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there is also ongoing research into making the boom less audible & turbulent over land, which would enable cross-country flights: >Graves explains that SonicBA

there is also ongoing research into making the boom less audible & turbulent over land, which would enable cross-country flights: >Graves explains that SonicBAT is an unusual test in that it uses a typical military aircraft with its loud sonic boom to help engineers better understand the sounds from future quiet supersonic aircraft >"We're hoping we can eventually lower sonic booms to a low rumble," he said. "The goal is to eventually accommodate jets that can fly from New York to Los Angeles in two hours." https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-supersonic-technology-designed-to-reduce-sonic-booms https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-supersonic-technology-desig... I'd hope that Boom is also working on such an approach

lumost 6y ago
WRT to the US. I'd be curious if anyone has done a route analysis on trans-continental flights to minimize overheard booms. Once you're 200 miles from the coasts there is a lot of open space to fly through.
- qppo 6y ago
  I think you'd be hard pressed to find a path where the boom cone's carpet doesn't pass over a moderately populated area and can be navigated by the aircraft at supersonic speeds. The US is not sparse east of the Missippi, which is more like 750 miles from the coast.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Once you're 200 miles from the coasts there is a lot of open space to fly through. That's really only true west of about a North-South line through the eastern edge of the Texas panhandle. From there east, there's still some open space (not a lot once you hit the Mississippi River), but you'd have to dodge around to make path not going over population concentrations.
  - ed25519FUUU 6y ago
    I think that’s why they specifically call out O’hare to London, and SF to Tokyo, routes that take them over the ocean.