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Inaugural flight marks major milestone toward return of supersonic travel. XB-1 provides the foundation for Boom’s supersonic airliner, Overture. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today, Boom announced the successful flight of XB-1, the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet, at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California. Like Overture, Boom’s supersonic airliner, XB-1 leverages state-of-the-art technologies to enable efficient supersonic flight including carbon fiber composites, advanced avionics, digitally-optimized aerodynamics, and an advanced supersonic propulsion system. VIDEO AT LINK............. “Today, XB-1 took flight in the same hallowed airspace where the Bell X-1 first broke the sound barrier in 1947,” said Blake Scholl, founder...

Aeronautic officials debuted a new quiet supersonic plane capable of flying faster than the speed of sound and getting from New York to London in three and a half hours. The 100-foot long 30-foot wide X-59 supersonic aircraft, dubbed “son of Concorde,” was rolled out by NASA and Lockheed Martin on Friday, an innovation officials said they expected to revamp commercial air travel. The Concorde aircraft, which could travel some 1,350 miles per hour, was retired some 20 years ago after launching in 1976, plagued by costly maintenance and a fatal 2000 crash. Its new progeny can travel 925 miles...

Virgin Galactic announced in May that it would be partnering with NASA to work toward high-speed, high altitude point-to-point travel for commercial airline passengers. The plan is to eventually create an aircraft that can fly above 60,000 feet (the cruising altitude of the Concorde) and carry between 9 and 19 people per flight, with a cabin essentially set up to provide each of those passengers with either Business or First Class-style seating and service. One other key element of the design is that it can be powered by next-gen sustainable fuel for more ecological operation. In some ways, this project...

NASA's incredible X-plane that is shaped to muffle the sound of its sonic boom has been cleared for assembly by a management review ahead of test flights in 2021. Dubbed the 'son of Concorde' after the Mach 2 airliner, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) is NASA's first large experimental plane in three decades. The X-59 will cruise at Mach 1.42 (1,090 mph/1,754 km/h) and is designed for supersonic flight while preventing its sonic boom from being heard on the ground. If successful, the craft could one day travel from London to New York in just over three hours, while...

She was the last of the iconic supersonic passenger jets to be built and the last to fly. But now, 14 years after her final flight, the public can board Concorde Alpha Foxtrot once again today as she goes on display at a £19million new home in Bristol. The Anglo-French supersonic plane, which could cross the Atlantic in three hours, can be seen at aviation heritage museum Aerospace Bristol, which opens today. The museum promises that visitors will be 'wowed by a dramatic projection show on to the supersonic jet that tells the story of Concorde and what it was...

The world's first private supersonic jet could take off in as little as six years. The AS2 plane will be capable of supersonic travel, allowing passengers to travel between London and New York in just three hours, and Los Angeles to Tokyo in six. Airbus and Aerion say they hope to choose a US manufacturing site for the jet during the first half of next year. If all goes to plan, test flights will take place in 2021, with the first commercial flights for businesses beginning in 2023. The Aerion AS2 business jet will fly at a top speed of...

Highlights of this day in history: British surrender at Yorktown decides American Revolution; Stock market crash hits Wall Street in late 1980s; Napoleon's forces begin retreat from Moscow; Concorde makes first landing in New York. (Oct. 19)

New jet could cut flight time from London to New York to just one hour The new jet could fly from London to New York in an hour - opening up the possibility of a transatlantic return journey in a day. Concorde 2 would be capable of flying more than four times the speed of sound – or more than 2,500mph, according to documents lodged with the US Patent Office by the aerospace and defence group The filings refer to an “ultra-rapid air vehicle” and “method of aerial locomotion” for the aircraft, which would cruise at an altitude of more...

Original Title:American Supersonic Airliners: Race for a Dream Boeing-2707 SST: a Supersonic Marvel, Largely Forgotten Today Capable of transporting 296 passengers across the ocean at 2900 km/h, developed 40 years ago, in 1968... The Sixties (or for that matter, the Fifties) were truly amazing years when it comes to development of fascinating - and often futuristic - technology. The automotive industry, for example, entertained public imagination with powerful full-size cars, a true embodiment of the "American dream" and sheer optimism of the times. In space exploration, we reached all the way to the Moon; in air travel, the dream of...

