Listen to this articleA group of mayors from villages on the North Shore of Long Island have formed a coalition to participate in any future approvals process for a new breed of supersonic passenger jets.
Brookville Village Mayor Daniel Serota announced Monday the creation of the Regional SST Oversight Coalition in the wake of a series of successful flights of an SST demonstrator aircraft designed to be a model for the next generation of supersonic airliners.
The California test flights of the supersonic prototype, built by a company called Boom Supersonic, have advanced the possibility that a new model of SSTs that flies at Mach 1.7 and emit “low noise” could be added to the fleets of commercial airlines, if approved by the appropriate government agencies, according to a Village of Brookville statement.
“If any of Boom’s aeronautical engineers have an institutional memory, they will know that the first-generation Concorde SST died, in part, because of the ferocious opposition from residents of Nassau County living beneath final approach to Kennedy Airport,” Serota said in the statement. “In this century we intend to be an integral part of the review and approval process that will be required by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and FAA officials. With the recent successful test flights of Boom’s prototype aircraft, that effort begins now with communities who live beneath the path of aircraft approaching JFK.”
Besides Serota, the other members of the coalition so far include Matinecock Mayor Ken Goodman, Cove Neck Mayor Tom Zoller and Mill Neck Mayor Peter Quick.
The latest group of aviation companies proposing to build a modern-day SST cites the advantage of working with research, technology, composite materials and supercomputers that were unavailable to Concorde designers 60 years ago.
Serota said the coalition will be reaching out to Boom’s corporate owners to begin “a sustained and strategic dialogue regarding their sonic boom science and research, carbon footprint and engine emissions, and their timeline for full-scale SST production. With Lockheed–Martin also pursuing similar SST jetliner technology we intend to engage in a similar approach in the months to come.”
He added that Boom Supersonic and its competitors need to appreciate that it is no longer sufficient to just be the most innovative kid in the air.
“New technology, like new public infrastructure, now comes with a mandatory strategy to engage those who will be most impacted by it,” Serota said.