alt Hacker NewsThat's because there was a dumb ban in place, with an executive order [1] and bill that just cleared to lift it [2]. The ban was "dumb" because it's indirect, trying to control loudness by limiting speed, which is an incorrect [3] assumption based on old tech of the time.
[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/lead...
[2] https://www.govtech.com/transportation/bill-authorizing-supe...
Replies
I don't trust it. They will get approval and then when sonic booms disrupt nature from coast to coast they will say "it's just because the weather/it only affects a small number of people/the 3rd party contractor who supplied the data was wrong, they are gone now/the benefits outweigh the downside/think of all the jobs". Basically they'll say anything other than "oopsie we were wrong, no transonic flight for you".
Bear in mind that despite carefully worded PR, "Boomless cruise" is 1) not guaranteed to be "boomless" 2) is much slower than would make all the rigmarole of supersonic flight worth it even when it is "boomless".
The ban was specifically to hinder the Concorde, so it made sense to base it on supersonic flight rather than noise in case the Concorde would have managed to mitigate its noise level one way or another.