Aug 22, 2026
Every once in a while you meet someone who is a force of nature. I had a chance to meet @bscholl of @boomsupersonic and he is such a man. Blake willed XB-1 into existence and demonstrated supersonic flight with a team of <250 through sheer force of will.
You can tell he's special within maybe 10m. I've been following Boom for years but somehow missed that they built a real plane, flew it, and crossed the sound barrier. By the time Blake showed me the video about 25m in I was not surprised at all. Of course his team had done it. And if they hadn't yet, they would.
Imagine a wide-eyed, boundlessly optimistic high school kid who's read every book on history of supersonic flight. Trace this kid's career over 2-3 decades. The credulousness gets transmuted to competence and shrewdness; you find this kid, now graying, a middle manager working at Boeing.
But every once in a while there is a freak occurrence. The kid becomes competent and shrewd but the twinkle in his eye doesn't go out. That's Blake, and by extension Boom. We will, without a shadow of a doubt, see Overture flying through the skies. It is merely a matter of time.