RICHARD CRAVER
News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.
(TNS)

Legislation that would rescind the 53-year-old ban on passenger supersonic flight over the United States advanced to the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday.

Senate Resolution 1759 was recommended with bipartisan support out of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee.

U.S. Ted Budd, R-N.C., is primary sponsor of the “Supersonic Aviation Modernization (SAM) Act” with Thom Tillis, R-N.C., as a co-sponsor. Budd serves on the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee.

"Congress has the ability, by passing the SAM Act, to ensure the supersonic industry will not face government headwinds into the future," Budd said following Wednesday's committee vote.

A House version of the legislation — House Resolution 3410 — cleared that chamber on March 24, but has not been acted upon by the Senate.

Both bills were filed in direct response to Boom Supersonic’s demonstrations in January and February 2025 that supersonic flight can take place over land at a certain height without the disruptive sonic boom.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations have prohibited all supersonic flight over the U.S. since 1973 — regardless of whether a sonic boom reaches the ground.

Boom has pledged to create at least 1,781 jobs at full production by 2029-30 at its $500 million “superfactory” at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro.

“We're grateful for Senator Budd's historic work leading a bipartisan coalition for supersonic passenger flight for all in the U.S.” said Blake Scholl, Boom's founder and chief executive.

"The ban on supersonic has held back progress for more than half a century. I urge Congress to pass (the act) so we can all enjoy faster flights and maintain American leadership in aviation.”

The airport factory has 150,000 square feet on the production floor, 24,000 square feet for office space and 5,000 square feet for the receiving area.

However, Boom has made limited hiring progress since construction of the superfactory was completed in June 2024 as the manufacturer has focused on engine design and production.

The initial Boom projection is producing up to 33 Overture aircraft annually at a projected price tag of $200 million each. The goal is to produce 66 Overture aircraft annually at full production.

Boom has been made eligible for at least $116 million in performance-based local and state incentives that includes meeting annual job-creation achievements.

Boom's quest to revive supersonic commercial aircraft flight received a historic and unexpected boost from an executive order signed in June 2025 by President Donald Trump.

Trump is directing the FAA administrator to repeal the prohibition on overland supersonic flight, as well as establish an interim noise-based certification standard “and repeal other regulations that hinder supersonic flight.”

The Senate Resolution would require the FAA administrator to issue regulations legalizing civil supersonic flight.

“If we want to maintain America’s global leadership in technological innovation, we must lift the outdated ban on civil supersonic flight," Budd said.

"The SAM Act would unlock the potential for the U.S. to defeat China in the race to develop the next generation of supersonic aircraft."

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said his support comes from Boom's presence in Colorado and "the power of aerospace innovation." Boom's headquarters is based in Centennial and its turbine production plant in Denver.

"Supersonic flight is yet another way to move us into the future," Hickenlooper said. "Making air travel faster while preserving public safety is a win-win."

Sonic booms have been demonstrated to cause structural damage, such as cracked windows and damaged roofs, while being a brief, but disruptively loud noise considered minimally harmful to humans and animals.

If Boom’s Overture commercial passenger aircraft is approved for supersonic flight over land, a flight across the U.S. — beginning potentially as early as 2029 — could be at least 90 minutes quicker than current top flight speeds under what Boom is calling “Boomless Cruise" mode.

“Supersonic flight without an audible sonic boom should obviously be allowed,” Scholl said.

Boom’s supersonic data points from Jan. 28 and Feb. 10 test flights at Mojave Air and Space Port in California demonstrated that the sonic booms were not felt on the ground.

A NASA chart explains the air pressure science behind a sonic boom: essentially that “air reacts like a fluid to supersonic objects. As objects travel through the air, the air molecules are pushed aside with great force and this forms a shock wave much like a boat creates a bow wave.”

“The bigger and heavier the aircraft, the more air it displaces.”

Scholl said the technological breakthrough wasn’t as much the design of XB-1, and soon to be Overture, but rather determining “the altitude and the speed relative to the current atmospheric conditions.”

“Sound waves bend toward colder temperatures in the upper atmosphere, so they make a U-shape as they come off the aircraft,” Scholl said.

“If you fly at too low of an altitude or are going too high of a speed, those waves will hit the ground, and that’s when you hear a sonic boom.”

Scholl said that under the appropriate flight conditions, typically an altitude of 35,000 to 36,000 feet, the sound waves flow to a “cutoff altitude” before curling upward “so that no one ever hears it.”

The Overture airline is projected to fly at an altitude of up to 60,000 feet.

Boom plans to initially operate Overture at Mach 0.94 over land. That speed is about 20% faster than today’s subsonic jets, but below the breaking of the sound barrier at Mach 1.

Each one-tenth beyond Mach 1 represents a 10% increase beyond the speed of sound, so Mach 1.1 is 10% faster, Mach 1.2 is 20% faster and Mach 1.3 is 30% faster, and so on.

The plan is to break the sound barrier over water at up to Mach 1.7.

Boom’s Overture 60-to-80 passenger aircraft will have the same landing and takeoff noise footprint as today’s subsonic long-haul aircraft.

In June, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a proposed rule to set a noise-based certification for supersonic aircraft.

Duffy said the FAA plans to propose another rule later this year to establish landing and takeoff noise standards for supersonic aircraft.

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