Federal Register Comment on FAA Enabling Supersonic Overland Flight – August 2026

Date: August 17, 2026

Description: AICA’s public comment on the FAA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Enabling Supersonic Overland Flight, submitted via Docket No. FAA-2026-6935. 

Items below are numbered from oldest to latest.

1. AICA’s Federal Register Comment on FAA Enabling Supersonic Overland Flight

August 17, 2026 – AICA’s public comment was submitted via Docket No. FAA-2026-6935. The AICA comment includes:

Core Question

• Does the FAA’s proposed interim framework provide enough evidence to authorize civil supersonic overland flight of unspecified scope and duration?

Key Findings

• The proposed 0.11 psf overpressure ceiling does not, by itself, describe noise, vibration, annoyance, repeated exposure, or community effects.
• The proposal does not evaluate all pressure disturbances or acoustic signals that may reach the Earth’s surface.
• The proposal does not provide sound metrics, numerical sound levels, vibration measures, or vibration values for the depicted boom categories and pathways.
• The proposed framework does not specify flight frequency, routes, affected areas, operating hours, monitoring requirements, evaluation milestones, or an expiration or renewal process.

Key Visuals

• Figure 1: What Reaches the Earth’s Surface?
• Figure 2: Continuous Primary-Boom Generation and Additional Arrivals During One Supersonic Flight
• Figure 3: What the Four Categories and Pathways Mean
• Figure 4: What the Proposal Describes and Does Not Quantify

Recommendations

AICA recommends that FAA establish a single national interim framework for this emerging technology, with common operating boundaries, monitoring and reporting of actual operations, scheduled evaluation milestones, and an expiration or renewal process.

2. Media Coverage: “A Reckless ‘Boom-Doggle’: Earthjustice, Sierra Club Urge FAA to Keep Ban on Overland SST Flights” Airport Noise Report (ANR)

August 21, 2026 – Airport Noise Report covered Earthjustice and Sierra Club’s Federal Register comments urging FAA to retain the ban on overland commercial supersonic flight. The article highlighted their characterization of the proposal as a reckless “boom-doggle,” citing concerns about sonic booms, evanescent waves, emissions, climate impacts, public health, wildlife, and the reversal of long-standing safeguards protecting communities from supersonic aircraft noise.

3. Media Coverage: “A4A, ACI-NA, Others Have Concerns” Airport Noise Report (ANR)

August 21, 2026 – Airport Noise Report covered comments from Airlines for America (A4A), Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA), the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), and others on FAA’s proposal to lift the overland commercial supersonic flight ban. The article highlighted concerns that the NPRM does not provide sufficient supporting data for the proposed 0.11 psf standard, does not explain how Mach Cutoff Operations would work reliably in real-world commercial operations, and leaves unanswered questions about airport impacts, National Airspace System integration, monitoring, and community effects.