This article was originally written by Dean Murray for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
If flying the seven hours from New York to London has you reciting “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday,” TikTok’s recent viral soundtrack to videos of disappointing vacation moments, we have some good news: That travel time may soon get cut in half.
X-59, NASA’s quiet supersonic research aircraft, is gearing up for its first takeoff, the agency announced Friday. Nicknamed “Son of Concorde” — after the world’s only successful supersonic passenger plane that first flew in the ’60s — it could fly from London to New York in around three hours and 44 minutes.
The aircraft is currently undergoing final safety tests at the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. “Its team is mapping every step, from taxi and takeoff to cruising and landing — and their decision-making is guided by safety,” NASA said in a news release.
Son of Concorde is projected to fly at Mach 1.5, or approximately 990 mph, and could reach a maximum cruising speed of Mach 2.04, or 1,354 mph, which is more than twice the speed of sound. It’s designed to generate a quiet thump rather than a loud sonic boom as it flies, a noise problem that has made such planes unsuitable for soaring over populated areas.
One of the primary ways engineers collect records of X-59 is through its Flight Test Instrumentation System, or FTIS, which gathers and transmits audio, video, and data from onboard sensors, as well as information from avionics. The FTIS has produced over 8,000 files from 237 days of recording, which will help determine when the Son of Concorde is ready to take to the skies.
“We record 60 different streams of data with over 20,000 parameters on board,” said X-59 instrumentation engineer Shedrick Bessent. “Before we even take off, it’s reassuring to know the system has already seen more than 200 days of work.”
Its first flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check system integration, kicking off a phase of flight testing focused on verifying the aircraft’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound.
For Nils Larson, the lead test pilot, trust is key to commanding a new plane. “You’re trusting the engineers, the maintainers, the designers — everyone who has touched the aircraft,” he said. “And if I’m not comfortable, I’m not getting in. But if they trust the aircraft, and they trust me in it, then I’m all in.”
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