It's a sad day for innovation when the most advanced commercial product is decommissioned before something is available to supersede it.
Well, it DID have almost 35 years to prove itself, which is a pretty remarkable marketing period. There was never enough business to warrent a successor.
Remember, reckless innovation without quality testing is what gave us Windows. Innovation isn't everything, sometimes you need intuition, too.
Oli_hd: I went to see the last landing and take off from Birmingham, a very sad day, things are going backwards.
Backwards? It's just supply and demand at work. That's all. It was only a hundred years ago when flight itself was a dream.
Isn't GM working on Pulse Engines, which are just as fast, but more efficient than Ramjet engines? Innovation never stops, it just depends what's viable for the market. I, for one, would never spend upwards of $5,000 for a seat on a plane just so I could get there an hour earlier. Yes, innovation would make seats cheaper, but speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?
I can only see SST as an advantage for trans-continental flights, anyway. Over land they would have to reduce speeds.
