Who needs windows when you can have superefficient transonic passenger flight? That seems to be the reasoning behind Otto Aviation's Phantom 3500 jet aircraft that dumps the portholes in favor of ...

Commercial supersonic flight sped closer to returning as the Boom Supersonic XB-1 prototype reached a transonic speed of Mach 0.95 during Test Flight 11 on January 10, 2025, in the skies over the ...

The US firm's XB-1 prototype reached a transonic speed of Mach 0.95 during Test Flight 11 on January 10, 2025. The test took place over the Mojave Desert in California. Boom Supersonic was founded ...

The dangers of the sound barrier were well-known: when airplanes approached the speed of sound, in the so-called "transonic" zone — pilots found they became hard to fly. Sometimes control could ...

When their air moves well above the speed of sound, it passes through the experimental chamber in a smooth, even stream. “Transonic” tunnels (close to the speed of sound) are much more difficult.

Putting the aircraft under this strain at transonic speed, just below the speed of sound, demonstrates the robust quality of its airframe and proves it will remain controllable at higher speeds.