Supersonic Passenger Flight

A supersonic jet plane designed to make very little noise took flight for the first time this week, cruising over the southern California desert just after sunrise in what could be the first step toward much faster commercial travel, according to NASA. NASA and the US weapons and aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin successfully tested a jet Tuesday that is capable of travelling faster than the speed of sound. Aircraft have been capable of flying at supersonic speeds since the 1940s. The problem is that ultra fast planes are banned for commercial travel over land because they make an explosive and frightening sonic boom that disturbs the public. The supersonic aircraft Concorde, operated through British Airways and Air France, made transatlantic flights starting in the 1970s. But those were halted in 2003 after a fatal crash three years earlier tanked demand for the expensive service. If NASA and Lockheed Martin can successfully lower the volume, the new jets could slash travel

Boom Supersonic XB-1 demonstrator jet broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.122, reaching 35,290 ft in altitude during its historic test flight at Mojave Air & Space Port in California

The X-59, which is smaller and slower than Concorde, has a maximum speed of around 1,500 kph and is estimated to cut travel time from New York to London by about 3 hours and 30 minutes

Aviation startup Boom Technology says it will power supersonic passenger jets with engines designed by a company better known for making small engines used on drones and cruise missiles. Boom said Tuesday that Florida Turbine Technologies, or FTT, will design the engines with help from GE Additive, a division of General Electric. Boom says the plane could be making test flights in 2026 and carrying passengers a few years after that. The company says its 88-seat jet, called Overture, will use four engines, fly up to 1.7 times the speed of sound about 1,300 mph and use sustainable aviation fuel. The Denver company generates plenty of scepticism in aviation circles for its ambitious schedule and certitude that supersonic passenger flights can be economically feasible and environmentally benign Concorde wasn't, so it stopped flying. Getting the plane certified will be daunting, with regulators more cautious after two deadly Boeing Max crashes. Flights would likely be limited to oc

Finding an efficient engine for supersonic jets is tough in an industry that has for decades been catering to subsonic planes