It really does bring the boom.
A supersonic aircraft nicknamed the “Son of Concorde” neared Mach 1 — the speed of sound — in a successful test on Tuesday, that could lead on to travelers flying between Recent York and London in only over 3½ hours.
The one-seat XB-1, a 201-foot-long test model by American company Boom Technology, reached 499 knots — about 574 miles per hour — during the milestone test at 23,015 feet above Mojave, California.
It was the seventh of 10 planned flights since March that were carried out by former Navy test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, continuing “progress toward supersonic flight,” in keeping with the corporate, and soaring closer to restoring the rapid type of air travel effectively and safely.
Its predecessor, the Concorde, could fly from London to Recent York in under three hours before it was retired in 2003, not long after a catastrophic Air France crash in Paris in July 2000 that killed 109 on board and 4 people on the bottom.
Each American Airlines and United Airlines have inked deals to fly the groundbreaking planes should Boom’s broader Overture project — its planned fleet of full-sized passenger supersonic jets — take off, in keeping with the corporate, which is backed by the U.S. Air Force.
“I’ve long believed that Overture is the rightful successor to Concorde,” said former British Airways Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. “After experiencing Overture’s flight deck, which is incredibly well designed and pleasant to fly, my excitement and enthusiasm for this aircraft has only intensified.”
Boom predicted flight speeds could reach Mach 1.7, far beyond current testing, and cut travel over land by 20%.
Its max range is just below 5,000 miles at a 60,000-foot cruising altitude — typical flights are around half of that height — and will accommodate as much as 80 passengers.
Together with a three-hour, 40-minute trip from NYC to London, Overture guarantees travel from Recent York to Rome, Atlanta to Madrid, and Tokyo to Vancouver in about 4½ hours.
A visit from Washington, D.C. to Dublin would log about 3½ hours, and Los Angeles to Tahiti would take about 4½ hours, in keeping with the corporate, while a visit from Montreal to Paris could be under 4 hours, Space.com reported.
In July, Boom announced that a “full-scale engine core” could be operational by the top of 2025.
A final timeline for industrial use has not been released.
