I think a lot of folks know that the first aircraft to fly
at supersonic speeds was the Bell X-1 rocket powered research plane
piloted by Chuck Yeager in October of 1947.
But by the early 1950s a lot of countries were beginning research
to determine the feasibility of developing a commercial supersonic transport
aircraft or SST.
However, early engineering problems delayed development
by the late 1950s and early 1960s,
the FAA, DOD and NASA began
working together on commercial SST technologies.
And in 1961 the FAA became the lead agency
for commercial SST development
Since public reaction to sonic booms made by the SST
could make or break development efforts, FAA, NASA and the Air Force decided
to test public reaction from May 1961 through May 1962.
The three agencies carried out an operation in Saint Louis
nicknamed Bongo. During that operation, the Air Force sent B-52
bombers in 158 supersonic flights over the city.
The three agencies believed that although informative, the St Louis
survey left some unanswered questions about public opinion.
To learn more, they decided to conduct a sound test.
Oklahoma City seemed the perfect location for that operation, since the region
had an economic dependency on the FAA Aeronautical Center and Tinker Force Base.
So on February 3rd, 1964 the FAA launched Bongo Two
to test sonic boom effects on buildings and structures as well as assess
the general public's opinions about living with noise.
During the test period,
I actually lived outside of Oklahoma City.
My dad worked at Tinker Air Force Base.
I remember initially being a terrified preschooler
as the noise ricocheted through our neighborhood
as the supersonic jets flew over the house.
However, after about a week, that noise was no longer scary.
It became a part of life.
During the tests,
there were over 1200 supersonic flights
over the Oklahoma City metropolitan area
and 73% of those surveyed felt
they could live with the number and strength of the booms experienced.
Forty percent believed the booms caused some structural damage to their homes,
although the FAA had control of test houses and their houses showed no effects.
Twenty seven percent reported they could not accept booms at all,
and about three percent were so upset they either wrote, phoned, sued or
otherwise took action against the government to protest the experiment.
The critical
issue is still noise and public concerns about noise. After the Oklahoma City
tests, the FAA, NASA, and Air Force conducted a few additional tests,
but found no way to ease public concern.
And in 1971, the federal safety program ended with a lapse in funding.
The end of the program, however, did not stop the noise controversy,
which was renewed with the development of the French and British Concorde
in February of 1976.
The Secretary of Transportation decided to permit the Concorde to land
at FAA's two owned and operated airports, National and Dulles,
as well as New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on a temporary
16 month basis during which they would monitor noise complaints.
But intense opposition from environmental and citizen groups in the New York area
and a ban by the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey delayed Concorde service at JFK.
It took a 1977 U.S.
Supreme Court decision in favor of the Concorde before the Port Authority
allowed the aircraft to land at JFK Airport.
At the end of the sixteen month trial, the FAA proposed
permanent rules for city operations in the United States.
The rules most of which related to new
aircraft noise restrictions were adopted in 1978
and those restrictions
did not affect the 16 Concordes already in operation.
Now the Concorde stopped flying over 20 years ago and interest as you said
in commercial SST development has been under consideration in the US.
And in fact
the FAA currently has two SST rulemakings underway.
One concerns noise