Why do we no longer hear sonic booms?

Why don't we ever hear sonic booms any more? Noise abatement regulations halted supersonic flight (by civil aircraft) over U.S. land. The Concorde could still take off and land here because it broke the sound barrier over the ocean, but it's no longer in service.



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In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration banned supersonic commercial flights over land because of sonic booms — a prohibition that remains in effect today.

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For the aircraft, the shock wave is what causes the loud, thundering sonic boom. It's happening all the time, but for people on the ground, they only hear it once when the wake passes over them. Occasionally a double bang is heard, because two wakes are created, one by the aircraft nose and the other by the tail.

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Currently, U.S. law prohibits flight in excess of Mach 1 over land unless specifically authorized by the FAA for purposes stated in the regulations. The two supersonic rulemaking activities would not rescind the prohibition of flight in excess of Mach 1 over land.

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Spike Aerospace, founded in 2013 Max Kachoria of NASA, built an 18-passenger supersonic jet with low-sonic boom, fuel efficiency, speeds up to 1,100 mph, and flight times slashed in half. Their current model is the S-512 which can get passengers to cities in a moment's notice: NYC to London: 3 hours.

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For an aircraft flying at a supersonic speed of about Mach 1.2 or less at an altitude above 35,000 feet, the shockwaves being produced typically do not reach the ground, so no sonic boom is heard.

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