In retrospect, the Concorde was doomed from the start. Besides being fuel-hungry, the legendary supersonic jet created sonic booms that were simply too loud for comfort, which prevented the aircraft from flying lucrative overland routes, such as New York to Los Angeles, and kept it an expensive luxury. More than a decade after Concorde was retired, researchers are investigating new ways to build supersonic aircraft by going back to an old idea: the biplane. New research, most recently from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shows promise for solving both major challenges to supersonic transports—cost and noise—by turning to this configuration...

PARIS (AFP) - – A French court fined Continental Airlines Monday over the 2000 Concorde crash in which 113 died, but did not jail anyone for the disaster that effectively ended commercial supersonic air travel. The court found the US airline criminally responsible for the Paris crash, caused by a piece of metal that fell from a Continental DC-10 and later shredded the supersonic jet's tyre, which led to a fire in the fuel tank.

Paris, France (CNN) -- Continental Airlines and a mechanic were found criminally responsible Monday for the Concorde crash that killed 113 people in 2000. John Taylor received a fine of 2,000 euros ($2,656) and a 15-month suspended prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Continental Airlines was fined 202,000 euros ($268,400). The mechanic was the only person found guilty in the trial in Paris. He was not present for the verdict. His former supervisor, Stanley Ford, and three French officials were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Henri Perrier, Jacques Herubel and Claude Frantzen were responsible for the design, testing and certification...

decade after a supersonic Concorde jet crashed outside Paris soon after take-off, killing 113 people, a French court will today rule on who, if anyone, is to blame. The trial that started in February in Pontoise, northwest of Paris, reopened old questions over whether European engineers, or an American company, Continental Airlines, was responsible for the July 2000 crash of the European jet that symbolised elegance in trans-Atlantic air travel. The verdict is expected on Monday morning. In the years it took French judicial investigators to work their way to trial, amassing 80,000 pages of court documents, the Concordes were...

GONESSE, France (AP) — Families whose loved ones died in the fiery crash of a supersonic Concorde jet 10 years ago joined together near Paris on Sunday, laying flowers at a monument to the dead and wandering the breezy field where the plane went down. A French court is awaiting a verdict on who was to blame for the accident, which killed 109 aboard the plane and four on the ground, and devastated the reputation of the jet. The Concorde, which ferried the rich and famous across the Atlantic for three decades and could fly twice as fast as the...

An Air France Concorde was to have undergone borescope tests Saturday to determine if its four engines can be safely started in advance of a possible return to flight. The aircraft is at a French museum at Le Bourget Airport, where it was mothballed seven years ago when Air France and British Airways ended supersonic service after decades of financial losses and the spectacular crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people. There was no word at our deadline on the outcome of the tests but it's hoped the aircraft can soon be fueled and readied...

Five people, including two Continental Airlines employees, face up to five years in prison if a French court finds them responsible for the crash of an Air France Concorde supersonic airliner near Paris almost 10 years ago. A four-month trial has begun into the July 25, 2000, crash that killed all 109 people on the airplane and four employees of the hotel the airliner, trailing a tongue of flame, hit when it crashed. The five, along with Continental itself, are charged with involuntary manslaughter. The case centers around investigators' findings that a piece of metal fell from a Continental DC-10...

US airline Continental will present an alternative cause of the 2000 Concorde crash when the carrier faces manslaughter charges in a French court next month. The airline, two of its staff and three other individuals are due to stand trial on February 2 accused of manslaughter over the July 2000 crash of the supersonic aircraft which claimed 113 lives. Air France Concorde flight 4590 takes off with fire trailing from its engine on the left wing Investigators have concluded that the cause of the accident was a metal strip left on the runway from a Continental plane. This strip -...

   Damn, we missed the Concorde's 40th Anniversary yesterday. I love this amazing view of its cockpit. Looks like the cockpit in a military plane or spaceship rather than one in a passenger airliner. [Fast Company]

CERGY, France (AFP) — A French prosecutor has called for US airline Continental to be put on trial over the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde, a court official said. A French inquiry found that the disaster, which killed 113 people, was caused in part by a strip of metal from a Continental plane, which fell off and later shredded one of the Concorde's tyres. A deputy prosecutor in the city of Pontoise, Bernard Farret, said a request was made to bring to trial the airline as well as four individuals, including the Continental mechanic who allegedly fitted...

Cutty Sark was the Concorde of her era. As a working ship, she never made much money for her owners. But in terms of speed, beauty and design, she was a marvel: an example of British inventiveness at which the rest of the world gasped in admiration. Although she had not been in the water for nearly 50 years, she was one of only three historic ships in the world rigged exactly as they were when they were still at sea. She had been lying in her dry-dock alongside Greenwich Pier in London looking much as she would have...