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Well, you know me. If it's got airplanes in the story, I'm interested. Especially if they're jets and I mean FAAASSSSTTTTT jets. Apparently, this aircraft, designated the X-59 is a Mach 5 capable aircraft which more than measures up to my interest level. I
For those of you that are into numbers, Mach 5 is 3,705.4850 Miles per Hour on a standard day (Mach ground speed changes with air temperature and pressure variations). But, regardless of that, it's a fast (very fast) jet.
Addendum: It's 2884 miles by air from JFK to LAX, meaning the airborne time is ~45 minutes in this jet. Heck, the steward's can't even get the scotch distributed in that time!
The design will minimize the jet noise significantly. They're advertising that the sonic boom won't be louder than a dull thump!
Pretty cool huh?
It gets a bit cooler. Its official name is Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst which is an acronym for Quiet Supersonic Technology. (I wonder why it's Quesst and not Quisst, but what do I know? I'm trying to think of a suggestion for the name, Quiet Dagger maybe?)
I hadn't heard (no pun intended) about this project until I discovered it on the web. But, evidently it is for real and is actually in a test phase. I mean the object in the picture above is obviously flying and therefore, real, right?
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I also found it interesting that one of the ways they are reducing the sonic boom is by increasing the length of the plane while minimizing the wingspan. Punches a smaller hole through the atmosphere, I guess.
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No Beans, that's not me sitting in the simulator despite the physical similarities. More's the pity. |
Another thing I thought interesting, although a bit disturbing potentially. There is no forward canopy, meaning you can't see what's out front. Yes, Beans, that would be the point you're flying to. That's handled with a TV camera. You can see out the sides of the canopy though, so I guess if the TV quit, you could rejoin with another airplane and fly a formation approach and get dropped of at the runway by the other pilot.
I've done that a few times, although I'll confess, I did sneak a couple of peeks at the runway lineup before we touched down. Never had a problem though, always headed right down the runway.
At the time of the article, there have been 19 flights since its first take off Oct 28, 2025. The report is that it handled better than the two test pilots expected. High praise!
As to the sonic booms, I thought this was a bit humorous. The test flights require a chase aircraft or two. These were F-15s (whoop!) and FA-18s. Since the X-59 had to go supersonic in order to test supersonic flight and the folks on the ground were testing for noise level, they encountered a bit of a problem.
The chase aircraft had to stay with the test aircraft in case something went wrong. Duh! But if the test aircraft is supersonic, that means the chase aircraft had to be supersonic.
Guess which sonic boom was the loudest.
Yep! The Eagles and the Hornets.
So...I guess they are making progress.
They plan to test this aircraft out, by flying it over different parts of the the country, I don't understand why it would be different in different places, but, I'm not an expert. However, there is one consideration that is required.
The aircraft requires at least 10,000' of runway to takeoff and land. Most airports used by airlines meet that requirement, but are busy. Airbases generally come close, but...not all meet the 10K' requirement. So, they'll have to work that out.
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And....a short video of the plane in the air.
Hope y'all enjoyed this.
+ Oh, It's 1700 Texas time, Sunday Evening. I JUST found out that my prohibition of driving due to my accident has been dismissed. Tx Department of Public Safety posted it on their website. I just found that out. That's definitely worth a plus!
Thank you, Lord!
Peace out, y'all!
Sources
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/nasas-x-59-frankenjet-tests-supersonic-flight-without-the-sonic-boom/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTfR1NQ-X8&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F
‘
CATOBAR, maybe, A tail hook would not be all that heavy.
ReplyDeleteStB,
DeleteI wonder how many you could have on the flight deck at any one time. Not many m guessing. Oh and wouldn't the elevators need resizing? That having been said, a tailhook is a very nice thing to have on a jet. You don't need one, til you need one, then you need it BAD! Ask me how I know. I don't claim to have a high number of barrier engagements but there's more than a few. Hence my statement above.
juvat
The noise might not be that different in different parts of the country, but the residents are different, as might be the complaints!
ReplyDeleteAnd those complaints are the only things that matter!!!
MM, Spot on target! Some folks ain't happy unless they've got something to bitch about.
Deletejuvat
Neighbor LJ was on a crew getting baseline sound readings in approach lanes to IAD prior to the Concord's first flight.
