European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Azine a designing an Ostby Warren e. Leary new York times As the United states quietly pursues a new Effort to develop a plane to carry passengers Over Long distances at twice the Speed of sound or faster it is focusing unusual attention on environmental problems that could ground the plane  takes off. The National aeronautics and space administration says preliminary studies it commissioned on a High Speed i a civil transport indicate that building such an aircraft is possible. 1 i but the Effort will depend upon technological advances to make such a plane environmentally and economically acceptable the Agency says. Parallel studies done in the past two years by Boeing commercial air planes in Seattle and the Douglas aircraft co. Of Long Beach calif., a division of the Mcdonnell Douglas corp., indicate there will be a Market after the year 2000 for a plane that can carry Between 250 and 300 passengers at speeds Between 1,350 and 2,000 Miles per hour Over distances of at least 6,000 Miles. The last attempt to build an american supersonic transport or set ended in 1971 when Congress killed the program because of environmental concerns about excessive noise possible damage to the Ozone layer and whether such a plane could operate economically in an Era of rising fuel prices. Attempting to learn from the past the Agency plans to spend $284 million Over the next five years to find out whether a High Speed transport is feasible. The program will Center initially on technology related to environmental issues. The chief concerns Are sonic Boom Airport noise and engine emissions that could help reduce the atmospheres protective Ozone layer. A we done to want the country to invest Money in another round of supersonic transport development until these environmental questions Are answered a said Howard l. Wesoky nasal a program manager for High Speed transport research. A we Are looking at environmental issues ahead of hardware issues which is unusual for a technology project a a Wesoky said. A the Bottom line is that if we can t solve the environmental questions the plane will not be  to underscore these concerns Nasa has established an advisory committee on environmental problems that includes representatives of technical agencies concerned with aircraft people from the environmental Protection Agency and the National oceanic and atmospheric administration and representatives of environmental groups such As Michael Oppenheimer senior scientist for the environmental defense fund. A we re starting a process that May go on to become a Model for government Industry environmental groups and others getting together before a technology is sonar Boom cars nose and vibrations associated with breaking the sound Barrier be Cut to acceptable Levels orate layer damage will Niti Oyen oxide omissions Dott up to the Ozone layer and catalyse significant chemical destruction Akkurt Norm can engine  and sound Suppi lessors to developed so noise of Taeoh and Landing is reduced or t developed to see about doing it right Quot Oppenheimer said. Quot this Wasny to done for the first set nuclear Power or some other technology that has t worked out Quot the preliminary studies by Boeing and Douglas Are cautiously optimistic that technology can be found to overcome environmental difficulties. Current aircraft technology including the Best material and engines available today could not produce an acceptable aircraft said Michael l. Henderson Boeing s program manager of the project. But proposals for new aircraft materials such As Low weight composites that can withstand the High temperatures of supersonic flight and new engine designs that Promise to be cleaner and quieter Are promising he said. The Only supersonic Airliner in service is the 100-seat Anglo French concorde Only 16 were built and All but about a half dozen have been retired. The aircraft which sees limited service Between the United states and Europe proved too Small and Short Range to be profitable and has been the source of Many complaints about noise. The resurgence of interest in supersonic airliners in the United states is in response to surveys that show passengers want a faster Way to reach far Flung areas of the world particularly Asia and the Pacific rim and that there would be intense International Competition for a Market for at least 650 such planes. Last week Aero spatial the French aircraft company announced that it and British aerospace pc signed an agreement for a five year $35.9 million study to find Oul whether a second generation supersonic plane is feasible from technical and Market Points of View. The soviet Union has begun studies on a transport plane that could Fly at five times the Speed of sound and is exploring the possibility of jointly developing a smaller supersonic business Jet with an american company. To withstand the stresses of supersonic Speed the proposed planes would have to Fly in the thinner atmosphere Between 55,000 and 60,000 feet the concorde flies at just Over 50,000 feet. The heat of the planes engines would produce nitrogen oxides which would Drift up to higher Levels and destroy Ozone a form of oxygen that screens the Earth from potentially damaging solar ultraviolet rays. Harold s. Johnson a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley whose research on this reaction in the Early 1970s helped scuttle the american set s3id a Fleet of 500 supersonic airliners using existing engine technology would seriously deplete the Ozone layer which Many researchers say is already being damaged by Man made chlorofluorocarbons. According to a recent computer Model study by Johnson with Douglas e. Kinnison and Donald j Wuebbles of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory this Fleet would reduce Ozone by 15 to 20 percent almost three times the damage predicted from chlorofluorocarbons. Johnson said this worst Case prediction would probably not come True because engineers believe they can make Jet engines that produce Only one Lenth to one Hundredth As much nitrogen oxide As existing ones Quot i m not the one to say this is impossible to do but someone has to show that this is Safe and practical Johnson said a you can t Start building planes on the Promise that these problems May be solved a a flying faster than sound creates pressure Waves in the air that cause a plane to leave a conical Shock wave in its Wake. The pressure Waves that reach ground Are heard As jolting sonic booms which critics say disturb humans and animals and produce vibrations that can damage properly. Graf of Douglas aircraft said the sonic Boom problem is important because his company s analysis indicates a supersonic Airliner might not be economic if it wore restricted to overwater flights. Since sonic Boom is affected by a planets shape size and mass the aircraft makers say they arc looking to new materials and manufacturing techniques to Cut weight without sacrificing seating capacity in addition they Are looking at different nose configurations and plane contours to reduce sonic Boom. To Deal with noise around airports there is much research on cutting engine noise and improving the proposed plane s lilt so that it rises quickly to leave the area sooner Jet engines powerful enough to push a big piano to supersonic speeds Are inherently noisy but engineers Are looking at new types of engines that change their configuration so that they act and sound More like subsonic engines at Takeoff and Landing monday May 14, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13 r