Since the retirement of the beloved Concorde in 2003, aviation enthusiasts and the traveling elite have longed for another plane that could attempt to match the grace, luxury and speed of the original supersonic transport aircraft. Thirteen years later, one Colorado-based company plans to do exactly that.
Boom Technologies is a startup company, based in Centennial, Colorado — which is a little south of Denver. Centennial Airport also happens to be the home of XTI Aircraft, creators of the Trifan 600. Boom’s team of 11 occupies a hangar formerly used by singer John Denver. Boom’s website boldly proclaims they will be building “The fastest passenger plane ever.” While the average passenger plane cruises at Mach 0.85, and the Concorde hit Mach 2, Boom’s supersonic jet is expected to fly at Mach 2.2. which should allow for a trans-oceanic same day business trip.
What makes Boom feasible, and even a viable concept? Modern innovations in aircraft design, such as the use of strong, weight-saving carbon fiber composites. The composites won’t stretch or soften at supersonic cruising speeds unlike aluminum that was used on the Concorde. The composites are also much cheaper than the titanium and other alloys used in military jets.
Renowned consultant Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group said, “At 40 seats, that is kind of intriguing. It’s possible that you would have enough routes with enough passengers to justify the development of this plane.” He also noted that planes are typically designed around an engine, but in this case, there’s no engine to be seen at this point. In spite of that, Boom expects their first prototype test flight late next year.
Supporting the concept, the company has an impressive pedigree, including founder and CEO Blake Scholl, who built marketing automation at Amazon, along with another start-up which was acquired by Groupon. He’s also a certified pilot. Co-founder and Chief Engineer Joe Wilding is also a certified pilot, who has helped develop several aircraft including the Eclipse 500 private jet, and the Icon A5 light sport aircraft. Co-founder and CTO Josh Krall has a background in physics simulation.
Boom brought on Andy Berryann as Head of Propulsion. Berryann was formerly with Pratt & Whitney, and worked on recent programs including the F-35 Lightining II, the F-22 Raptor, and the Geared Turbofan Engine for commercial jets such as the Bombardier C-Series. Boom’s Principal Engineer of Aerodynamics is Kendrick Waithe, who was with Gulfstream, and helped develop quiet boom and supersonic aerodynamic technologies, as well as fluid dynamic methods for the Gulfstream fleet. Head of Systems Engineering Michael Reid has worked on several successful programs, including the Boeing 787 (autopilot) and flight dynamics for Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two. Finally, Head of Production Mike Jagemann was involved in the mechanical design of the Adam A500, A700, Grumman’s unmanned X-47A Pegasus, and production and assembly tooling for the Icon A5.
Scholl began developing the concept two years ago, and moved from the Silicon Valley to Denver — which is itself a hotbed for tech startups. In the floor of their hangar, the footprint of the plane is marked out in tape, and office chairs simulate the locations of their seats within the cabin mockup, which is made of wood and cardboard. Boom will seat 40 people, using seats similar to those seen in First Class for domestic flights. They’ll be wide and comfortable, but will not completely lay flat, because those mechanisms add a bunch of weight to each seat. The company says Boom will cruise at 60,000 feet, making it the highest climbing commercial aircraft. Scholl told Bloomberg that the plane fits into about 500 possible route markets, including San Francisco to Tokyo in 5 hours, and Los Angeles to Sydney in 6 hours.
Perhaps most importantly, Boom plans to make supersonic travel more accessible to everyone, a process around $5,000 round trip for a NYC to London flight, which would take only 3 hours and 24 minutes. Concorde flew that segment in a record time of 2 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. At its retirement in 2003, Concorde tickets cost of $11,700 round trip. And speaking of London, it’s a U.K. based airline that Scholl says has pledged $2 Billion in orders for Boom once the planes are ready. Could it be the quirky Virgin Atlantic, or perhaps British Airways seeking to return to their glory of the Concorde days? With a test flight well over a year away, and certification taking far longer (Concorde took almost seven years from first flight to entry into service) it may be years before we learn who Boom’s first customer is — but it’s exciting to see a promising and innovative new plane in the pipeline.
(culled from airwaysnews.com)
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