Spike S-512 supersonic jet could take-off in 2018

The Spike S-512 supersonic jet will have a maxiumum range of 4,000 nautical miles.

Spike Aerospace plans to start delivering the Spike S-512 supersonic jet in 2018 for $60-$80m.

The Spike S-512 supersonic jet will have a maxiumum range of 4,000 nautical miles.

Spike Aerospace plans to trump Hypermach’s SonicStar jet – now pushed back to 2024 – by beginning deliveries of the Spike S-512 supersonic jet as early as 2018.

Having assembled a team of aviation experts that have previously worked for Airbus, Boeing, Gulfstream and NASA, Spike Aerospace plans to launch the world’s first ever supersonic business jet in the next four years.

The specifications for the aircraft show that it will be able to carry up to 18 passengers and will fly twice as fast as commercial jets, making New York to London possible in three hours (which is still two hours short of what Hypermach is promising) and Los Angeles to Tokyo in eight hours.

Flying at Mach 1.6 (1100 mph), the Spike S-512 will fly faster than the speed of sound and will cost somewhere in the region of $60-$80 million.

At present, the Spike S-512 – like all supersonic aircraft – will not be able to fly over the US (at least not over land) due to FAA noise restrictions, which were clarified in a statement issued by the FAA in 2008:

Since March 1973, supersonic flight over land by civil aircraft has been prohibited by regulation in the United States. The Concorde was the only civil supersonic airplane that offered service to the United States, and it is no longer in service.

Some of the online commentators at Wired.com have remained highly sceptical about the Spike S-512 and supersonic aircraft in general. You can read the comments by clicking on the link above and scrolling beneath the article.