President Trump is boosting supersonic aviation in the United States.
An executive order the commander in chief signed Friday directs the Federal Aviation Administration to repeal a 1973 rule prohibiting overland supersonic flight, establish new noise standards for aircraft and remove other regulations that get in the way of the development of high-speed planes.
“The United States stands at the threshold of a bold new chapter in aerospace innovation,” the president wrote in the order.
“For more than 50 years, outdated and overly restrictive regulations have grounded the promise of supersonic flight over land, stifling American ingenuity, weakening our global competitiveness, and ceding leadership to foreign adversaries.”
Trump argued that advances in engineering and technology have now made supersonic air travel “not just possible, but safe, sustainable, and commercially viable.”
“This order begins a historic national effort to reestablish the United States as the undisputed leader in high-speed aviation,” the president declared. “By updating obsolete standards and embracing the technologies of today and tomorrow, we will empower our engineers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries to deliver the next generation of air travel, which will be faster, quieter, safer, and more efficient than ever before.”
Under current FAA rules, only military aircraft – flying in specially designated areas – are allowed to break the sound barrier over land.
The 1973 ban on overland supersonic flight was primarily due to the disruptive impact of the sonic booms produced when aircraft exceed the speed of sound.
However, new technology has enabled one aircraft maker, Boom Supersonic, to develop a plane that can cruise above Mach 1 without emitting a sonic boom.
“Supersonic is back, baby!” Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl wrote on X, noting that in January, his company’s XB-1 aircraft became the first privately developed supersonic jet to break the sound barrier.
“And today…[Trump] broke the sound barrier…permanently!” he added.
Scholl argued that the ban on supersonic flight has “crippled progress” in aviation for half a century, but with Trump’s order in place, “The supersonic race is on and a new era of commercial flight can begin.”
“By removing decades-old regulatory barriers and promoting cutting-edge supersonic technology, President Trump is Making Aviation Great Again,” the White House said in a statement.
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