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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "In 1996, a British Airways plane\nflew from New York to London"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "in a record-breaking \ntwo hours and 53 minutes."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Today, however, passengers flying \nthe same route"
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  }, {
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    "dDurationMs": 5250,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "can expect to spend no less than six hours\nin the air— twice as long."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "So why, in a world where everything \nseems to be getting faster,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "have commercial flights lagged behind?"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "The British-and-French-made Concorde\nbegan shuttling passengers"
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    "dDurationMs": 2875,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "across the sky in the 1970s."
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  }, {
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    "dDurationMs": 5500,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Jetting between destinations like \nNew York, Paris, Bahrain, and Singapore,"
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      "utf8": "it clocked in at over 2,000 kilometers \nper hour,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "more than twice the speed\nof a normal airliner."
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  }, {
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "However this was also about 800 kilometers\nper hour faster than the speed of sound."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "And that created a surprising problem \nfor people on the ground."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "When an object moves at supersonic speed,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "it generates a continuous moving shockwave\nknown as a sonic boom."
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  }, {
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "This produces a loud, startling noise,"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 72871,
    "dDurationMs": 4542,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "as well as rattling windows and dislodging\nstructural elements of buildings."
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 77746,
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Since a plane flying at an altitude \nof 15 kilometers"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 81329,
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "can affect an area with an 80 kilometer\ndiameter on the ground below,"
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    "tStartMs": 85746,
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "complaints and concerns from residents \nin the Concorde’s flight path"
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    "tStartMs": 89996,
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "restricted it to mostly ocean routes."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Because of these restrictions and other\nfuel and engineering requirements,"
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  }, {
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    "dDurationMs": 3000,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "supersonic flights turned out \nto be very expensive"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 100704,
    "dDurationMs": 2459,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "for both airlines and passengers."
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 103163,
    "dDurationMs": 3541,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "A single transatlantic\nround-trip could cost the equivalent"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 106704,
    "dDurationMs": 2542,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "of more than $10,000 today."
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 109746,
    "dDurationMs": 2708,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "With additional strain \non the airline industry"
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 112454,
    "dDurationMs": 4084,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "due to decreased demand for flights\nafter September 11th, 2001,"
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 116538,
    "dDurationMs": 5083,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "this became unsustainable, \nand the Concorde was retired in 2003."
    } ]
  }, {
    "tStartMs": 122371,
    "dDurationMs": 5250,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "So even when superfast flights existed,\nthey weren't standard commercial flights."
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 127621,
    "dDurationMs": 2792,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "And while we might think that advances \nin flight technology"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 130413,
    "dDurationMs": 4875,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "would make fast flights less expensive, \nthis hasn’t necessarily been the case."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "One of the biggest concerns \nis fuel economy."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Over the decades, jet engines have become\na lot more efficient,"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 142288,
    "dDurationMs": 2750,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "taking in more air \nand achieving more thrust—"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 145038,
    "dDurationMs": 2833,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "traveling further for every\nliter of fuel."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "But this efficiency is only achieved \nat speeds"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 151579,
    "dDurationMs": 6125,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "of up to around 900 kilometers per hour—\nless than half the speed of the Concorde."
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 158121,
    "dDurationMs": 6167,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Going any faster would increase air intake\nand burn more fuel per kilometer flown."
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 164288,
    "dDurationMs": 5625,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "A standard transatlantic flight still uses\nas much as 150,000 liters of fuel,"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 169913,
    "dDurationMs": 4041,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "amounting to over 20% \nof an airline’s total expenses."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "So any reduction in fuel economy \nand increase in speed"
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  }, {
    "tStartMs": 178413,
    "dDurationMs": 4666,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "would significantly increase both \nflight costs and environmental impact."
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  }, {
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "What about ways to make a plane faster \nwithout burning lots of fuel?"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Adjusting the wing sweep, or the angle\nat which wings protrude from the fuselage,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "to bring the wings closer in can \nmake an aircraft faster"
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      "utf8": "by reducing aerodynamic drag."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "But this means the wings must be longer\nto achieve the same wingspan,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "and that means more materials\nand more weight,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "which in turn means burning more fuel."
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  }, {
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "So while airplanes could be designed\nto be more aerodynamic,"
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  }, {
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    "dDurationMs": 1917,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "this would make them more expensive."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "And generally, airlines have found \nthat customer demand for faster flights"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "is not sufficient to cover these costs."
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  }, {
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    "dDurationMs": 3500,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "So while military aircraft conduct \nhigh speed flights"
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    "dDurationMs": 2542,
    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "over water and at high altitudes,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "supersonic commercial flights seemed\nlike a brief and failed experiment."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "But recent advances\nmay make them feasible again."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Research by NASA and DARPA has shown \nthat modifying an aircraft’s shape"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "can reduce the impact \nof its sonic boom by 1/3."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "Extending the nose with a long spike can\nbreak the shockwave into smaller ones,"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "while another proposed design features \ntwo sets of wings"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "producing waves \nthat cancel each other out."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "And new technologies may solve \nthe energy efficiency problem"
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "with alternative and synthetic fuels,\nor even hybrid-electric planes."
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    "segs": [ {
      "utf8": "It may yet turn out that the last \nfew decades of steady flying"
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      "utf8": "were just a brief rest stop."
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