This is Overture, the modern-day Concorde

The aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic has just announced a new version of its Overture jet, a supersonic airliner which will become the fastest in the world since the Concorde. This new revision will allow it to carry between 65 and 80 passengers, depending on the seating arrangement, over a maximum distance of nearly 8,000 kilometres. According to Boom Supersonic, it should be able to connect Seattle to Tokyo in just four and a half hours instead of ten, and New York to London in three and a half hours instead of seven.

When initially presented in 2016, the aircraft featured two large engines. The firm then opted for a three-motor design, including one placed at the rear, but this one presented problems of access for maintenance. The firm finally decided to install four engines, two under each wing.

A “silent” supersonic aircraft

The Overture will use a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) according to the manufacturer, and can reach a cruising speed of Mach 1.7. This is still lower than the Concorde’s Mach 2. However, it will be much quieter thanks to the absence of afterburner, a technique to increase engine thrust but which consumes a lot of fuel and generates nuisance considerable sound. The plane will also avoid the sonic boom by staying at Mach 0.94 while flying over the earth. It will then speed up once at sea, where the noise won’t bother anyone.

With a little delay, Boom should start this year the test flights of the XB-1 demonstratorits reduced-size prototype, whose take-off was initially scheduled for 2020. The firm intends to launch production of the Overture in 2024 and plans to welcome the first commercial passengers in 2029.

Boom Supersonic presents its commercial supersonic jet prototype

here is the demonstrator of what will be the XB1, the next-generation Concorde. Designed to cross the Atlantic, the supersonic could carry 44 passengers, or even more from 2029.

Article of Louis Nephewpublished on 08/10/2020

With his nose pointed and its slender fuselage, here is perhaps the succession of Concorde. With much delay, the demonstrator XB-1 from the aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic has just been presented at Denver airport in the United States. Long of a little more than 21 meters, the prototype is for the moment planned only to embark its pilot in order to carry out test flights.

It has not yet left the airport tarmac, but in the future its commercial version should be able to hold up to 44 passengers with a length of more than 60 meters. The prototype is one of the few supersonic aircraft projects and should be able to reach a cruising speed of mach 1.3 thanks to its three J85-15 engines, manufactured by General Electric. Very greedy engines which were originally designed for military aviation. Boom has also entered into a partnership with Rolls-Royce this summer to develop the engine of the XB-1.

While the plane was supposed to board its first passengers this year, the program is now almost a decade late. Flight tests alone were to begin in 2017. In the end, the aircraft manufacturer plans to market its aircraft by 2029. The final version of Boom’s XB-1 is designed to be able to fly twice as fast as a line. It could reduce a transatlantic trip that usually lasts 7 hours, to just 3.5 hours of flight. Remember that the extraordinary aircraft that was the Concorde was able to cross the Atlantic from Paris in less than three hours almost thirty years ago. While the mythical plane cruised at nearly Mach 2, the XB-1 meanwhile, will remain confined to a lower speed.

Important brakes

Reserved for a business clientele, a trip from Los Angeles to Sydney which is generally done in 15 hours will take only 6 hours 45 minutes according to Boom. Dividing the duration of the flight has the effect of multiplying the price. Thus, such a trip would be valued at around 5,000 euros. It remains to be hoped that the plane supersonic will not experience the same obstacles that put an end to the prestigious career of the Concorde in 2003, in particular because of fuel consumption which made it largely loss-making with the two companies that operated it.

In addition to the pollution induced by such devices, among the brakes, there was also the sound of the supersonic bang which has just recently made the news in the Paris region. Boom promises to work to reduce this phenomenon with the XB-1. That said, this obstacle no longer seems to be a concern in the United States, where President Trump has just signed a bill envisaging the lifting of the ban on passing the Wall of sound above inhabited areas then. Moreover, without explaining how he intends to do it, Boom claims to have the objective of making flights carbon neutral, which seems unlikely given the fuel consumption of such a device.

Boom is not alone in wanting to fly commercial aircraft beyond the sound barrier. The Nasa plans to test a prototype X-59 QueSST from 2023. We must also count on Aerion and Spike Aerospace, which are also developing business aviation projects in this niche.