Boom Conducts First Supersonic Flight with Live Broadcast on 28th Night

Boom Supersonic will conduct its first supersonic flight with the supersonic demonstrator “XB-1” on the morning of January 28th local time.

The XB-1 is 21 meters long and is equipped with three General Electric J85-15 engines. Its first flight was conducted in March 2024, gradually increasing its flight speed, with 11 test flights totaling 450 minutes completed so far. The last test flight was conducted on January 10th, reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.95.

The first supersonic flight is expected to take place at 6:45 a.m. on the same day in Mojave, California, USA (11:45 p.m. on the same day Japan time) and will be broadcast live. There is a possibility of changes considering safety and weather conditions.

The live streaming is expected to use a modified “Starlink Mini” antenna, which is sold for just $500, mounted on a T-38 chase plane to carry out air-to-air filming. The broadcast will be hosted by former British Airways Concorde chief pilot Mike Bannister, with appearances by Chief Flight Test Engineer Nick Shelikoff and former Chief Engineer and consultant Greg Crouland.

The company has investments from Japan Airlines (JAL) and United Airlines, and the commercial aircraft “Overture” they are planning to develop is expected to connect Tokyo to Seattle in 4 hours and 30 minutes, and Tokyo to San Francisco in 5 hours and 30 minutes.