London to New York in 120 minutes

摘要

Instead of sitting onboard a Boeing 747 or an Airbus A380 and whiling away an eight-hour flight to New York from London, how about getting there in 120 minutes, the same time that a journey takes travelling by train from London to Manchester? In a world which has seen flying times stand still since the retirement of Concorde in November 2003, such a quantum leap in flying speed sounds like science fiction. But at Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines (RE), Long-term Advanced Propulsion Concepts (LAPCAT-A2) Project Director Richard Varvill believes that such journeys could be possible within the next 15 years: "Using our Scimitar hybrid variable cycle engines would allow for a journey at Mach 5 from London to Sydney via the North Pole in only four hours instead of the 22 hours that it currently takes - depending on the efficiency of the Australian air traffic controllers of course!"