Basic HTML Version
May
1971
nature, they will be) in place o f a
much slower, subsonic jet flight, then
you are merely changing the equip–
ment ro a plane with a
smaller
passenger capacity
than the present
subsonic jets, wbich would require
MORE DEPARTURES PER HOUR
than the present jets, and yet, because
of the narure of the craft, with its
speed and necessary ioterludes in air–
ways, would also require MORE TIME
BETWEEN DEPARTURES
AND
ARRIVALS ON THE GROUND.
1 cannot see how the SST, which
admittedly moves
over the land
and
in densely populated arcas at the
SAME spceds as the subsooic jets (and
1 have seen and heard the Concorde
in slow fligbt and it is VERY MUCH
NOISIER than a
707)
in arrival and
departure pattecns, and wbich wiJJ
carry FEWER passengers than sorne
of today's jets, will possibly contcib–
ute to avoicüng "jammed up traffic
. . . on the ground."
lt
wiJI do the
opposite. Thousaods will
avoid
the
slower jets, and will wait in crowded
airport lobbies and waiting lounges
LONGER for fewer seats aboard a
faster airplaoe.
Tbe "uncomfortable overnight condi–
tions" 1 spoke of will not be alleviated
by the SST. Tbe
discom/ort
is pro–
duced, NOT so much tbrough sitting
in a comforable chair, eating a good
mea),
(lt
watching a movie, as it is
being propelled through so many
time zones so quickJy. Arriving four
and a balf hours
earlier
in París does
oot mean you have adjusted to the
time change more quickJy.
If
anything,
it means you will NOT be ready for
EITHER going to bed, if arriviog at
night (when it's sti ll the middle of
tbe afterooon back borne)
or
for:
getting about a day's work (if you left
at 3 or
4:00
A.M. whi ch will be
impossible because of curfews, any–
way.)
There may be something ro be said
for going and returning the SAME day
- but what effects that will have on
the human miod and body have oot
beco thorougbly tabulated.
Of course, 1 do not believe the SST
will be defeated.* I am not really sure
it
should
be. 1
do
know our
atlitude
toward tcchoology, and our attitude
toward a proper aod acceptable W AY
OF LIFE needs drastic alteration. Pre:
sumably, we can build something tbat
wiiJ fly which wou ld require a strip
over 50 miles long to become air–
boroe. But
should
we?
Cordially,
Garoer Ted Armstrong
*Letter writteo months prior to the
SST defeat in U.S. Congress.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
the figure would be even higher.
For this reason, the U. S. Senate had
voted unanimously to ban SST flights
over the continental United States.
(Britain, Canada, Norway, Sweden,
Holland, West Germany, Switzerlancl
and Ireland have also banned overland
flights in their nations.)
There are sorne who question land–
overflight restrictions. Senator Lee Met–
calf of Montana said: "Frankly, I
cannot accept this answer. At best it
is completely unrealis6c and naively
underestimates the incredible
economic
pressures
which will
be
exerted to
extend the SST's overland flights."
Oversea Flights Acceptable?
SST advocates had promised that the
plane will be flown at supersonic speeds
only over the open sea - and almost
unanimously claim that such flights are
acceptable and harmless.
Others disagree.
The SST would produce an especially
intense boom when loaded full with fuel
during first acceleration over Mach
1 -
the time when it would be just off
the coast. Also just off the coast is
the tbickest concentration of tankers,
freighters, passenger ships, fishing and
pleasure vessels. The bang zones of the
north Atlantic would indude many
present-day shipping lanes.
These people would be subjected to
one or two booms per hour, with an
occasional "super boom" caused by
cabin reflection and atmospheric condi–
tions - a boom in the overpressure
range of 4.0 to 8.0 pounds per square
foot - quite damaging. A boom with
an overpressure of 6 psf has been
known to break a ship's thick plate–
glass window.
On top of the noise-pollu6on dilemma
is the grave consideration of
air
pol–
lution.
According to designers, the SST's
engines are much more efficient tban
present-day slower jets - eliminating
the black exhaust smoke now associated
with sorne smaller jcts. But emissions of
gaseous pollutants such as carbon and
nitrogen oxides are unavoidable.
A recent environmental study group
from Massachusetts Institute of Tech–
nology has warned that supersonic
transports could possibly change the
39
world's climate by creating permanent
layers of emission pollution in the
atmosphere. According to their report,
if SST's fly in large numbers they will
create a new !ayer of stratospheric smog
that will remain
FOREVER.
The problem does not come primarily
from a technological inefficiency of the
SST's powerful engines - but with the
upper atmosphere itself. Charts pro–
duced by SST manufacturers show that
the SST will actually emit
leu
pollution
per 1,000 seat-miles than any other
transportation means. In fact, one SST
carrying three hundred passengers at
1780 miles per hour will emit no more
pollution than
THREE
automobiles trav–
eling at 60 miles per hour it is claimed.
At land leve! , however, the atmo–
sphere
circulates.
lt has a certain ability
to cleanse itself, even though ground
pollution from automobiles does reach
many thousands of feet into the atmo–
sphere over most major dties. At least,
the atmosphere of those lower levels can
benefit from cleansing wind circulation.
But the very highest levels of the
earth's atmosphere, reaching into the
stratosphere, have nothing to circulate
- have very little movement.
"The stratosphere, where supersonic
jet transports will fly at 65,000 feet, is
a very rarefied region with little vertical
mixing," said the M.I.T. study group in
a final report. "Gases and particles pro–
duced by jet exhaust (from
ONE
plane
only] may remain there from
one
to
three
years before disappearing"!
An Altered Atmosphere?
On the other hand, Secretary of
Transportation John A. Volpe and his
top aides recently stressed that there is
no evidence to support contentions that
the supersonic transport will alter the
stratosphere.
But the M.I.T. scien6sts, using Fed–
eral Aviation Administration estimates
of 500 SST's in the air by 1990, each
flying at 2.7 times the speed of sound,
calculated that the big airplanes would:
"- Inaease water vapor in the
stratosphere by 10% on a global basis
and by as much as 60% over the North–
ern Hemisphere, where traflic is
ex–
pected to
be
the most dense.
"- Shoot enough particles from sul–
fur dioxide, hydrocarbons and soot into