Concorde Monitoring and Noise Regulation

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) final monitoring report on Concorde operations at Dulles Airport, the National Academy of Sciences' report on public reaction to Concorde operations, and FAA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which would establish noise limits for supersonic aircraft were analyzed. The local option provisions, the right of the local airport proprietor to regulate noise at its own airpor, may not be a viable method for regulating Concorde noise. More clearly defined guidance should be given to airport proprietors so that they can invoke their local option without encountering long legal battles. The federal government should also provide some criteria to industry as to the noise levels that would be acceptable for future aircraft rather than letting the development of future technology control the noise levels that will be established. Although the FAA final monitoring report found that the Concorde has gained in public acceptance during the trial period, no valid basis for such a statment was indicated. The Secretary of Transportation should provide general guidelines in the final noise rule for supersonic airplanes as to what constitutes a standard that is nondiscriminatory and not unduly burdensome on interstate and foreign commerce and should require new-design supersonic aircraft to meet the same noise levels as new-design subsonic aircraft.