After nailing its first flight, the XB-1 experimental aircraft is hoping to usher in a new era of civil supersonic air travel over 20 years after Concorde was forced into retirement.
Designed and made by Boom Supersonic, XB-1 completed its maiden flight at Mojave Air & Space Port in California on Friday March 22.
At an altitude of 2,100 meters (7,120 feet), the aircraft achieved speeds up to 439 kilometers (273 miles) per hour. While that is still way off the speed of sound – just over 1,234 kilometers (767 miles) per hour – the test flight met all its test objectives, including safety and assessment of the aircraft’s handling.
“Today, XB-1 took flight in the same hallowed airspace where the Bell X-1 first broke the sound barrier in 1947,” Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, said in a
“I’ve been looking forward to this flight since founding Boom in 2014, and it marks the most significant milestone yet on our path to bring supersonic travel to passengers worldwide,” continued Scholl.
The XB-1 program is being used to inform the design and development of Overture, Boom’s sustainable supersonic airliner. There are high hopes behind this plane already. United Airlines has said it wants to purchase up to 50
The Overture aircraft is still in its early development phase, but it eventually aims to be the
Concorde made its
However, after nearly three decades, the dream fell flat. Supersonic travel was
Over two decades later, civil
“I’ve been waiting over 20 years for an environmentally friendly successor to Concorde and XB-1’s first flight is a major landmark towards my dreams being realized. When I last flew Concorde in 2003 I knew that this day would come. The first flight of the XB-1 supersonic demonstrator is a significant achievement toward making sustainable supersonic flight a reality, aboard Overture – my #1 choice as the successor to Concorde,”