The development of supersonic aircraft is advancing with each ing day, despite the crisis in the commercial aviation sector. Several companies are betting on different concepts, whether for the executive market or targeting airlines.
And for this reason, the Federal Aviation istration (FAA) reserved a space for testing these aircraft in the future, without interfering in urban or inhabited areas.
Space is a corridor in the middle of Kansas, one of the US states, where aircraft can reach supersonic speeds without the risk of damage from the “Sonic Boom”, even though these companies are developing solutions with NASA to extinguish this characteristic between the transition from the subsonic to the supersonic regime.
The choice was made in agreement with the Government of the State of Kansas, also analyzing technical criteria of having alternative airports, in case the flight has problems, and also of distance from other cities.
The 1200 kilometer long corridor is authorized for flights at speeds up to Mach 3 (approximately 3700 km/h).
Currently, due to the Sonic Boom, the FAA only authorizes flights on the continent at speeds below Mach 1. However, the companies that are producing these new planes are studying ways to minimize the noise and vibration of the transition between speed regimes , and the FAA is participating in that study.
For this reason, supersonic flights on the continent can only be carried out by commercial aircraft with special authorization from the FAA, as in this case.
The goal of companies like Boom and Virgin is to develop an airplane capable of making supersonic flights above continents, making possible flights like Paris to Dubai and Shanghai with higher-speed planes.
At the time of the Concorde, the aircraft lost its versatility and usability, due to the fact that it was only feasible to carry out supersonic flights above the oceans.
