Supersonic test plane XB-1 smashed its top speed record Tuesday, screaming through the sky at Mach 0.82 or 499 knots (575 miles per hour) true air speed.
The milestone, achieved high above California’s Mojave Desert, marks the closest that aerospace innovator Boom Technology’s supersonic demonstrator aircraft has come to traveling faster than the speed of sound, Mach 1.
Boom’s XB-1 effort promises to deliver the technical knowhow for their future supersonic passenger jet, Overture: a Mach 1.7 craft slated for testing in 2026.
At Mach 0.82, subsonic test plane XB-1 could get from New York City to London in 6 hours — but, at Mach 1.7, the Overture will soon make that trip in just 2.7 hours.
But, Tuesday’s test also took the exotic aircraft higher than it has every gone before.
‘XB-1 reached a new top altitude of 23,015 feet, allowing the team to perform a final cockpit pressurization test,’ Boom noted, ‘ensuring that it is safe to proceed up to 30,000 feet — the altitude XB-1 will fly when it reaches supersonic speeds.’
Boom’s project has been likened to the famous Concorde passenger jets of the 20th Century, which flew over the Atlantic at speeds of Mach 2 from 1973 to 2003.
Supersonic test plane XB-1 (pictured) smashed its top speed record Tuesday – screaming through the sky at Mach 0.82 or 499 knots (575 miles per hour) of true air speed
The milestone, achieved high above California ‘s Mojave Desert, marks the closest that aerospace innovator Boom Technology’s supersonic demonstrator aircraft (i.e. the XB-1, pictured) has come to traveling faster than the speed of sound, Mach 1
Boom has assured the public that, like the Concorde of old, their supersonic jet will only break the sound barrier and peal its thunderous sonic booms over the ocean.
The company also vowed in 2017 that its NYC to London flights will cost about $5,000 per customer, compared to Concorde’s old seats decades ago, which would amount to $20,000 adjusted for inflation today.
United Airlines has ordered 15 Overtures and optioned 35 more, according to a Boom press release this past July, with plans to deploy this supersonic fleet in 2029.
‘I’ve done a lot of business trips around the US that I make day trips — I can get back to see my kids that evening,’ United’s vice president of corporate development Mike Leskinen explained.
‘This will open up Western Europe to do the same,’ Leskinen told southern California newspaper The Orange County Register.
This Tuesday’s flight tests, piloted by Boom’s ace Chief Test Pilot Tristan ‘Geppetto’ Brandenburg, also tested a ‘flutter excitation system’ (FES) on the craft’s wings.
The FES system helps to ensure that both the XB-1 test craft, and one day the Overture, will behave predictably in the air as the planes traverses ‘transonic’ speeds, weathering turbulence and pressure from the surrounding air near the sound barrier.
‘The XB-1 team performed tests of the flutter excitation system at higher speeds than previous flights,’ the firm said, ‘hitting Mach 0.7, 0.75, and 0.8 test points.’
This Tuesday’s flight tests, piloted by Boom’s ace Chief Test Pilot Tristan ‘Geppetto’ Brandenburg, also tested a ‘flutter excitation system’ (FES) on the craft’s wings (pictured). FES helps to ensure that the craft behaves predictably in the air as it traverses ‘transonic’ speeds
Retired more than 20 years ago, Concorde flew at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet. Pictured, the the curvature of Earth as seen from Concorde
Boom will be competing for passengers one day with Texas aerospace company, Venus Aerospace, which is also working on a hypersonic jet plane, called Stargazer.
If cleared for commercial travel, the $33 million Venus jet could complete the 3,459-mile trip from London to New York in less than one hour, or around three times as fast as the Concorde (1,354mph).
Stargazer would even be five-times faster than X-59 (937 mph), an upcoming NASA plane that has also been gifted the mantle ‘Son of Concorde’ by some observers.
One of the lead engineers on NASA’s X-59, Peter Coen, however, has scoffed at the nickname, saying the experimental jet is so much more than that.
‘The X-59 is not, I repeat not, the son of Concorde, other than the general wing shape,’ Coen, mission integration manager for NASA’s Quesst mission, told DailyMail.com this past January.
NASA’s X-59 is also designed to break the sound barrier – but much more gently than the Concorde or any other jets, producing a ‘thump’ rather than a ‘boom’
The X-59 will be NASA’s proving ground for ushering in a new era of supersonic flight, he said.
NASA’s ultimate goals for the plane are to develop quieter supersonic flight, bring that technology to passenger planes, and overturn a 50-year Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ban on overland supersonic flights in the US, Coen explained.
The X-59, built by Lockheed Martin for $247.5 million, is the flagship aircraft of the Quesst mission.
‘The features in the X-59 are features that you would see in a future supersonic airliner,’ the engineer said.
These include sculpted, swept-back wings set far back on the craft; a tail that creates lift; and an engine that is mounted high up on the plane, above the wings.
But for now: ‘The X-59 is just a tech demonstrator that is not going to leave US airspace,’ according to Chris Combs, director of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s aerospace engineering program.
‘If it is shown as possible to fly overland without creating noise problems at supersonic speed,’ Combs added, ‘it opens up many more routes for a potential carrier, perhaps making the entire endeavor a more easily justified business venture.’
