Boom Supersonic G&A and engineering employees have been working from home since mid-March, and the hangar is currently limited to only “build essential” engineers and team members. Despite the broader crisis, the company has achieved major milestones on XB-1, such as the successful wing test and fuselage bonding.

Significant progress has been made as the team closed out the wings and completed all wing testing, conducted the first flight of a second generation simulator, and finalized three critical bond events - the systems bay and main landing gear bay into the fuselage and the closeout of the right hand and left hand fuselage skin. The XB-1 wing structure is officially closed since the wing structure was sealed in February, a key milestone that transformed the skeleton into a completely closed structure.

“The closeout of XB-1's wings marks a significant milestone for major structural assembly. It's significant because of the finality. Once you close them out, you cannot go back and open it like you could a bolted structure," says Mike Jagemann, Head of XB-1 Production.

In early March immediately following closeout, the team successfully completed static load testing of XB-1's wings. The tests simulated the maximum flight load (60,000 pounds) the aircraft could experience in flight.

Twenty-six hydraulic actuators were strategically positioned against the primary wing structure, to validate the analysis of the wing design. Each of these actuators exert a different force, which mimics the pressure distribution from flight.

Engineers carefully monitored the integrity of the wing throughout the entire testing process. Along with other instruments, they followed readings from acoustic sensors, which can trace the precise origin of any internal audible activity within a 3” radius.

As part of preparation for the down bend test, Chief Test Pilot Bill 'Doc' Shoemaker marked the location where actuators will be positioned against the upper wing skin.

Alongside the completion of wing tests, the team also installed XB-1's left hand skin, effectively closing the fuselage. The operation united the left half into the right, revealing the sleek body of a supersonic aircraft. As the single largest bond on the aircraft, this mission success event demanded utmost efficiency and focus by our engineers and technicians. To put the size of this milestone in perspective, all prior bond events spanned roughly one-quarter to one-third the size of the left hand skin install, in terms of physical parameters.

Roughly 9,000 pounds of force were required to close the bond and adhere the parts together. Here, the team performed a weight check of the forward fuselage assembly, as part of the process to transfer the forward fuselage into the assembly cradle.

The aircraft now rests in the assembly cradle, where all final systems installation will take place.

Simulated flights for XB-1 recently became much more realistic. With the completion of Boom's second generation in-house simulator, teams from Avionics, Flight Controls, and Flight Test have significantly advanced progress to XB-1's test program.

“The second generation simulator is essentially a slice out of the real airplane. We replicated the cockpit and mechanical systems as closely as possible. We're anticipating that the pilots will put many more flying hours into the sim than the actual plane," says Ryan McKay, Project Lead and Mechanical Engineer.

“Boom's second simulator provides much higher mechanical accuracy in representation of the aircraft flight controls than previous iterations. It not only allows us to finalize the design of the aircraft's flight controls, but also enables training for both our pilots and control room team with full mission rehearsals. This is just one example of how we incorporate risk reduction and safety into the design of an aircraft as early as possible," says Jeff Mabry, Chief Flight Test Engineer.