The analysis of west coast arrivals for secondary sonic booms

Abstract

During certain atmospheric conditions, sonic boom noise that normally would travel away from the ground is refracted back down toward the ground. This occurs for booms that have been emitted from the top of a supersonic aircraft or already bounced off the ground. These types of sonic boom arrivals are called secondary sonic booms or Over The Top (OTT) booms and can be audible more than 100 km away from the flight path. It is expected that these secondary sonic booms will impact the coastline even for flights that are only flying over water. Therefore, these OTT booms need to be well understood for future supersonic aircraft approaching coastal airports. Previous work by the authors has confirmed the findings of Rickley and Pierce for OTT booms of Concorde approaching the U.S. east coast. The present work employs the PCBoom software and will provide simulations of aircraft approaching U.S. west coast airports during all seasons to predict areas where noise may be heard. [Work supported by the FAA. The opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCENT FAA Center of Excellence sponsor organizations.]