Boom’s XB-1 can fly. The “demonstrator” aircraft got off the ground in Mojave today for a quick pass through the pattern, climbing to over 7,000 feet and hitting a maximum altitude of 246 knots (283mph) before returning to the ground. The flight spanned approximately 12 minutes.
I’ve been looking forward to this flight since founding Boom in 2014, and it marks the most significant milestone yet on our path to bring supersonic travel to passengers worldwide.
– Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic
The company, unsurprisingly, hails the effort as a major milestone in its quest to bring supersonic travel back to the commercial aviation world. Indeed, it claims “the first flight of XB-1 marks the return of a civil supersonic aircraft to the skies and paves the way for the revival of mainstream supersonic travel onboard Overture.”
Just how accurate that is, however, remains to be seen.
XB-1 is a custom built, three engine aircraft that the company has been working on for nearly a decade, and which has not yet traveled supersonic. The first flight is more than five years late; it was expected by end of 2018 during the 2017 Paris Air Show. Today’s first flight came two years after the company first fired up the engines on XB-1. The timeline for it has slipped repeatedly throughout the production process.
And, perhaps more notably, design specifications for Overture – the real supersonic plane – have also shifted significantly since the initial XB-1 plans rolled out.
Overture shifted to use four engines under the current design, and the company eventually realized it would have to manufacture (and certify!) them in-house rather than retooling an existing commercial engine, which was the plan six years ago.
XB-1 is, quite simply, a dramatically different airplane than what Overture will be. Very few of the engineering developments that went into making XB-1 fly will be transferred from the demonstrator to the real thing as the testing progresses.
Two years ago, as the “superfactory” in Greensboro was unveiled the company was still holding to its timeline for a 2025 rollout of the first aircraft. Work on the factory continues, as does design work on Overture. But the idea that a test unit of Overture will emerge next year – with as yet uncertified engines that mostly are a concept rather than a going concern – seems fanciful.
The company’s claims about being a sustainable air transport option are similarly questionable. As are its forecast for the market demand.
Boom has signed some big names to its order book, but also seen others disappear. Ditto for its supply chain.
It continues to push forward, but at some point the money question will become real. Getting a few billion in backing to build a brand new aircraft is not a trivial task, especially with a history of missed deadlines.
I am confident XB-1 will eventually become the first privately developed aircraft to break the sound barrier. That’s an incredible achievement. But transitioning from that to the production of a certified commercial aircraft is a massive undertaking, with a timeline measured across many years and billions of dollars. Boom rarely acknowledges this reality nor how it will address the challenges.
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