Ten months after its first subsonic flight of delay occurred last March, the Boom Supersonic Prototype Test plane, the XB-1, broke the sound barrier today three times during its twelfth flight. The XB-1 is a smaller-scale demonstration version of the larger overture aircraft boom that wants to eventually build to 64 passengers on supersonic international flights at cruise speeds from up to Mach 1.7, similar to the service it offered The concord before retiring 2003.
After taking off from the port of Mojave Air & Space in California, the main test pilot of Boom, Tristan Brandenburg, flew the XB-1 at an altitude of 34,000 feet before reaching a maximum speed of Mach 1.1 (around 844 mph) For approximately four minutes. Today's flight is not only the first time that Boom's demonstrating plane broke the speed of sound, but it is also the first time that a civil plane becomes supersonic. The Concorde was built as a joint company between the governments of the United Kingdom and France, not a private company.
The XB-1 broke the sound barrier twice during its return and descent. Today's test flight took place in the airspace known as the Bell x-1 Supersonic corridor (called by the first plane to break the sound barrier) and lasted almost 34 minutes. The 63-feet long plane is driven by three Turbojet General Electric J85-15 motors, but the company plans to develop and build the four engines necessary to feed the Overdure Awrure plane on its own after the Boom Association with Rolls Royce finished In 2022.
During its initial test flight on March 22, 2024, originally scheduled to take place in 2021, the XB-1 reached a maximum speed of only 283 mph. The most recent test flight took place earlier this year on January 10, 2025, when Brandenburg reached a maximum speed of Mach 0.95 and an altitude of 29,481 feet.
Although its first successful supersonic flight is a milestone for the Boom Supersonic, there are still many development and test flights necessary for the company to reach its current objective of overture that takes its first flight by 2030. As of May 2024, the company He has raised $ 700 million and has sold 15 supersonic planes to United Airlines (with the option to buy 35 more) and 20 to American Airlines.
(Tagstotranslate) News