The return of supersonic travel has been remarkably slow for something faster than the speed of sound, but a major milestone was achieved on January 28 when Boom Supersonic completed its first supersonic flight.
Boom, the American company building what promises to be the world’s fastest airliner, broke the sound barrier for its first time with a test flight in Mojave, California.
The company’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft’s supersonic flight is the first time an independently developed jet has broken the sound barrier.
The XB-1, which has now completed 12 successful test flights since it first took to the air in March 2024, is the precursor to the development of Boom’s supersonic commercial airliner, Overture.
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When the XB-1 took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port on its latest flight it was in the same historic airspace where legendary pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time in 1947.
The aircraft, flown by Boom’s chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, accelerated to Mach 1.122 (652 knots true airspeed or 750 miles per hour) — about 10% faster than the speed of sound — about 12 minutes into the test flight at about 35,000 feet.
The fastest speed the XB-1 had reached prior to the January 28 flight was Mach 0.95, just below the supersonic threshold of Mach 1, which it hit during its last test flight on January 10.
A livestream documented the historic moment for the first civil supersonic jet built in America and the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet.
In the control room, 25 engineers reviewed live data
during the mission.
The hotly anticipated plane already has 130 orders and pre-orders from American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines.
Source: CNN
