NASA’s 1960s Oklahoma City sonic boom tests killed the US SST program.

Evidence

In the mid-1960s, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ran sonic boom tests in Oklahoma City to see how people would react. They reacted. Every day for six months, eight sonic booms were generated, which led to 15,000 complaints, or an average of more than 10 complaints per boom. Proponents said that the sonic boom problem would soon be solved by technological advances. Opponents of the SST made the argument that the sonic boom problem will be “solved” just as soon as big boats can be made to push through the water without producing a wake. The physics of the situation is analogous. In other words, the problem can’t be completely solved. As a result of the dismal tests, strong science, and good counter-lobbying, the Supersonic Transport (SST) initiative was killed by Congress in 1971. The public relations campaign by Boeing to build the plane (figure 7.4), at that time a rival of the now defunct Concorde, wasn’t enough to save it, but the Seattle Supersonics kept their name anyway, by vote of the people of Seattle. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 725

Categorization

• CANDY: The sonic-boom tests sparked 15,000 complaints and there’s a fun trivia kicker: Seattle kept its basketball team named the Supersonics anyway.