Tests aim to silence sonic boom

Valley Press ^ | January 14, 2004 | ALLISON GATLIN

[princess leah]

Then when they finally silence the noise they can bring back the Concord and let them land anywhere right?

[BenLurkin]

The next generation of Super-sonic craft will (I think) be a nice improvement over the Concorde. I'm afraid the Concorde will never fly again.

[princess leah]

I get the feeling that the space shuttles are through too - but supposedly progress brings new innovations!

[FBD]

Kaa-))))))))))))- boom.

[null and void]

Sort of. It won't be the Concord, but a new aircraft with a "pelican" beak and a bulge over the back. The modified beak generates a spread out shock, so rather than a Crack! it's spread over a longer time as a less annoying rumble. The bulge on the back changes the pressure at the trailing edge, reducing the second Crack! so the characteristic Crack!Crack! of a sonic boom becomes rumblecrack.

[null and void]

The shuttle sounds way different. It's so big that rather than a Crack!Crack! it's a BOOM!.....BOOM!, or more like a THUMP!....THUMP!

Very impressive!

[Dead Dog]

Any mention of the F-5, is like a mention of Ms. Coulter...it requires a photo:

[CathyRyan]

Is there a fight level at which planes that travel supersonic can travel over populated areas?

[null and void]

VERY high. Then the boom is spread out over a large area=quieter perceved sound.

The current tests are trying to spread the boom out over time=quieter perceved sound.

[CathyRyan]

Do you have a number for that? :)

[tje]

I thought Rocky and Bullwinkle did this years ago....

[EGPWS]

Gulfstream Aerospce, a General Dynamics company, already has it in the testing stage for corporate class supersonic flight.

[null and void]

No, sorry. I'm guessing-and it's just a guess!-that 40,000+ feet might do it.

It's a bit like asking how tall is a mountain, they're a lot smaller in Brittan than in the Andes.

It also depends on how much boom is acceptable, and that varys a lot from individual to individual. I was raised on Marine Corps air bases, and I miss sonic booms...

[Tijeras_Slim]

It also depends on how much boom is acceptable, and that varys a lot from individual to individual.

Conservative: "The sound of freedom, cool!"

Liberal: "How dare those warmongers annoy me!"

[CathyRyan]

Thanks! :)

[giznort]

Back in the 60s when I was a kid, sonic booms were frequent. I don't recall when I stopped hearing them, but when I was in Vegas a couple of years ago in the area of Nellis AFB, I heard a couple booms and it was a reassuring sound to me (this was BEFORE 9-11) that our country's military was present and accounted for!

[night reader]

Conservative: "The sound of freedom, cool!"

Liberal: "How dare those warmongers annoy me!"

Back when we were at Code Orange and the fighters were flying combat air patrol, I was sure hoping not to have anything that would justify them going supersonic! That would have been a frightening sound!

[Izzy Dunne]

the conquest of the sound barrier

Yo, putz writer.
If you can go through it, it ain't much of a BARRIER, is it?

[null and void]

Or as the Beaufort public relations office used to tell people complaining about sonic booms - "Are you sure they're ours?"