@Gee2 I'm pretty sure he hasn't chipped in a penny. Let me think... I pay $3.50/gallon for gas to fuel my economy car that takes me to my job to pay for that gas. My money goes to his bank account that he uses to pay for his $80m jet. Yeah, I think I can say with some certainty that the cash doesn't flow the other way.

Oh, and I don't drink coffee. On the other hand I do work in auto insurance so all you angry people out there road raging do keep me well supplied with micro-brewed beer. So, go ram another Hummer, mama could use some new tires.

rsquared

Maybe you should calculate how much he has chipped in to your ability to travel around on your pointless trips in your meaningless life while sipping your fattening starbucks latte grande in your ugly-ass American gas guzzler?

gee2

It would be interesting to try and calculate how much we individually in the US have chipped in for this spOILed man's indulgence.

ANoel

It's not "just" a plane..it's a fast plane ;)

legacye

yea, thas great.. a plane

Amiash

$80 mil?? F-16's are only $30 mil each.

mirolator

he spent more then that on race horses this year

greysky

@A: Why does every single one of your posts link to sybarites.org?

This plane is just what CEOs need. Now they can cut down traveling time and make their business lunches twice as long....

stillusesbetamax

Is the ruler of Gizmodo getting one too?

nosauten

There are rich people in Dubai? Guess that explains why NYU is setting up shop there. (lord I hate my alma mater)

omg-ponies

@A: read. the. article. again.

jesusdiaz

This jet is quite old:

[www.sybarites.org]

A

@EMoShunz: it's a matter of regulations.

jesusdiaz

I'll wait to see a flying prototype before I go cheer. But it looks like a scaled up F104 starfighter, so at least the aerodynamics are proven.

Spaceboy

I'll wait for this to show up on Woot

OneFingerSalute

@Fierock: nah, they go high quality and use bombardier parts :P

EMoShunz

impressive for sure. the usability of this makes it better than the concord (for those with the money).
i am curious if anyone knows the reason for the land/water speed difference, is it to do with noise/safety regulations, or do the thermodynamics of land actually make that much of a difference?

EMoShunz

I wonder how long before it is actually flying? I hope those flat paper thin wings and tail are not the model they are using to create fabrication drawings from...

Fierock

I got two

BuhBuh513

Correction to article: those aren't delta wings. Read the promo text in the video and check the shape again in the picture. Delta-shaped wings are triangular in shape, like these: [en.wikipedia.org]

midtoad

@midtoad: you are totally right. I don't know how the heck did that end there.

@Ednonymous: looks to me like the design and the people behind it are solid. I doubt Sheikh Rashid would have bought one if the engineering, background and the compromises weren't real. Those arabs may have a lot of money but they are certainly anything but stupid.

jesusdiaz

The specs are pretty impressive considering no prototype has yet been built. Vapour(air)ware IMHO. I'll believe this when I can take my Moller aircar to the airport. Perhaps Steorn can help develop the engines...

Ednonymous

@EMoShunz: Supersonic over land is forbidden because of the sonic boom. That's why there was never a cross-country Concorde flight. Pity.

DearEditor

I want to add this to every Mr. Diaz post after seeing The Big Lebowski:

DON'T FUCK WITH THE JESUS

DetergentDinners

@jesusdiaz: This sheik hasn't shelled out a nickle... and being born into oil wealth does not equate to intelligence or knowledge of aerodynamic engineering... it just means he was born lucky... this is just another scam. It took Bell over 20 years to get the tiltrotor in the air... what makes you think these guys can build a supersonic budiness jet when Boeing, the former Lockheed and Sukhoi appear to have given up?
If the idea was viable, why didn't Bombardier, Boeing, Galazy and Cessna go for it when these guys were working there?

Ednonymous

I calculated the gas consumption to be along the lines of 1 mile per gallon (based on the numbers in the article). Holy freakin' crap dude. Holy freakin' crap.

banmojo

Correction, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoom.. Sheikh Rashed is his late father.
I don't see the point of owning this jet, they have a dedicated airline for the royal family.

aceofblitz

@EMoShunz: It has nothing to do with thermodynamics. Those pretty much remain the same whether feet dry or wet. It has everything to deal with FAA regulations. That's the primary reason keeping supersonic jets at air shows from showing their full speed capabilities. They keep the speed from exceeding that of the sound barrier for noise abatement reasons. Safety is not really a concern. It's merely the sound of the sonic boom when crossing the sound barrier. However there are a couple regions in the US were planes can go supersonic. One area would be the air force base near Las Vegas where they conduct 'Red Flag' exercises.

ugadawg

@Ednonymous: Cessna has the Citation X, rated for 0.96 mach - about as close as we can get and stay legal over the U.S. (I work for Cessna). It's actually a great plane, currently the fastest (I think) private jet in production.

It'll be interesting to see how this thing shapes up - if they can pull it off we'll actually have some competition.

xhx

Meh, I'll wait for teleporters.

hisham

@xhx: Can I get a ride?

Brian Lam

Will it blend ?

untime

Dam that rocks
*starts saving up to buy the plane*
Lol this is really cool. I've seen a concord before and this looks way better. I would like to take a ride on one of these. Maybe gates is goin2 give me a ride on his.
I wonder how long it'll take for teleporters to come out.

SneakerFiend

80 million dollars. Ok I said it, with that said I don't care how much money someone has, a few hours of your time isn't worth that kind of premium. These are people who plan trips months in advance and saving 4 hours of time on the trip is completely worthless when a 20 million dollar jet would be just as comfortable.

Not to mention it's brand new and not tested for years like existing ones. This means if something goes wrong at mach 1.5 there's no parachute big enough to save your butt... Don't really care that he's rich enough to buy one, but the fact that's it's a few hours faster flight time when for 60 million you could build a lot of schools and hospitals and still buy a luxojet.

Hello_Newman

I'm an American living in the Middle East. Dubai shouldn't be knocked; the energy markets should. There is plenty of oil, in plenty of other places, albeit harder types to refine.

For Example: Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands have estimated non-conventional oil reserves approximately equal to the conventional oil reserves of the rest of the world. And the US imports more oil from Canada than any other country. After Canada? Mexico. Third? Saudi Arabia.

Granted, Oil Sands aren't easy to extract, but the point is - eh, I don't even remember the point. I thought this was a geek site, not a political forum. Hint, hint. Our common interest is cool stuff, right?

dantax

hes the shiekh(ruler) of Ajman, NOT DUBAI
and why its that expensive, you don't have a bar, luxury leather and so on in a f16 :) this is for him and his friends(business partners etc) to go and have fun into as well. He's the owner of RRR*developers etc* so hes pretty much rich, hes got a HUGE car collection as well...in a orange\black paint scheme, many seen around London.

ali900

update: i asked around and apparently it isn't mohammed bin rashed who bought the plane, its actually sheikh Rashed Bin Humaid crown prince of Ajman, Londoners would know him as the guy with the black and orange bugatti veyron. he's not even 30 years old yet lol.

aceofblitz

@xhx: I agree... I just find it fishy when a company which has never built an aircraft jumps the gun in announcing sales of aircraft for which no prototype exists. If it happens, that's great... otherwise I'll hold my breath for a Moller Aerocar... *cough*... *sputter*...
:-)

Ednonymous

meh doesent beat having an A380!!!

speaking A380 i think im gonna pull mine out of the driveway and go fly somewhere...

alin0steglinski

From the pictures it looks like it's a sliding-wing configuration. At mach 1.5 the wings are all the way back but when landing they slide forward.

TomTheGeek

Hell, why not make it go to moon?

bugstomper2