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NASA Poised to Break Sound Barrier in New Way
Seventy-five years ago, a sonic boom thundered for the first time over the high desert of California. On the ground below, it has been written, a small group of researchers from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) – NASA’s predecessor organization – were the first to hear the thunder crack coming from the Bell X-1 rocket plane flying faster than the speed of sound. (www.nasa.gov) More...
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The problem NASA is trying to solve isn’t breaking the sound barrier, but doing so in a way that allows the aircraft to operate over populated areas. The Concorde was never allowed to break the sound barrier over the continental US, which is the goal for the Quest.
The word here is ‘allowed’ Concorde was plagued by many rules, supersonic over land being only one of them. That’s not something technology can solve but only politicians. Since Concorde wasn’t American, there was no motivation to make it easier for supersonic operators to operate.
I live in the desert Southwest of the USA, in an area where the military conducts training and test flights. Their rules prohibit pilots from going supersonic in my area but yet they do sometimes. Thunder is mild and gentle compared to a sonic boom.
SST was American. It wouldn't have been allowed either. Supersonic commercial flights were and always will be a financial failure.
Ever heard a sonic boom?
I’m not some child..
This made me chuckle.
Guess being American this guy never heard of Concorde ! He seems to have suffered a 27 year mental block.