Man I wish this were available now. Would put a new wrinkle in Sancho's weekend trips to Asia.

"To put things in context, the world's fastest jet, the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That's about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15—nearly 10,000 mph."

"This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney. It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them. After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive "


http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/a3bfe2e6fb5c6110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

I'd be surprised if these were any faster than conventional rockets. If I recall correctly, when they test fire interceptors from the west coast, they reach their target - halfway across the Pacific - in about 18 minutes.

I also recall reading that the SR71's canopy got up to nearly 300C at speed. That was at 85,000 feet altitude. How high would a scramjet have to fly to not burn up at a speed high enough to travel from NY to Sydney in 2 hours?

Ambien and Bacardi has pretty much the same effect and are available today. Leave Los Angeles, wake up in Asia 2 hours later. What ever else happens in between, after drinking the Bacardi and taking the Ambiens? I'll let scientists worry about that technical stuff, all I know is I wake up for breakfast about an hour out of Taipei.

If this technology works, it may make ambiens obsolet for the purposes of international travel. Meanwhile, I am with Sancho. I sleep fine on planes. As far as I know the flight from Miami to Rio is only about 45 minutes.

GCL,
with the shorter flight times would you still be opposed to R E C L I N I N G SEATS?

CFK

Following up on CFKs comment, what would the implications of this new technology be for water landings?

Laguy,

you would die 10X FASTER when you hit the water!
[Oh, I'm sorry, that's land on the water]
I knew it wouldn't be long before you responded, but this is a record!
CFK
PS: have a waterless & Merry XMAS & New Yr.

I think with the g forces involved all the seats would be reclining.

LAguy
That's pretty obvious- Haven't you ever skipped a rock on a pond? Fast throws are the best !

The plane would just skip a few more times before it settled down and the passengers could de plane.

Of course this plane's seats would have bigger cushions so the "flotation devices" would be extra comfy and bouyant!

Glad to hear about the bigger more reliable seat cushion flotation devices. It will eliminate the need to have GCL (with all his moaning and groaning about seat reclinations) sit next to me as a backup flotation device.

You kids and your rocket planes to Tokyo. Man, I wish they'd bring back the zeppelin run to Rio. So what if it takes a couple of days? You're cruisin' in style, baby.

The world's toughest security check, but it'd be sooo worth it!