A case of human sacrifice
Sir: The dexterity with which your correspon- dents, Messrs Harrison and McKendrick, evade the prime issue shows how prejudice can assert itself against reason (Letters, 24 May). Dr Smith's basic statement was (I quote): The sonic boom will invade us.' That is the bogey raised, without a shred of factual information beyond the truth that supersonic aircraft can (but only at supersonic speeds) make an in- tolerable noise. I challenge anyone to give proof that 'the sonic boom will invade us' in tix. And until that proof is forthcoming, my firm tech- nical advice is that worry should cease about something that will not happen—certainly by routine flights.
To deal with Mr Tim Harrison. Here we have a splendid example of the awful methods of teaching geography on Mercator Projection maps, which are flat, for a world which is a near-sphere. The SST route by actually hyper- sonic aircraft is not, as Mr Harrison anticipates, via the Cape of Good Hope, nor San Fran- cisco. It is far easier—and shorter—to start in north Norfolk, and simply fly north, over the North Pole, and just keep on and on to Sydney, NSW. There is no habitable land of any con- sequence on this route which is almost exclu-
sively over the sea. (And very empty sea, at that.)
As to Mr McKendrick, it is irrelevant to the main point (above) to discuss America• and Russia in the context of Dr Smith's bald asser- tion. The simple fact is that an SST aircraft can be airborne under control at all the present subsonic speeds. It can fly, just as the vc-l0 flies, over all the present routes at subsonic speeds equal to the present airliners. It can also go supersonic at will that will be at route sec- tions acceptable to international standards, and where individual nations permit. For the places cited, Paris and Frankfurt, on the run to New York I would reasonably imagine a slow and easy climb to the longitude of Nantes/Cher- bourg before opening the throttles. (And con- versely for the return descents.) As for the smear that ssr workers are only in the game for the money, in the classic phrase 'You must be bonkers!' Even if the Concorde were never to fly, the technical benefits already accrued from ssr development for application in other, non- aviation, spheres would rate as worth every penny spent.
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