DeleteWould, of course, be back to get Concord readings once flights began.
"What ya doin'?" asked one farm lady (yes, there were once farms in Northern Virginia and Frederick, Co. MD).
"Getting sound recordings to test the Concord's sound levels." replied the crew chief.
A week later the entire crew was subpoenaed to testify at the civil trial of Farm Lady vs. FAA, Air France, British Airways, et. al.
"My chickens have stopped laying and the cows are giving sour milk 'cause of that damn plane's noise!"
Seems neither Farm Lady or her lawyer had bothered to look up actual facts.
Judge threw the case out. "Why'd you let the case go forward?" crew chief asked the defendant's lawyer.
"Prove they're fools now saves time and money later."
I lived adjacent to IAD (Herndon, VA) and LOVED watching the Concord fly in and out. Thing of Beauty.
That's a lot of runway and a forward facing camera? Hope it's sturdy. Hey now juvat, congrats on resuming the behind the wheel experience....:)
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah stay clear of roads in College Station today. Juvat will be back on the road and behind the wheel. Seriously, I didn't realize how much easier things would go with more than one driver in the family. "Honey, I need to go to Lowe's for XXX. Can you take me?" "Yeah, but I'm doing XXX and it'll be an hour or two."
Not bitching, just stating a fact. Mrs J was very helpful, but had requirements for things she needed doing.
juvat
Pretty nifty!
ReplyDeleteName? "PHEON" Silent and deadly.
https://heraldicart.org/pheon/
Joe,
DeleteInteresting article and there is a similar view of each. But....I wonder how long it would take before the H in the name was informally changed to a second E. Just sayin ;-)
juvat
Hadn't thought about that.
DeleteI was going to say "About 2 minutes after the Maintenance crews saw it "
But then I realized that the drivers (you) had already changed it.
Joe,
DeleteGood one!
juvat
What an interesting factoid, Juvat. The jet looks very stylish (although I do not how comfortable I ever am with a backup camera, let alone relying on a forward facing one.
ReplyDeleteHuzzah for being able to drive again!
THBB, Yeah, I’d be a bit squeamish about that also. Hopefully they’ve got a viable backup system,
DeleteAs for driving, I’m taking HER out to lunch. Stay clear of College Station, I’m back on the road!
juvat
Cheers on return to the autobahn circuit.
ReplyDeleteSo, they used a F-15 as chase plane? Was that YOUR F-15, or does NASA have a fleet of them?
JB
JB,
DeleteSince “Mine” was a 2 seat D model, it’s possible. But unlikely, after all, “mine” was a 78 year model. A bit long in the tooth, More likely it’ s an E model,. Also a 2 seater.
juvat
I learned to fly in a Cessna 140, a taildragger. I took off and landed looking at the white stripe on the edge of the runway and the grass cut line on the grass runway we had in the hayfield. Non-issue having a screen.
ReplyDeleteI saw the youtube video a while back. I would like to know more about the engine and fuel to get it up to Mach 5. Does it have the same expansion issues the Blackbird had? Do we need a Mach 5 squadron and they would do what? I see this as a "hay, we can do this" to apply some of the information learned to build a quieter more fuel efficient supersonic passenger jet.
Tsquared,
DeleteI've been in a tail dragger. I know that landing it can be done, but you are lining up with the runway visually until you get into the flare. Same thing with takeoff once you have enough airspeed the tail comes up and you can see. Granted looking out the side helps keep the heart rate down, but then again, you're not going quite as fast as this. As I said, I don't disagree, just a bit of clarifying for our readers.
As to your second paragraph, all good questions, and you may be right on the supersonic passenger jet. 45 minutes NYC to LA would be kinda nice, not that I would enjoy being in either city for any length of time. ;-)
juvat
LA to NYC in 45 minutes. And why would any sane person want to visit either?
DeleteNice technology demonstrator. But... will it scale up well? As said demonstrator only has room for one. If it takes 10,000 feet to take off, how much more runway will an airliner version take?
ReplyDeleteStill totally cool.
Beans, All true, but that’s why it’ designated X-59. It’’s experimental. We shall see what we shall see!
Deletejuvat