TOS Weekly - The Future of Ultra-Long-Haul Flying
Plus bringing back Supersonic flight, the truth about GMOs, remembering the Battle of Bennington, and the defiant optimism of Gene Roddenberry.
Welcome to TOS Weekly!
Those of us who frequently fly between continents know the stress and hassle of spending hours on a plane, only to have to get off and get on another one to complete the journey. For passengers travelling between Europe or the Americas and Australia, the trip often involves two long-haul flights back-to-back. But aviation innovators are working to change that. Although Boom Supersonic’s plans to halve the time such journeys will take are still a decade or so away from implementation, Airbus and Qantas have just demonstrated the viability of an interim solution: a plane capable of making the 10,000-mile journey in one go. In my new article, I celebrate these heroes of aviation innovation.
I hope you enjoy this week’s articles,
Thomas F. Walker
Managing Editor
New This Week
Project Sunrise: The Future of Intercontinental Travel
On July 28, 2026, a brand-new Airbus A350 broke the record for the longest uninterrupted flight by a commercial jet: twenty-four hours and twenty-four minutes.
From the Archive
Reinventing Flight: An Interview with Blake Scholl
Blake Scholl is founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, a company devoted to “making the world smaller” by making air travel a lot faster. The plane that Boom is developing—Overture—will be capable of ferrying passengers from one continent to another two times faster than any airliner today.
GMOs: Good, Man-Made Organisms
Do you know what genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are? Could you explain it clearly to a twelve-year-old? If your answer to these questions is “no,” you’re not alone.
This Week’s Anniversaries
Live Free or Die: The Story of General John Stark
On August 16, 1777, General John Stark’s fresh recruits made an improbable stand for their homes, their families, and their freedom. Read Stark's incredible story here.
“I Believe in Humanity”: The Defiant Optimism of Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry—born August 19, 1921—was a freethinking maverick and a determined producer who overcame a childhood steeped in religion and traditionalism to embrace an optimistic belief that humanity will one day widely embrace logic and reason.
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