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MODIFICATIONS OF THE LOCATION OF THE EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE – In this photo of April 17, 2018, an image of NASA representing an F / A-18 performing a Sonic Boom operation over the Edwards' air force base in California is presented on a television screen in Galveston, Texas. NASA has begun a series of supersonic research flights off the Gulf Coast of Texas, near Galveston, to test the community's response to the sound of a new experimental aircraft. (Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle via AP) lessMODIFIED LOCATION OF EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE – In this photo from April 17, 2018, a NASA image of an F / A-18 performing a Sonic Boom operation overhead from the Edwards air force base in … more
Photo: Steve Gonzales, AP
Photo: Steve Gonzales, AP
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) – NASA is monitoring the reaction of residents living near the Texas Gulf Coast, while the space agency is using an experimental aircraft that can significantly reduce commercial flight times.
NASA on Monday launched a two-week research project on silent supersonic search flights near Galveston, the Houston Chronicle reported. NASA is piloting an F / A-18 jet aircraft during a single maneuver on the Gulf of Mexico to assess the community's response to noise.
A spokesman said that NASA officials were hoping the tests would produce data that could be used by the agency when testing the X-59 low-flying flight demonstrator, the experimental aircraft that, he hopes could possibly halve commercial flight times.
The Concorde, a plane tested several decades ago, could cross the Atlantic in just over three hours by traveling twice as fast as the sound. But the federal aviation authorities banned it after residents complained about the sonic boom of the plane.
Supersonic flights by passenger aircraft are prohibited in the United States, over the coast or near the ground, although the Federal Aviation Administration may allow exceptions.
NASA recruited about 500 volunteers from the Galveston area to provide feedback and set the level at which they could hear F / A-18 sonic booms. The project marks "the first time in decades that we have contacted a large community as part of our supersonic research," said Peter Coen, head of NASA's commercial supersonic technology project.
Atmospheric turbulence and humidity can affect the perception by some areas of the "dull guns" caused by the jet's special maneuver, according to NASA officials.
NASA will provide the public response data collected to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA has banned supersonic passenger flights over land partly because of concerns about how they will affect communities and infrastructure.
Some Galveston residents posted on Facebook about sonic booms on Monday, the first day of testing.
"I heard that morning's thump," resident Jeff Daniels wrote. "It's certainly much better than a traditional sound boom, but I would not want to listen to it all the time, like in regular commercial flights. That's still shaking the windows."
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This story has been corrected to show that test flights near Galveston are carried out by F / A-18 jet aircraft, and not by the experimental aircraft, and that NASA does not not carried out the tests of the Concorde.
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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com
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