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Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2026/06/30/faa-supersonic-flight-no-boom/
42•lobbly•2h ago
https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary...

Comments

mattas•58m ago
Not sure how this does anything to alter the laws of physics. But I guess it's a step in the right direction.
majorchord•52m ago
The title of the article is misleading, there will still be booms:

> Several U.S. companies are working on a new generation of luxurious supersonic passenger aircraft with much quieter sonic booms and improved fuel efficiency

Robotbeat•14m ago
They’re no longer sonic booms under the appropriate conditions. They still make some noise, as does, for example, high speed rail.
7e•49m ago
Thank you, Trump administration, for doing everything in your power to burn even more fossil fuels even more quickly, destroying our planet. You really are in the pocket of big oil and our earth is fcked thanks to you. Could you be any more transparently evil? You're not fooling anyone.

There is zero need for supersonic airplane travel, especially in the era of climate change; time zone disruption keeps people from saving any time, practically, when using supersonic aircraft. Subsonic aircraft allow you to sleep it off in a comfortable lie-flat seat, rather than be awake in bright sunlight, in an Uber, in a city which won't let you check into your hotel to get actual sleep until 4 p.m.

Finally, it is not possible to eliminate the supersonic shock wave. That is a fundamental feature of supersonic travel. You can shape it, sure, but people aren't going to like

any* of the shapes. It's still the same amount of energy, disspiated over a very slightly longer amount of time.
CSSer•33m ago
Given that I just read this comment after getting off a connecting flight that had me waiting on a fully boarded plane in 100 degree Phoenix weather for half an hour, it’s pretty poignant. I read an article earlier today about how Phoenix may not be inhabitable in twenty years, and I’m here to tell you that it’s already insufferable no matter how well the A/C was or was not working on that plane.

I don’t need a plane that flies faster. I need an airline that puts pure service before profit.

roywiggins•17m ago
Good news, airlines already barely profit:

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2025-releases/2025-12-09-0...

DannyBee•16m ago
goldfishgold•48m ago
As someone who will never fly in one of these planes but will nevertheless hear the (quieter) sonic booms, I disapprove of this move.
_m_p•40m ago
No NIMBYism on stolen land.
CSSer•39m ago
Put that on a T-shirt!
smt88•36m ago
My parents immigrated to the US in the 80s. They didn't steal anyone's land. Can I complain about rich people wasting fuel, polluting the air, and creating peace-shattering sounds?

And about the stolen land, what should we do about it? Never complain about anything? Have no laws?

Give all of your stolen land back, make all the reparations you owe people, and then go back to lecturing people online.

staplers•35m ago
Nimbyism is generally against a public good (low income housing, powerlines, etc)but there is nothing public or good about this.

Calling this nimbyism is billionaire psyop lol

brandall10•19m ago
Their claim is the boom won't actually reach ground level for overland flights due to how they're profiled, and go significantly faster over sea.

Of course that's the theory. The Trump Admin just allowed for a fairly audible boom.

yulker•45m ago
Seems like another antisocial technology that offers neat feature (get somewhere far slightly faster) while destroying the commons everywhere it operates (noise pollution)
vlovich123•21m ago
As I understand it the noise pollution stuff is due to really old tech. The new stuff should be much better performing to basically eliminate the sonic boom and the regulatory changes are reflecting that.

On a site like HN this kind of progress should be praised not denigrated as antisocial.

Robotbeat•16m ago
I feel like HN is becoming increasingly more like Reddit, where every single technology-focused subreddit like /r/futurism became colonized by the most anti-progress, anti-technology people, including especially the mods. Hopefully it doesn’t become terminal like for Reddit.
atonse•5m ago
Yep!!! It really has changed and has become exhausting. The most flippant, negative, cynical, and antagonistic replies nowadays, rather than genuine curiosity about the news or optimism.

Too bad because HN has been my “home” on the internet for 15 years.

idle_zealot•9m ago
It's reflective of the gradual dawning that while technology is amazing and exciting and can help people, under current systems it's more likely to be used to benefit the thousand or so richest people in the world and fuck everyone else over. Could we make supersonic jets more quiet and less disruptive? Yeah, probably. But why would a single cent be spent on that? The people flying in them don't give a single shit. They would only get quieter as a side effect of an improvement that somehow increases return.
imglorp•44m ago
If you really want to make an impact on the noise floor, ban gasoline leaf blowers.
foobarqux•39m ago
The proposed limit is around the level of standing right next to a leaf blower.
imglorp•22m ago
That's fine. The occasional boom, assuming business success this time, will last a few seconds. Leaf blowers last for hours in some neighborhoods.

It's not the hearing damage, it's the psychological stress.

donkey_brains•19m ago
Weed wackers too
foobarqux•42m ago
0.11 pound per square foot is what is being proposed. That's 108 decibels. Which is between standing next to a lawn mower and standing next to a car horn. I don't see how anyone will tolerate that in practice.

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/db

gedy•23m ago
Because it's not continuous sound in one spot like a leaf blower is.
asdfadsfgfdda•22m ago
It’s not accurate to convert .1 psf to dB because it’s an impulsive shape, not a continuous tone. And human loudness perception depends on how smooth (low frequency) the shape is
LargoLasskhyfv•5m ago
> That's 108 decibels. > I don't see how anyone will tolerate that in practice.

Oh! Really?

https://earinc.com/gunfire-noise-level-reference-chart/

7e•41m ago
Long before the earth turns into a smoking ruin, I will blame Boom Supersonic and others for making life miserable generally: no more skiing, endless smoke inhalation from wildfires, etc.

Supersonic aircraft emit more carbon than traditional jets, and carry far fewer people to boot.

Here is just a taste: World’s oceans break June heat record: EU monitor: “The world’s oceans just experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead as El Nino and climate change drive temperatures even higher, scientists said on July 1.” https://www.straitstimes.com/world/worlds-oceans-break-june-...

Robotbeat•13m ago
Why are there multiple users with similar usernames posting hyper-negative comments?
kshacker•9m ago
> no more skiing, endless smoke inhalation from wildfires, etc.

I wonder what our ancestors did, lets say 500 years back. Did they have wildfires? Skiing?

I get the point about humans causing unprecedented harm to the planet. However, the examples themselves are not perfect. I know skiing may be age old, but not as an activity enjoyed by millions, and the fact we build ski resorts may be contributing to some bad things, no?

There is no profit, which is why their is no service. The average profit margin is 4% on flying.

At this point, airlines make most of their actual profit from credit cards.

I forget who said it, but "airlines are banks that happen to fly planes" is true, at least profit wise.

zpeti•6m ago
Seriously what has happened to HN? This is ridiculous? are these genuine posts or some attack by bad actors to destroy a community.

Go back to reddit to post your anti progress stuff. HN was supposed to be about tech and startups and improving the world.

It's basically unbearable at this point. Every single thread is full of this stuff. It's incredibly sad.

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