For the first time since the Concorde supersonic plane stopped flying in 2003, it is time for a new supersonic aircraft to fly.
Welcome to Boom's XB-1 jet. The official launch date is October 7th: you can also attend the launch by collecting the invitation you find on official website.
Welcome back, supersonic journeys
The Colorado-based aerospace company, boom , has worked on faster air transport since its inception in 2014, including the return of supersonic planes among its plans.
XB-1, the return of the traveling lightning
Blake scholl, founder and CEO of Boom, is ambitious and optimistic. “XB-1 is the first step in bringing supersonic travel back to the world,” he says. Double speed flights will make us travel twice as far. Supersonic airliners bring more people, places and cultures into our lives.” Consider XB-1 as a dress rehearsal for ideas that will feed into Boom's future supersonic commercial jet. Overture , which is expected to be the world's fastest commercial aircraft to date. The plan is for Overture to transport people around the world in half the time it currently takes. Are you sure there will be no military developments? The world's fastest military aircraft, on the other hand, the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird,” was traveling at 3.530 km/h.
Without forgetting safety
We all know how the last commercial supersonic plane project ended: yesterday's future saw people going from London to New York in less time than today, but something went wrong. We have seen fast planes then, but no longer so after that terrible accident. The Concorde disaster is still in our memory. A tragedy. So, even though the plan is to build the fastest commercial jet on Earth, safety is paramount for the company.
In the beginning it was the Concorde
The epic story of the Concorde plane is known to all: a technical prodigy that was perhaps too ahead of its time. Concorde planes, among the top 10 fastest planes in the world, offered supersonic flight taking people from one side of the Atlantic to the other in just a few hours. And all things considered, they didn't show many security flaws, but those that existed were enough to spell the end. Concorde's last flight, 17 years ago, was just the final point of a descent that began some time ago.
“Every time we face a decision, between security and development, security comes first. As a company, we are cultivating a new culture of safety, and this is something we will need as we move forward as Overture develops." Given the speeds of the XB-1 and those predicted for Overture (New York to London in 3 hours), it's a relief to read these words.
Carbon Neutral
Not only will safety be implemented safely, but with XB-1 Boom is already designing zero-emission flight programs: aircraft engines that consume no fuel and do not pollute? Sounds good, but let me say that I find this premature to say the least at this stage of development.
Either way it's a fantastic looking aircraft, nicer even than the Concorde, and I can't wait to actually see it out and about (waiting for the Saber, which really promises havoc, hopefully not literal).
