Kansas, FAA Agree To Establish Supersonic Test Corridor
The
Kansas Department of Transportation signed an agreement with the FAA to
establish a Kansas Supersonic Transportation Corridor (SSTC) that would be used
for testing aircraft up to Mach 3, the state announced today.
The
agreement would provide a critical testing site for the emerging group of
supersonic aircraft as civil supersonic flight remains banned over land. Flight
testing for models such as Aerion’s AS2 and Boom’s Overture is expected this
decade, while NASA noise trials with the X-59 demonstrator are anticipated by
2024. “This year marks 73 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and
with this supersonic flight corridor Kansas will have a unique role in the next
generation of supersonic transportation,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) in
the announcement of the agreement.
The
770-nm corridor, designed as a bi-directional “racetrack,” runs from slightly
west and south of Garden City, Kansas to nearly Pittsburg in the east at
altitudes above FL390. It runs right over Wichita.
In
establishing the corridor, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT)
Division of Aviation worked with the FAA Central Region and air traffic
control, and Lemasters Group Consulting to establish specific procedures for
use of the corridor such as requirements for entry into the corridor and
clearance before takeoff for direction and flight route to minimize the effects
of supersonic aircraft on commercial traffic.
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