Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl made statements about the new supersonic flight technology ‘Boomless Cruise’ developed by the company. This technology makes supersonic speed flights up to 50 per cent faster, while preventing an audible sonic boom on the ground.

Boom Supersonic introduces Supersonic flight technology called Boomless Cruise

Boomless Cruise was successfully tested three times during the first supersonic flight on the company’s XB-1 test aircraft. The technology is based on the physical principle known as ‘Mach cutoff’. When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier at a sufficiently high altitude, the sonic boom breaks through the atmosphere, travelling upwards and disappearing before reaching the ground. Although this principle is theoretically known in some military supersonic aircraft, Boom Supersonic stated that it has adapted this technology to commercial aviation.

Emphasising that sound waves bend like light rays passing through glass, Scholl stated that the speed of sound varies in the atmosphere depending on the temperature and that colder air at high altitudes increases this refraction. Thus, given the right altitude and weather conditions, the sonic boom can disappear in the atmosphere without reaching the ground.

For Boomless Cruise technology to work, aircraft must have engines powerful enough to break the sound barrier and have the capacity to fly at high altitude. They also need powerful algorithms that can accurately predict the propagation of the sonic boom and real-time weather data. Boom Supersonic stated that the Symphony engines it is developing will meet these requirements.

Boomless Cruise technology, which will be used in the supersonic passenger aircraft named Overture, will be integrated into the aircraft’s autopilot system. The system will automatically select the quietest and fastest flight speed with the ‘boomless’ mode while suggesting the fastest and most efficient altitude to the pilots.

It is stated that Boomless Cruise speeds will vary between Mach 1.1 and Mach 1.3 depending on weather conditions. It was stated that at higher speeds, it is inevitable to hear the sonic boom on the ground.

Boom Supersonic announced that this technology cannot be applied on the US land area due to current regulations, but they plan to cooperate with the authorities to update the regulations.

It was emphasised that Boomless Cruise will provide new route possibilities in addition to the Mach 0.94 and Mach 1.7 speed options already offered by the company, and that it can shorten the flight times between the east and west coasts of the USA by 90 minutes.