Sharing this piece for informational purposes, but without concurrence as to content.
Among the many issues that could be raised, I'd like to se the evidence that consumers are truly willing to pay what supersonic services must cost, and how, at whatever levels consumers might be willing to sustain, anyone can make a profit. BA and AF worked on this project for many years without success. Just saying. Old Man Wardell "This Time Is Different" David Wardell (757) 561-0582 <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <https://wardell.us/url/b5s86> <https://wardell.us/url/s9qvz> _____ President Trump's executive order <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/06/trump-drones-easing-rest rictions-china/b2963a5a-4310-11f0-b78e-5ddff7eb1e49_story.html> lifting America's 1973 supersonic flight ban represents more than a long-overdue regulatory cleanup. It signals a potential cultural shift, at least in Washington, from a risk-averse mentality that has too often constrained American innovation for the past half-century. The original ban epitomized the emerging anti-progress-or "Down Wing," to use the term employed in my 2023 book, " <https://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Futurist-Create-Sci-Fi-Promised/dp/1546 005544/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0> The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised"-ethos of the 1970s. Despite President Kennedy's 1963 vision to build "a commercially successful supersonic transport superior to that being built in any other country," America abandoned the race just as the finish line came into view. The decision followed flawed Oklahoma City sonic boom tests-using military fighters, not purpose-built airliners-that environmental activists weaponized against the technology. Even though three-quarters of residents said they could tolerate the booms, Congress chose caution over competition. The consequences were predictably devastating. While Britain and France pressed ahead with Concorde, America forfeited its own place at the table, not to mention decades of potential entrepreneurial innovation. As the Mercatus Center has <https://www.mercatus.org/research/data-visualizations/airplane-speeds-have- stagnated-40-years> noted, "Commercial flight isn't any faster-in fact, today's flights travel at less than half the Concorde's speed." Enter Blake Scholl, the former Amazon engineer whose Boom Supersonic embodies the pro-progress, or "Up Wing" mentality that once defined the American character. The company's XB-1 demonstrator <https://x.com/bscholl/status/1931071278154428768> recently broke the sound barrier, the first privately developed supersonic jet to do so. Scholl's <https://x.com/bscholl/status/1931071278154428768> social-media celebration of Trump's order was telling: "Quiet supersonic flight is allowed! The supersonic race is on." The policy reversal comes at a crucial moment, <https://www.wsj.com/business/supersonic-jet-travel-plans-02db2c33?mod=e2tw> according to a new Wall Street Journal piece on the future of supersonic flight. China's state-owned Comac is developing quiet supersonic aircraft, while American entrepreneurs like Scholl scramble for funding. Boom's valuation has halved, and the company laid off half its workforce. Regulatory certainty must be a welcome boost. Trump's order doesn't guarantee success, of course. The sector's revival still faces formidable technical and financial challenges, not to mention potential competition from city-to-city rocket flight here in the age of SpaceX's Starship. But it removes a regulatory ceiling that has artificially constrained an entire industry. What's more, the supersonic ban's reversal may prove symbolic of broader American renewal. Just as the original prohibition reflected 1970s pessimism about technology's promise, its elimination could herald a return to the audacious spirit that once put Americans on the Moon-and briefly made supersonic flight seem inevitable.
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