A US supersonic jet racing to become the next Concorde has reached another major milestone ahead of an even bigger step coming early next year.
Supersonic aircraft XB-1, dubbed the “Son of Concorde”, has successfully completed its tenth test flight.
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It’s a major move that could bring journey times from London to New York City to just 3.5 hours, down from the eight or so hours it currently takes.
The firm behind it, Boom Technology, says the jet hit a new top speed of Mach 0.95 – about 723mph – flying faster than the cruising speed of a Boeing 787 or Airbus A380.
It also hit a new maximum altitude of 32,417 ft during its 46 minute flight from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California.
But the aircraft still has a way to go before it reaches anywhere near Concorde speeds.
Concorde – which ceased flying in 2003 – could dart through the skies at up to 1,350mph, over twice the speed of sound.
“X-B1 is the first independently developed supersonic aircraft,” said chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg.
“We’ve developed it on our own and I’m excited to be part of the team that takes it supersonic.”
Boom Technology is hoping to make a major leap early next year with its first supersonic flight.
The firm initially aimed to achieve this by the end of 2024.
Before going supersonic, the company anticipates one or two more test flights.
As part of the 10th trial, experts assessed the aircraft’s handling qualities at Mach 0.9 with the stability augmentation system off.
“XB-1 cleared this requirement, confirming that the pilot can safely control the aircraft at higher speeds even in the unlikely event of a stability augmentation system failure,” Boom said.
“XB-1 is steadily progressing toward breaking the sound barrier in early 2025.
“We anticipate 1-2 additional flights to complete final system checks before XB-1’s supersonic flight.”
The US-made jet faces competition from China, after a rival firm announced its own development had recently reached a speed of 3,106 mph, four times the speed of sound.
Beijing-based Space Transportation – also known as Lingkong Tianxing Technology – is racing to develop the kit for a Yunxing passenger aircraft that could take off as soon as 2027.
Why did the Concorde fail?
CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel.
Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003.
The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights.
Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde.
Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs.
By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously.
The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly.
Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000.
The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground.
The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite.
It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.
