger use in 1978. Recently, a Canadian designer and engineer has presented his aircraft concept that would topple Tupolev's records three times over.
Charles Bombardier unveiled his concept supersonic jet, the "Skreemr," several months ago. According to Bombardier, the jet would utilize a magnetically charged electric launch system. It would then use ignited liquid oxygen in order to accelerate to 6600 mph at 40,000 feet. The engineer was quick to admit however that his concept is still far from doable.
"I am not sure the materials able to withstand the heat, pressure, and structural stress for this application have been invented yet" said Bombardier.
Since his unveiling, the engineer was approached by Joseph Hazeltine former director of the Department of Defense RIAC, Lunatic Koncepts founder Abhishek Roy and a team from Wyle with a possible solution to Skreemr's dilemma. the group proposed the aerodynamic phenomenon called long penetration mode.
Long Penetration Mode or LPM has urged Bombardier to put forward yet another concept for air travel together with Roy, Hazeltine and the Wyle team. The jet, which he called "the Antipode" is capable of reaching Mach 24 which is over twice the speed of "Skreemr." Unlike other aircraft, "the Antipode" can launch from any airfield since it is equipped with rocket boosters attached to its wings.
"I wanted to create an aircraft concept capable of reaching its antipode-or diametrical opposite-as fast as possible" quipped Bombardier.
Should "the Antipode" become a reality, it would enable its passengers to fly from New York to London in 11 minutes which comes to 12,427 miles in under an hour.
