CEO says supersonic aircraft will replace conventional aircraft in our era

(CNN)- A demonstration aircraft of the new civil supersonic aircraft, launched for the first time since the 1960s, took off in early March. This is a historic moment in the long-awaited new era of supersonic travel.

The XB-1, a technology demonstration aircraft built by Colorado-based Boom Supersonics successfully completed its first test flight at Mojave Air & Space Port in California, it was announced March 22.

The XB-1 program paves the way for the design and development of Boom’s Overture airliner, which promises to be the world’s first independently developed supersonic aircraft.

Now, 10 years after the Boom Supersonic project began in 2014, CEO Blake Schall tells CNN Travel via video call that there are some exciting months ahead.

the hard part is over

“I’m a big believer in the return of supersonic air travel and ultimately bringing it to all passengers on all routes. And this is not something that will happen overnight,” says Sholl. “The hard part of building a supersonic aircraft is making the aircraft so smooth and slippery and making it take off and land safely.”

first flight of

This is well below the altitude reached by commercial aircraft, which fly between 31,000 and 42,000 feet.

As far as Mach 1 (speed of sound) is concerned, it is approximately 1,223 km/h depending on altitude and temperature. But the plan is for the XB-1 to achieve that supersonic ambition quickly.

“We are going to do a whole series of flights (10 to 15 in total) over the next five to seven months to break the sound barrier for the first time,” says Shaul.

Aerodynamics, Materials, Propulsion

There have been only two civilian supersonic aircraft: the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 and the British-French Concorde, which last flew more than two decades ago in October 2003.

Now, the industry is brimming with supersonic and hypersonic projects, from NASA and Lockheed Martin’s X-59 “quiet” plane, which limits sonic boom, to Atlanta-based Hermes, which unveiled its first flying plane this week.

“The advent of digital engineering is a big enabler of why supersonic flight is coming back,” explains Schall. “Aerodynamics, materials, propulsion: these are three big areas in which we have made significant progress compared to Concorde.”

computational fluid dynamics

In the 1960s, Concorde was developed in wind tunnels, which meant building expensive physical models, testing them, and then replicating them.

“You can’t test multiple designs when each iteration costs millions and takes months,” explains Shaul. But Boom has refined the efficient aerodynamic design of its aircraft using computational fluid dynamics. “It’s basically a digital wind tunnel. “We can run the equivalent of hundreds of wind tunnel tests overnight in simulation for a fraction of the cost of a real wind tunnel test.”

The XB-1 is made almost entirely of carbon fiber composite, chosen to be strong and lightweight.

Augmented Reality Vision System

Concorde famously reduced drag when reaching supersonic speeds, with a long, pointed nose on a hinge that folded forward during takeoff, landing, and taxiing so pilots could see the runway.

“These days we have this wonderful thing called a camera and display,” says a smiling Shaul, describing the XB-1’s unique augmented reality vision system. Instead of requiring a complex moving nose and windshield views, the craft uses two nose-mounted cameras, digitally augmented with altitude and flight path signals.

“It’s a better view than Concorde has ever had,” says Sholl, and the augmented reality symbology will help pilots set targets and achieve “a beautiful landing every time.”

powered by sustainable fuel

So, with the aviation industry aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, where does a supersonic aircraft that flies twice as fast as modern conventional aircraft fit into all this?

The XB-1 is designed to run on conventional jet engines and run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

We’ve covered the so-far slow pace of SAF adoption here at CNN Travel before, and Skoll is well aware of its ongoing problems.

“It’s not enough and it costs too much, but it’s growing,” says Schall, but he predicts that one day it will be used for all long-haul air travel. He declares that it is “the future of aviation”.

need for Speed

Skoll acknowledges that “flying faster requires intrinsically greater energy consumption,” but says: “We should not have to choose between being climate-friendly and being passenger-friendly.” In fact, we “We can accelerate the transition to low-carbon transportation by ensuring that the most desirable aircraft is also the most climate-friendly.”

Skoll compares today’s transatlantic air travel to “crossing the Atlantic in a ratty SUV.” Crossing the Atlantic, aboard the Overture, would be like crossing it in a Tesla. And yes, it will consume more energy, but from a climate perspective, it doesn’t matter because the energy source is green.

“If we had faster planes, we wouldn’t need as many.”

At the same time, it also protects other efficiencies that provide faster flights.

“A faster aircraft is much more efficient from a human perspective and much more efficient from a capital perspective. “You can do more flights with the same aircraft and the same crew,” says Schall. “We can significantly reduce all the costs and impacts that come with airplanes by making them faster. “If we have faster planes, we don’t need as many.”

He says the reason we don’t use propeller flights between London and New York is that although it may consume less energy than a jet engine, it “would be more expensive and more efficient overall, because It’s going at half speed.” You will need a lot more.”

He estimates that, in the same way that jet planes replaced propeller planes, “within your and my lifetime, supersonic will replace today’s jet planes, and will be faster, more durable, and more economical.”

“Anywhere in the world for $100 in four hours”

When CNN Travel spoke to Shawl in May 2021, he told us that his dream was that one day people could “fly anywhere in the world in four hours for $100.” Three years later, he says it is still his “North Star”.

“If you look at Concorde, built with 1960s technology, it was like a £20,000 note and it was impossible to get hold of,” says Schall.

In the first version of Boom’s Overture aircraft, called Overture One, “Our goal is to reduce this four times and be able to make supersonic flights available to the millions of people who can fly business class today.”

The long-term view is that subsequent versions of Overture (Overture two, then Overture three are planned) will bring supersonic flight to more routes for more passengers at lower cost.

Boom’s goal is to cut flights to “half or less the time they take today.” The ultimate goal is “flights that are faster, more affordable, more convenient and more sustainable.” And we will continue to work on it until we can travel around the planet seamlessly.

2024 is “one of the most important years yet”

Boom aims to carry its first passengers on Overture (between 64 and 80, at a speed of Mach 1.7) before the end of the decade. It currently has an order book of 130 orders and pre-orders from customers such as American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines.

Shaul says: “2024 will be one of the most important years ever for supersonic flight. Later this year we will open a superfactory in Greensboro, North Carolina, where we will manufacture Overture. And then we’re off to the races.

Most of all, he is proud to lead “a private company with a scalable business model,” he says. “The world needs an innovative new commercial aircraft manufacturer.”