If the plane makes a sharp turn or pulls up, the boom will hit the ground in front of the aircraft. From the perspective of the aircraft, the boom appears to be swept backwards as it travels away from the aircraft. When the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, these pressure waves combine and form shock waves which travel forward from the generation or 'release' point.Īs an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds it is continually generating shock waves, dropping sonic boom along its flight path, similar to someone dropping objects from a moving vehicle. An aircraft traveling through the atmosphere continuously produces air-pressure waves similar to the water waves caused by a ship's bow. It is caused by an object moving faster than sound - about 750 miles per hour at sea level. Top tier manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney and CFM have not officially taken themselves out of the mix.Sonic boom is an impulsive noise similar to thunder. In a statement to Business Insiderlast month, Boom Supersonic reconfirmed its intention to announce its engine partner later this year. And part of the reason they went bankrupt last year in May is that they ended up having to try to develop the engines themselves, and that was like the final straw that turned them to bankruptcy.' 'Aerion was an equivalent company that was trying to come to market too,' he says. Debbage calls the current engine situation concerning and he sees the most direct parallels not with Concorde, but with Boom's recent competitor, Aerion. So far the company has raised roughly $270 million to date. 'You’ve got to remember it took two countries - France and England - years to develop the Concorde, and it was governments doing that.'ĭebbage says in order to develop the Overture and get it to market, Boom will likely need to spend roughly $8 billion. 'The probability that they will achieve anything is very low,' says Dixon. Orders for the Concorde - billions of dollars in the making - were placed by many airlines, but Dixon says that ultimately deliveries were made to only Air France and British Airways.

Bob Dixon has flown for decades and was a longtime airshow performer. That has not been the case for supersonic jets historically. But industry experts suggest that the main concern for manufacturers is whether airlines actually purchase the planes. In June of last year, United Airlines announced its deposit to buy 15 Overtures, followed by a similar announcement by American for 20. 'Then a plane with three engines with the third engine in the tail, and then finally the current sort of schematics that you see that include a plane with four engines.'

'Their schematics that they kept putting out revealed first a plane with two engines,' says Debbage. UNC-Greensboro Professor of Economic Geography Keith Debbage says the first signs of trouble began more than a year ago. And later that month several other manufacturers told aviation site Flight Global that they were not interested in filling that void.

But in early September, the London-based engine manufacturer announced that its contract with Boom had expired. These supersonic jets were said to travel from New York to London in under four hours, using engines designed and manufactured by Rolls Royce. In late January of this year, Governor Roy Cooper announced Boom Supersonic’s intention to manufacture a new passenger aircraft at Piedmont Triad International Airport known as Overture.

The ongoing search is one of several challenges facing the company. Boom Supersonic’s self-imposed end-of-year deadline for announcing its engine manufacturer is quickly approaching.

Boom jet