The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed replacing the 53-year ban on supersonic flight over U.S. land with a noise-based standard that would allow commercial aircraft to fly faster than Mach 1 if ground-level sonic boom limits are met. The draft rule centres on a threshold of 0.11 pounds per square foot at the surface and would open a possible certification route for quieter supersonic designs, including future aircraft from developers such as Boom Supersonic.
The change would end the blanket restriction dating to 1973 and shift the regulatory test from speed alone to measurable overpressure performance. The FAA is still taking comments and has not finalised the rule, but the proposal points toward a broader performance-based framework for overland operations. Reporting on the policy shift also linked it to inland space activity in Oklahoma, where state-backed spaceport campaigns have highlighted the commercial aviation and space infrastructure now developing away from the coasts.
NASA’s X-59 programme is part of the wider evidence base behind the move, with acoustic data expected to support future noise standards for civil supersonic flight. One report said the FAA is aiming to finalise the rule by mid-2027, alongside separate work on take-off and landing noise requirements.