In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited supersonic flights over land, “based on the expectation that such flights would cause a sonic boom to reach the ground,” the Congressional Research Service wrote. It found that people who experienced them were not happy with the loud sounds, describing them as “annoying,” “irritating” and “startling.” The program was terminated in 1971.ĭuring the 1960s, NASA was tasked with helping to develop commercial supersonic aircraft and researched the effects of sonic booms. But serious problems soon surfaced, including massive development costs and doubts about financial viability. government announced a major program to develop a supersonic passenger aircraft. But a fatal crash at the 1973 Paris Air Show ended that ambition. But it grew to include supersonic civil aircraft in the 1960s.įor example, the Soviet Union became the first country in 1968 to fly a supersonic passenger plane, the Tupolev TU-144. Interest in supersonic flight initially focused mostly on military planes, according to the Congressional Research Service. In the movie, someone on the ground asks, “What’s that sound?” as Yeager’s plane flies above the Mojave Desert and breaks the sound barrier. His exploits were told in Tom Wolfe’s book “The Right Stuff,” and in the 1983 film it inspired. In 1947, test pilot Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the first person to fly faster than sound in an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF SUPERSONIC TRAVEL - AND BOOMS? The F-16 Fighting Falcon can fly 1,500 mph or twice the speed of sound, known as Mach 2, according to the Air Force. The F-16s flying over Washington on Sunday were “probably trying to go as fast it could to catch up” with the wayward Cessna airplane, said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of applied aviation sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “When this line of shock wave passes by, listeners on the ground hear a very loud noise,” according to an explanation from Australia’s University of New South Wales. That speed is typically about 760 mph near sea level, but can vary depending on the temperature, altitude and other conditions, according to the Congressional Research Service.Īs the plane speeds through the air, molecules are pushed aside with great force, “and this forms a shock wave, much like a boat creates a wake in water,” according to NASA. Sonic booms are heard on the ground when airplanes overhead fly faster than the speed of sound.
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