While I remain skeptical about the prospects for a large enough market to sustain the manufacture of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ), listening to Brian Barents extol the progress made by the Aerion team makes me wonder if I’m wrong. Aerion is a company led by smart people who not only asked whether it’s possible to build an SSBJ, but then secured the funding and hired the talent to start working on the program.
Work done by Aerion so far puts it well ahead of any potential competitors and able to reap the benefits of being first to market. Aerion has hurdles to overcome, and there are other companies that have poured money into researching SSBJs, but Aerion has kept its eyes on the target and turned the financial spigots on to a much greater degree.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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