Honeywell and NASA have completed a two-year
test to determine the most effective way to show pilots flying supersonic jets
where people on the ground may hear sonic booms, potentially eliminating one of
the primary barriers to the broad adoption of supersonic flight.
The testing program successfully integrates
predictive software and display technology into business jet cockpits, and
demonstrated how pilots can see where, and how, sonic booms would affect the
population on the ground.
“We are pleased to complete this important
milestone of the pilot interface testing in civilian airspace with Honeywell,”
said Brett Pauer,
commercial supersonic technology subproject manager, Overland Supersonic Flight,
NASA. “This technology could prove to be useful for NASA’s future planned Low
Boom Flight Demonstration experimental airplane. This plane is being designed to
gather community noise response data that may help remove the regulatory speed
restriction to overland commercial supersonic flight.”
Flying at supersonic speeds would change the
aviation industry drastically, enabling pilots to cut business jet travel times
roughly in half. For instance, travel time from New York to Los Angeles would be
reduced from five hours to 2.5 hours or less. However, the primary barrier to
broad adoption of supersonic flights over land are sonic booms, which are loud
noises caused by aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound.
“With predictive technology and knowledge,
pilots can change course and minimize the boom over populated areas,” said
Bob Witwer,
vice president, Advanced Technology, Honeywell Aerospace. “Honeywell and NASA
have developed this unique predictive display for civil aviation that has been
tested in commercial airspace, bringing the vision of the return of commercial
supersonic flight closer to reality.”
In recent decades, NASA worked to develop the
Cockpit Interactive Sonic Boom Display Avionics software that predicts sonic
boom impact from an aircraft’s current position and flight parameters. As part
of the completed two-year test program, Honeywell and NASA integrated the
software with Honeywell’s Interactive Navigation technology into a modern
business jet’s avionics suite, which allows pilots to predict sonic booms over
the aircraft’s future planned flight path. This provides them with actionable
information and visuals to assess the boom impact of a flight plan and display
trajectories before the boom is generated, preventing the loud sound from
disturbing populated areas.
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