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On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order telling the FAA to lift its 52-year ban on supersonic flight over the US and told the FAA to devise a scheme to limit noise pollution from such aircraft.
Supersonic flight has been banned over the US for civilian aircraft since 1973 after testing showed the noise it created was too disruptive, breaking windows in some cases. Since then, NASA and private startups have developed ways to reduce the sound of sonic booms from faster-than-Mach 1 flight, and there's currently legislation before Congress to allow these high-tech aircraft to fly over the US, potentially halving the flight time between New York and Los Angeles.
Now the president has issued an order that does basically what the legislation, sponsored by four Republican senators, asked for. The FAA has also been instructed to devise a system to regulate such aircraft's noise levels in conjunction with "community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility," to allow flights over the homeland.
"This Order removes regulatory barriers so that US companies can dominate supersonic flight once again," the White House fact sheet reads. "By removing decades-old regulatory barriers and promoting cutting-edge supersonic technology, President Trump is Making Aviation Great Again."
Startups like the aptly named Boom Supersonic have been developing high-altitude aircraft that can break the sound barrier without causing booms by using innovative airframe design such as longer noses to cause less drag, mounting engines on the top of the aircraft rather than the bottom, and using temperature gradients in the Earth's atmosphere to deflect sound waves. Test flights in January proved out the concept, and there are plans for an 80-passenger aircraft by the biz, which is backed by OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman and LinkedIn impresario Reid Hoffman, among others.
- No-boom supersonic flights could slide through US skies soon
- Boom's XB-1 jet nails supersonic flight for first time
- NASA's X-59 plane is aiming for a sonic thump, not a boom
- Boom Supersonic takes baby steps toward breaking the sound barrier
While China and Europe are working on supersonic passenger travel, the US has a lead in the technology. But the Middle Kingdom, in particular, has been putting a lot of development money into such aircraft, and this is prodding US legislators to look again at the situation.
The case for supersonic passenger travel is still pretty thin - we're talking very expensive tickets for a halving of flight times. But there's money to be made and enough people (or their travel bookers) seem willing to spend it.
"Legalizing supersonic flight makes a renaissance in supersonic passenger travel inevitable. We're grateful to President Trump for his leadership," said Blake Scholl, founder of Boom Supersonic in a statement to The Register. "This important step allows us to accelerate development of our supersonic airliner." ®
