Quote:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Lockheed Martin have finally formally introduced the new supersonic jet that promises to revolutionize travel with an aircraft that flies at supersonic speeds without creating that ear-crashing sonic boom when it first breaks the sound barrier.
NASA’s new X-59, with its distinctive extra-long nose section, was rolled out publicly on Friday in front of a crowd of about 150 at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.
The X-59 Quesst (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) glistened on stage Friday when NASA introduced it to the world.
One feature of the aircraft immediately became obvious. It does not have a forward-facing window for the pilot to see out of.
Instead of looking outside the ship through a forward cockpit window, the X-59 pilot will “see” what they are traveling toward with the new External Vision System, or XVS. The pilot will sit in front of a wide video view screen that gets its feed from a forward line-of-sight camera at the nose of the plane.
[This plane] will use custom imaging software to “create an augmented reality view of the pilot’s forward line-of-sight ".
The new way to guide pilots is expected to be the wave of the future as planes become more advanced.
Great. What happens when there’s a glitch in the electronics? You’re flying blind. No plan B!
Looks like DEI hires are already at work there.
Wonder if the doors will fly off this one?
Devil’s Advocate here suspects that there are likely vigilant tech checks and redundancies in design, maybe a couple of layers deep.
Yes, probably. Skeptic here suspects the same possibilities of sabotage and disaster that plague self-driving cars, etc. The pilots are still at the mercy of the system, or whoever’s controlling it.
And I learned recently that the Air Force is also upgrading its fleet of B-52s with new engines and advanced technology. B-52 Stratofortresses first flew in 1952 and were commissioned three years later as part of a 3-pronged nuclear deterrent (Nuclear Triad) including submarine-launched ballistic missiles and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The new model will be B-52J, which upgrades the B-52H model going back to 1961 - not that none of the H’s features have been upgraded since 1961.
Thanks for the info, Zerothruster. Good to know that upgrading is being done.
But will they have the pilots to fly the B-52s?
And will they have reliable maintenance personnel? Will they be able-bodied, sane and of at least average intelligence? Will the Ruling Powers take more trouble over the planes than over pronouns while Biden or some other Democrat is Commander-in-chief?
Good Questions !