{"version":"1.9","identifier":"80821f83-992a-4cd2-ba97-8d8f46dad10b","language":"en-US","title":"Why I am a big fan of Boom Supersonic—and what I am watching next","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://www.loungefrog.com/news/why-lounge-frog-is-a-big-fan-of-boom-supersonic","datePublished":"2026-10-14T14:34:16.264695Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T14:46:37.800891Z","authors":["Patrick Karsh"],"excerpt":"Patrick Karsh on XB-1's real achievements, the engineering behind the excitement, and why Lounge Frog is rooting for Boom.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/80821f83-992a-4cd2-ba97-8d8f46dad10b/5aded5f155db891873e71d5d2272eb77.jpg","keywords":["aircraft"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Why I am a big fan of Boom Supersonic—and what I am watching next","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Patrick Karsh on XB-1's real achievements, the engineering behind the excitement, and why Lounge Frog is rooting for Boom.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Patrick Karsh · Published October 14, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/80821f83-992a-4cd2-ba97-8d8f46dad10b/5aded5f155db891873e71d5d2272eb77.jpg","caption":"Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator in flight. Photo: Boom Supersonic. · Boom Supersonic","accessibilityCaption":"Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator in flight. Photo: Boom Supersonic.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator in flight. Photo: Boom Supersonic. · Boom Supersonic","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"## Why I am rooting for Boom\n\nI am a big fan of Boom Supersonic, and I want Lounge Frog to say that plainly. The company has chosen a difficult, exciting problem: bringing supersonic passenger travel back. What earns my attention is the work it has already put into that goal.\n\nA rendering can make almost any aircraft look impressive. A flight-test record is more revealing. It shows dates, speeds, decisions, and a team finding out how its aircraft behaves outside a design tool.\n\nThat is the strongest reason for my enthusiasm. Boom has built and flown XB-1, a supersonic demonstrator. Overture, its planned passenger aircraft, has further work ahead. I can admire the completed achievement and be excited about the next one.\n\n## The test record is worth reading\n\nBoom's [XB-1 chronology](https://boomsupersonic.com/xb-1) begins with a 12-minute first flight on March 22, 2024. On January 28, 2025, its twelfth flight reached Mach 1.122. The thirteenth flight, on February 10, reached Mach 1.18.\n\nThe progression is what interests me. A flight program builds knowledge in stages. Each step has to support the next one. Those short entries on a website represent an aircraft, a pilot, engineers, ground crews, and a great deal of preparation.\n\nI like seeing an ambitious company expose that process to public view. It gives aviation fans something more substantial to discuss than the latest artist's impression.\n\n## There was science behind the spectacle\n\nDuring the February 2025 flight, Boom worked with NASA to capture schlieren imagery of XB-1. The [partnership announcement](https://boomsupersonic.com/press-release/boom-nasa-partnership) explains that the technique makes shock waves visible by showing changes in air density.\n\nThat image is striking because it shows something the eye ordinarily misses. It is also a useful reminder of what supersonic flight involves: air, pressure, temperature, and an aircraft moving through them at high speed.\n\nFor me, this is aviation at its most interesting. The spectacle opens the door, and the engineering keeps me reading. I want Boom to keep giving us both.\n\n## The engine plan gives fans a harder question\n\nAn airliner needs much more than a demonstrator. Symphony, Boom's proposed aircraft engine, is an essential part of the Overture program.\n\nIn its [December 2025 development announcement](https://boomsupersonic.com/press-release/boom-supersonic-to-power-ai-data-centers), Boom said its Superpower natural-gas turbine and Symphony would share an engine core. The company expects future turbine operating data and revenue to support its aviation plans.\n\nThat is a strategy worth following closely. Stationary power generation and flight are different applications. The value of the shared core will have to emerge through testing and operating results. I want to see the hardware, the data, and the lessons that make their way into the aircraft program.\n\nA fan should have useful questions. Asking them is part of taking the ambition seriously.\n\n## The passenger case still excites me\n\nBoom's [Overture plans](https://boomsupersonic.com/overture) target Mach 1.7 cruise. The company projects New York to London in three hours and 40 minutes. If that becomes a reliable airline product, it would change the choices travelers make around an Atlantic crossing.\n\nThat prospect connects with why I built Lounge Frog. I care about the experience of traveling: the wait, the connections, the airport, and how a person feels when the trip is over. A major reduction in flight time could improve that experience in a way a lounge cannot deliver on its own.\n\nI want speed and comfort to work together. The actual fare, cabin, service, and airport arrangements will determine how well they do.\n\n## Enthusiasm with something to follow\n\nThe next steps are substantial: propulsion testing, a completed airliner, aircraft trials, certification, and airline preparations. XB-1's success does not remove those tasks. It makes the pursuit more interesting to watch.\n\nMy [Overture guide](https://www.loungefrog.com/news/boom-overture-speed-cabin-routes-and-what-comes-next) explains the proposed aircraft. My [Concorde essay](https://www.loungefrog.com/news/i-miss-concorde-and-want-boom-to-bring-back-supersonic-flight) explains the personal hope behind my support.\n\nThis is the case for being a Boom fan today: a bold goal, an aircraft that has actually flown supersonically, and an engineering story with important work still unfolding. I want the team to succeed, and I want the eventual passenger airplane to earn every bit of that excitement.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}