Boom Supersonic has taken another step towards its ambitious goal of reintroducing commercial supersonic air travel by the end of this decade. The Colorado-based company released key updates on Tuesday regarding its flagship Overture aircraft and the Symphony engine that will power the supersonic commercial jet. This comes a month after Boom Supersonic officially inaugurated its state-of-the-art factory located at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. The American company chose the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK to reveal Overture’s cutting-edge flight deck, which is built around technology developed by partner Honeywell.
“As we stand here at Farnborough in 2024, it’s now been two decades since either Boeing or Airbus has launched an all-new airliner programme,” said Chief Executive Blake Scholl. “We’re in danger of going a generation without new airliners. We’ve stopped progressing and, in many ways, we’ve gone backwards. It’s never been more clear that passengers and airlines are not well-served by the duopoly we have today.”
According to the information revealed by Boom, Overture’s state-of-the-art flight deck runs on Honeywell’s Anthem avionics suite. Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers Lilium and Vertical Aerospace have also gone with the same futuristic system. Boom claims Overture would be the commercial jet to feature dual-force feedback sidesticks, which will give a tactile feel to the pilots of how the aircraft is flying. “Overture’s fly-by-wire system sends artificial feel to the stick, giving the pilot a tactile stick and rudder experience,” Scholl added.
Honeywell’s Anthem flight deck is highly digital, eliminating hundreds of breakers and buttons in favor of touch screens. While some physical controls have been retained, such as stick, throttle, and landing gear, the cutting-edge flight deck largely relies on four high-definition, 17-inch touchscreen displays. However, Boom says all aircraft functions can be accessed through software, and the system will receive routine over-the-air upgrades.
The design of the futuristic cockpit of Overture is in stark contrast to that of the Concorde, which was famous for being too complex and tight. Concorde’s flight deck was very different and advanced from that of traditional aircraft of its time. It required a three-member crew, with a flight engineer working alongside the two pilots. The supersonic jet’s cockpit featured approximately 600 dials, switches, and gauges. Concorde pilots had to undergo one of the toughest training courses in aviation that lasted for six months, three times longer than any other aircraft from its era.
Boom Supersonic also revealed that the pilots flying the Overture will don augmented reality goggles during takeoff and landing. Built by Universal Avionics, the sci-fi-like headsets will provide the pilots with a live feed of the outside from multiple cameras. According to the American company, the headset will essentially eliminate the droop nose configuration seen on the Concorde. The feature allowed the nose of the aircraft to be lowered during take-off and landing to improve the pilot’s view of the ground below. The feed from the cameras will also appear on the flight display, while an auto-landing system will assist the pilots. Boom has put an Overture simulator on display at the Farnborough Air Show.
