All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

Blake Scholl: Why Plane Speed Stalled, Supersonic Commercial Flight, & Revolutionizing the Engine

18 min

Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, discusses the journey to bring back supersonic commercial flight, from breaking the sound barrier with a privately developed jet to overturning a 50-year ban. He highlights his company's vertical integration, including building their own engines, and pivoting to data center power as a financial lifeline. The episode covers the economics of supersonic travel, regulatory wins, and the vision of making flights dramatically faster for everyone.

Summarized by Podsumo

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✨ Key Takeaways

1

*Blake Scholl's company, Boom Supersonic, broke the sound barrier in 2025 with XB1, becoming the first private company to do so, and developed a 'boomless cruise' that eliminates the sonic boom.*
2

*The 1973 ban on supersonic flight over the US was overturned via an executive order in 2024 and made permanent through the unanimous passage of the Supersonic Legalization Act, showing rare bipartisan support.*
3

*After a failed partnership with Rolls-Royce, Boom decided to build its own engines from scratch, leveraging advanced digital design and manufacturing to create a vertically integrated supply chain, including turbine blades.*
4

*Boom is pivoting its supersonic engine technology for ground-based data center power generation, providing 42 megawatts of waterless power, which addresses a critical bottleneck and creates a 'money printing' business with tens of gigawatts of demand.*

💬 Notable Quotes

"_"Courage is not being fearless. Courage is acting despite the fear."_ — Blake Scholl"
"_"We will have won when we've sped up flights for every passenger, from the president on a supersonic Air Force One to a supersonic private jet to supersonic commercial flights that are available to every class of passenger._" — Blake Scholl"
"_"If a tree falls in a forest but no one was there to hear it, did it really make a sound?"_ — Blake Scholl, comparing the boomless cruise to a silent sonic boom"