The Boom Supersonic demonstrator aircraft completed its eighth flight earlier this month, setting a new altitude and top speed record as it prepares to move to supersonic speed by the end of the year.
This flight is part of a series of demonstration flights demonstrating Boom’s intentions to bring commercial supersonic travel back to the American skies. The rising cost of supersonic travel was slowly killing the industry even before the last Concorde flight in 2003. But private companies and federal agencies are developing ways to bring popularity back to the once-dead-end of transportation, and Boom’s recent flight brought the company closer to that goal.
The XB-1’s eighth flight took place on November 16 and reached a maximum altitude of 25,040 feet (7,632 meters), the highest altitude to date. The flight lasted 54 minutes and the aircraft reached a maximum airspeed of Mach 0.82, which is the record speed to date.
The first flight of the demonstrator aircraft took place in March 2024, and Boom plans to make approximately two more subsonic flights before reaching Mach 1.
Mach 1 is the speed of sound – about 767 miles per hour (1234 km/h). When objects exceed the speed of sound, they cause a sonic boom – the sharp, thunderous crack of an object breaking the sound barrier. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned civilian supersonic flight over land in 1973, in part because of the constant beeping overhead and rattling of windows that frightened people.
Boom Supersonic’s work on the XB-1 goes hand-in-hand with NASA’s development of the X-59 supersonic aircraft. At 99.7 feet (30.39 meters) long and with a wingspan of just 29.5 feet (9 meters), the pinwheel-shaped X-59 has arguably a more attractive design than the XB-1. That’s because the X-59’s raison d’être is to dampen the sonic boom that caused so much of a stir when supersonic flight was more common.
One of NASA‘s engineers said that for an observer on the ground, the X-59’s sonic boom would be similar to the sound of a car door closing. In other words, the sound boom will turn into a sonic boom.
Boom’s ultimate goal is to carry out commercial passenger transportation on its Overture aircraft, for which the XB-1 is a technology demonstrator. Although the Boom XB-1 will be able to break the sound barrier, the company plans to fly its passenger aircraft at reduced speeds above the ground, specifically at Mach 0.94, which is about 20% faster than subsonic flight.
Meanwhile, supersonic flight enthusiasts hope that the X-59 will prove that “sonic boom” can mitigate the impact of sound booms above ground. After the aircraft passes the flight test, it will fly over several American cities, and its residents will be surveyed on the invasiveness of the aircraft’s presence.
If the aircraft does not interfere with life on the ground, the FAA may change its rules regarding civilian aircraft traveling above the ground at speeds above Mach 1. This won’t happen until 2027, so for now, you can focus your attention on the Boom demonstrator.
