Boom! Supersonic jet makes history, breaks sound barrier over California desert

A sleek white aircraft became the first independently developed jet to break the sound barrier Tuesday, tearing through the air tens of thousands of feet above the Mojave Desert and a crowd of delighted onlookers.

The XB-1 aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.05 within about 11 minutes of taking off, according to Boom Supersonic and live video of the test flight.

The flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California, took place as the company works to revive supersonic passenger travel, which died with the grounding of the Anglo-French Concorde more than two decades ago.

Boom plans to focus next on the Overture airliner, which it says will carry as many as 80 passengers while moving at about twice the speed of today’s subsonic airliners.

“XB-1’s supersonic flight demonstrates that the technology for passenger supersonic flight has arrived,” Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl said in a statement. “A small band of talented and dedicated engineers has accomplished what previously took governments and billions of dollars.”

The aircraft, which flew for the first time in March, is made almost completely from lightweight carbon fiber. It uses an augmented reality vision system to help with landing, since its long nose and high-angle approach can make it difficult for pilots to see.

“The future of aviation is here and now,” Amy Marino Spowart, president and CEO of the National Aeronautic Association, said in a statement. “Not only is there hope for faster and better commercial flight, but Boom proves that it can be done sustainably.”

Boom is one of several companies with an eye on supersonic passenger travel. Any new such service will likely face the same hurdles as the Concorde, which flew over the Atlantic and was barred from many overland routes because of the sonic booms it caused.

Sonic booms are heard on the ground when airplanes fly faster than the speed of sound — typically about 760 mph near sea level but varying depending on temperature, altitude and other conditions, according to the Congressional Research Service.

As a supersonic plane speeds through the air, it pushes molecules aside with great force, forming a shock wave “much like a boat creates a wake in water,” according to NASA.

Tuesday’s flight happened in the same airspace where in 1947 Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier, piloting an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane.