Up to Speed

摘要

If points are given for dramatic lighting and teasing shots of details before the camera reveals the entire airplane, then Boom Supersonic wins the prize for Best Virtual Rollout of 2020 for its October 7 unveiling of the XB-1 supersonic scale-model demonstrator. The aircraft, 71 feet long with a slender double-curve wing-an ogival wing like that on the 1969 Mach 2 Concorde-will begin test flights next year and is expected to reach Mach 2.2. The Colorado company hopes those flights will lead to the return of supersonic passenger travel with its 55-passenger Mach 2.2 transport, the Overture. The new SST is scheduled, ambitiously, to carry passengers by 2030. Boom announced its plans to build a supersonic airliner in 2016. Since then, the company has raised S160 million from investors, including $10 million from Japan Airlines, which also signed up to buy 20 Overtures. The Virgin Group pre-ordered 10.