Is it really safe? MAI reveals the unique features of the future supersonic aircraft.

The Long Journey from TU-144 to Modern Business Jets

The conversation around supersonic passenger transport began during the Soviet era. The world's first supersonic airliner, the TU-144, developed by the design bureau of academician Andrei Tupolev, started operating at speeds exceeding the speed of sound long before its first competitor—the Franco-British Concorde. The flight was established on the Moscow–Alma-Ata route at the end of 1977. The TU-144 covered the distance of 3,260 kilometers in just two hours and 10 minutes. In contrast, contemporary non-supersonic aircraft take nearly five hours to cover a similar distance.

The benefits of the supersonic airliner were clear, yet its operational period was short-lived. Due to maintenance complexities, high fuel costs, and a number of emergency situations, the TU-144 was taken out of service in 1982. Its competitor, the Concorde, continued operations until 2003 before also being retired. These were the initial attempts to integrate supersonic airliners into everyday life. Currently, the development and operation of this type of transport is a priority. Associate Professor Mikhail Tyaglik from MAI believes that this will become feasible within the next 15-20 years. Here’s what the new air transport will look like:

“The aircraft is envisioned to be a business jet with a high level of comfort. When I say ‘comfort’, I refer not only to the quality of seat finishes and the use of beautiful cabin designs. It specifically involves considering the frequency and amplitude of overloads in relation to the evaluations from both pilots and passengers during the aircraft's design phase.

For pilots, the frequency range and corresponding overloads are assessed, at which point the accuracy of control deteriorates, leading to increased errors in stabilizing the aircraft based on instruments due to these overloads or vibrations. For passengers, the subjective indicators include the absence of negative phenomena such as vibrations, the onset of motion sickness, and a comfortable rate of increase in overloads overall.”

Reflecting on the emergency situations aboard the TU-144, Mikhail Tyaglik emphasizes that modern supersonic airliners will prioritize safety. This will hold true even despite the unusual technical features of the aircraft's design.

The associate professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute explained that the business jet will incorporate all the latest advancements in aviation systems and equipment. For instance, the lack of cockpit windows will necessitate the installation of cameras capable of functioning not only in the visible spectrum but also in others, including ultraviolet, infrared, night vision mode, and more.

“This will allow for the combination of various images and special processing algorithms to produce a single high-quality representation of the surrounding environment, even under poor visibility, at night, or in fog. Another technology to be utilized will be synthetic vision. For example, when the aircraft approaches landing, parameters of its movement and coordinates relative to the airport will be measured, and based on this data, computer graphics will automatically depict the airfield and surrounding landscape on the screen, similar to a flight simulator.

In this situation, poor lighting, fog, rain, or glare on the aircraft's windows will not hinder the pilot's landing. Additionally, both the camera images and synthetic vision will be augmented by a system developed at MAI in the 106th department of the SSL, which displays information that predicts the aircraft's movement, the trajectory it should follow, enabling precise and safe piloting even in severe atmospheric turbulence, including wind shear, microbursts, or wake turbulence from previously flown aircraft,” explained Mikhail Tyaglik.

The expert noted that in modern civil aviation, control systems already ensure limitations on dangerous modes and flight angles, utilizing integral control laws to optimize the aircraft's handling characteristics. Furthermore, new ‘friendly’ interfaces and innovative information display methods are employed in airliners, including options that use heads-up displays where flight parameters are shown against the backdrop of the outside world. All these technical solutions significantly enhance piloting safety. Much of what has been mentioned will be integrated into supersonic winged aircraft.

“The next-generation supersonic aircraft will also feature a broader speed range compared to currently operating planes. Moreover, it is anticipated that elements of artificial intelligence will be incorporated into the control system algorithms, ensuring necessary system adjustments and reconfigurations based on flight conditions, external disturbances, and potential failures, thereby providing optimal dynamic properties across all flight regimes,” clarified Mikhail Tyaglik.

All of the above will collectively make the passenger transport of the future—the supersonic aircraft—safe to operate even in challenging weather conditions, at any time of day, and in complex wind situations. We now just need to await the project's completion, conduct tests, and assign the new generation airliners to flights.

Supersonic Aviation in Russia – A Reality. But What About Abroad?

As previously noted, among all foreign competitors, only France and the UK have made significant strides in developing and building a supersonic passenger airliner. But why were they unable to extend the service life of their Concorde, and is there an expectation for a modern equivalent? What is the situation concerning supersonic travel in other countries?

Interestingly, history remembers a time when the United States was actively engaged in developing a supersonic passenger airliner. In the 1960s, the task was assigned to three major companies: Boeing, Lockheed, and North America Aviation. The unique aircraft was intended to be a modernized version of the Concorde. Washington recognized that a successful experiment could render conventional aircraft obsolete; nevertheless, they decided to invest substantial budgetary resources into the project. After several years, authorities were presented with three supersonic airliners: Boeing 2707, Lockheed L-2000, and North America Aviation NAC-60.

The latter option was quickly dismissed—it accommodated only 187 passengers and could only fly short distances. The L-2000 was the second to be removed from consideration due to being excessively noisy and unreliable. Boeing had better luck. It was expected that it would be utilized not just in the US but also in Europe. However, that too did not materialize: environmentalists convinced the government that operating a supersonic airliner posed risks to the Earth's atmosphere, while average citizens complained about the prohibitively high ticket prices. Ultimately, in 1971, the US government withdrew funding for the “supersonic” program.

Discussions about reviving the project only began a few years ago. NASA, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, unveiled the experimental supersonic airliner X-59. Its assembly was completed in 2021, but the presentation took place only in early 2024.

“NASA's X-59 will transform how we travel, making distances between us shorter and quicker,” assures NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

The first tests of this American aircraft are scheduled for the end of the year. However, it’s not just its tests that are awaited in the US. Boom Supersonic has also introduced its supersonic plane XB-1 and the prototype of its counterpart—Overtune. Experts claim that their jets will be not only fast but also quite environmentally friendly. This can only be verified after active operations.

This material was prepared with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.