The Digest | New Jersey Magazine
Issue link: https://magazines.vuenj.com/i/1023248
By 2023, this could be the average day-to-day life of elite businessmen and vacationers thanks to the AS2 business jet. As the world's fastest civilian airplane moves from the distant horizon to the foreground of private travel, this technology will break quite a few more barriers than sound alone. Aerion Supersonic has teamed up with Lockheed Martin and GE Avia- tion in an effort to revolutionize the aeronautic industry. ey've set their sights on private and charter travel— planning to release the fastest luxury cruiser in history—the AS2 business jet. Like their new plane, they have sped past the notion that the sky has ever been a limit on technological progress. Over the past 20 years, Aerion has worked with NASA, e European Transonic Wind Tunnel, Sandia National Labs and other orga- nizations to take major steps forward in high-speed aeronautics. Over the years, Aerion has patented dozens of technologies. When they eventually unveil the AS2, they will have set loose a state-of-the-art plane with aerodynamic and engine technolo- gy second to none. With first flight aiming at 2023, the aircra will hit the general market in 2025. Even someone who knows nothing about planes can see its innovative design. With two engines along the wings and a third centered on the upraised tail, the AS2 looks like it's been lied straight out of a 1950s science-fiction novel. Darting around as quick as a hummingbird with its sleek symmetry and long beak-like nose, the plane reaches an astound- ing Mach 1.4, or in layman's terms, 1.4 times faster than the speed of sound (and over 1,000 miles per hour). e three parallel, crimson racing stripes along the fuselage let even the most novice see the AS2's brash thesis statement—speed first, the competition second. It can reach distances within a 4,200 nautical mile range while voyaging at that speed. When flying at Mach 0.95, the plane's reach extends to 5,400 miles. e AS2 moves 60 percent faster than the private jets of today. It will save travelers up to three hours when crossing the Atlantic and more than five hours when crossing the Pacific. A trip from Tokyo to San Francisco? Cut three hours. London to Sydney? Four hours saved. New York to Lon- don? Two extra hours for business or vacation time. V U E N J . C O M 133