New hi-tech jet could blast from London to New York in 20 minutes, creator says

A new hi-tech plane could blast from London to New York in 20 minutes – hitting speeds 10 times faster than Concorde.

The ‘Antipode’ concept would use rocket boosters to hit Mach 5, before a ‘ramjet’ boosts the aircraft to 24 times the speed of sound.

The Antipode jet is the brainchild of Canadian designer Charles Bombardier, who says it takes advantage of an aerodynamic phenomenon called ‘Long penetration mode’ (LPM).

Speaking to the BBC, Bombardier said, ‘The idea of going from New York to London in, say 20 minutes – that’s what I think really grabbed people.

‘It’s always something that people would like – a transportation system that could take you from one place on the planet to the other side.’

The aircraft would seat 10 people and fly at Mach 24 – 10 times faster than Concorde, and 24 times the speed of sound. It’s roughly 18264mph.

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Bombardier says that the aircraft would take off from a normal runway – but would use rocket boosters on its wings to fly up to 40,000 feet, where the real fun begins.

‘The aircraft’s onboard computer would then ignite its supersonic combustion ramjet engine and accelerate up to Mach 24,’ he says.

Bombardie came up with the design after an expert engineer, ‘proposed using a novel aerodynamic phenomenon called ‘long penetration mode (LPM)’