US
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 prototype jet breaks sound barrier for first time
A US company’s prototype jet has broken the sound barrier in a demonstration it hopes will pave the way for a successor to the Concorde.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 is the first civilian aircraft to achieve the feat since the British-French supersonic airliner, which was retired in 2003.
The XB-1 broke the sound barrier for the first time over the Mojave Desert in California.
The XB-1 demonstrator aircraft. Pic: Boom Supersonic
During the test flight, it reached an altitude of 35,000ft before accelerating to Mach 1.1 (844mph) – 10% faster than the speed of sound.
The jet, which was flown by Boom Supersonic’s chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, went on to reach Mach 1.1 two more times.
A live stream showed the test flight as it happened.
The XB-1. Pic: Reuters
Denver-based Boom Supersonic hopes the XB-1 will pave the way for the development of Overture, the company’s supersonic commercial airliner.
The XB-1 is around 63ft-long, around one-third the size of Overture, which is intended to seat between 64 and 80 passengers and travel at speeds of up to Mach 1.7.
Such speeds would be around twice as fast as subsonic passenger jets, but still slightly slower than the Concorde.
The Overture has already been pre-ordered 130 times by companies such as American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines.
A retired Concorde jet being moved to a museum in 2004. Pic: PA
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What happened to Concorde?
Concorde was a British-French supersonic airliner which predominantly flew routes between New York and London or Paris.
It could accelerate up to around Mach 2 (1,354mph) – more than twice the speed of sound – and carried around 100 passengers.
In July 2000 an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 109 on board and four people on the ground. It also led to the fleet being grounded for a year.
Maintenance issues, high operational costs and the impact of the 9/11 attacks on air travel led British Airways and Air France to retire the Concorde in 2003.