Th Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation Yesterday, January 6th issued a final rule to facilitate the safe development of civil supersonic aircraft. The rule streamlines and clarifies procedures to obtain FAA approval for supersonic flight testing in the United States.
According to the press statement released by the FAA, the U.S Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said “Today’s action is a significant step toward reintroducing civil supersonic flight and demonstrates the Department’s commitment to safe innovation.”
This rule will help ensure that companies developing these aircraft clearly understand the process for gaining FAA approval to conduct flight testing, which is a key step in ultimately bringing their products to market.
While FAA says it supports the new development of supersonic aircraft as long as safety parameters are followed,” “The testing of supersonic aircraft at Mach 1 will only be conducted following consideration of any impact to the environment,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson.
The Department and the FAA anticipate taking additional regulatory actions to enable the development of supersonic aircraft.