PALMDALE, Calif. (KERO) — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned supersonic flight over land due to sonic booms 50 years ago on April 27, 1973.
The administration put the ban into effect because it was concerned that people on the ground would be bothered by the sound of sonic booms.
Matt Kamlet, the Communications Deputy of Nasa's QueSST Mission, explained why sonic booms happen.
"Basically when an aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound, it produces shockwaves that we eventually hear on the ground as a loud sound, very similar to an explosion, called a 'sonic boom'," explained Kamlet. "Contrary to popular belief, it's not something that just happens once the aircraft goes supersonic. As long as an aircraft is supersonic, it's literally dragging a sonic boom along with it."
The X-59 project could potentially be the first aircraft to fly supersonic over land and not cause a sonic boom.
The aircraft is being built at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Facility in Palmdale, with plans to have it fly over NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Kamlet also talked about X-59 and its capabilities.
"The X-59 is designed to be able to reduce that supersonic boom to a quiet thump that could be as quiet as around 75-decibel levels, which is about the equivalent of your neighbor from maybe 50 feet away slamming a car door," according to Kamlet.
NASA is planning to test out the X-59 in the future to see if the public finds the sound acceptable.
