Boom Supersonic's XB-1 prototype hit Mach 1.1 three times in Mojave with pilot Geppetto at the controls. After 12 years of work, the company is closer to bringing back commercial supersonic flight. Critics question whether it's worth the cost, but the crowd felt the historic weight of it.
All right, so here's what happened today. We are with Boom Supersonic. They got the XB-1 behind me. It's the first time it was trying to go supersonic. It did it 3 times. It hit Mach 1.1. There's a pilot named Geppetto. He's a cool dude, obviously. Flew this thing, survived. The magic happened. The bigger context here is that Boom's been around for about 12 years. They've been on this mission to make supersonic commercial travel real for regular people. I think I knew there was a cynical case where there was going to be a lot of folks that say, "It's taken them a really long time. They've spent a ton of money. They probably didn't even actually need to do this flight." And I get it. I get why people would say that. But if you were here in Mojave, a place that's so rich in flight history, records being broken, and you saw the crowd like I did cheer when this thing hit Mach 1.1, and just felt the enthusiasm and the roar of the engines in your belly, You cannot help but get excited and think that maybe this is possible, and it is cool that somebody is trying.
