Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2011 / Notices 30231 

Please note that due to security 

considerations at Coast Guard 

Headquarters in Washington, DC, two 

valid, government issued photo 

identifications must be presented to 

gain entrance to the Headquarters 

building. The Headquarters building is 

accessible by taxi and privately owned 

conveyance (public transportation is not 

generally available). However, parking 

in the vicinity of the building is 

extremely limited. 

RTCM Headquarters is adjacent to the 

Rosslyn Metro station. For further 

directions and lodging information, 

please see: http://www.rtcm.org/ 

visit.php. Access to RTCM in Arlington, 

VA does not require the production of 

government issued photo identification. 

Additional information regarding this 

and other IMO SHC public meetings 

may be found at: http://www.uscg.mil/ 

imo. 

Dated: May 18, 2011. 

Jon Trent Warner, 

Executive Secretary, Shipping Coordinating 

Committee, Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2011–12808 Filed 5–23–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–09–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Civil Supersonic Aircraft Panel 

Discussion 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting participation. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises interested 

persons that the FAA is conducting its 

fourth public meeting on civil 

supersonic aircraft research. The public 

meeting will include presentations on 

current research programs and a 

question and answer session for 

attendees. The purpose of the meeting is 

to raise public awareness of the 

continuing technological advancements 

in supersonic aircraft technology aimed 

at reducing the intensity of sonic boom. 

DATES: The public meeting will be held 

on Thursday, July 14, 2011, in 

Washington, DC from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 

Attendees are encouraged to either come 

early or stay later to visit the Gulfstream 

Aerospace Corporation (Gulfstream) 

Supersonic Acoustic Signature 

Simulator (SASSII) that will be outside 

of the Department of Transportation 

(DOT) building. 

Meeting registration is required by 

June 23; there is no registration fee. All 

participants are requested to register at 

the following Web site: https://

spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/

viewform?formkey=dEFEdlRnYzBiaHZ

tTUozTHVtbkF4d0E6M.Q 

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be 

held at the DOT Headquarters building, 

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, 

DC 20590, Conference Room Oklahoma 

A–C. The DOT building is located 

across the street from the Navy Yard 

Metro stop on the Green Line. 

Attendance is open to all interested 

parties; however, for building security 

requirements, please register by June 23 

(see above for information on 

registration). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laurette Fisher, Office of Environment 

and Energy (AEE–100), Federal Aviation 

Administration, 800 Independence 

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; email laurette.fisher@faa.gov, facsimile 

(202) 267–5594, telephone (202) 267– 

3561 and Sandy Liu, Office of 

Environment and Energy (AEE–100), 

Federal Aviation Administration, 800 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20591; e-mail 

sandy.liu@faa.gov, facsimile (202) 267– 

5594, telephone (202) 493–4864. 

Background: Since March 1973, 

supersonic flight over land by civil 

aircraft has been prohibited in the 

United States. The Concorde was the 

only civil supersonic airplane that 

offered service to the United States, but 

that airplane is no longer in service. 

The interest in supersonic aircraft 

technology has not disappeared. Current 

research is dedicated toward reducing 

the impact of sonic booms as they reach 

the ground, in an effort to make 

overland flight acceptable. Recent 

research has produced promising results 

for low boom intensity, and has 

renewed interest in developing 

supersonic civil aircraft that could be 

considered environmentally acceptable 

for supersonic flight over land. 

The FAA has held three previous 

public meetings. The first meeting was 

held in Chicago, IL on Friday, October 

24, 2008, as part of the O’Hare Noise 

Compatibility Commission Symposium. 

The second meeting was held in Palm 

Springs, CA on Sunday, March 1, 2009, 

as part of the Annual University of 

California Symposium on Aviation 

Noise and Air Quality. And, the third 

meeting took place on Wednesday, 

April 21, 2010, as part of the joint 

meeting of the 159th Acoustical Society 

of America and NOISE–CON 2010 in 

Baltimore, Maryland 21202. 

The purpose of these meetings is to 

raise public awareness on advances in 

supersonic technology, and for the FAA, 

the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA), and industry to 

get feedback from interested persons. 

Highlighting the effort to raise 

awareness, Gulfstream has supported 

the FAA’s public meetings by making its 

Supersonic Acoustic Signature 

Simulator II (SASSII) available for 

attendees to visit. The SASSII is a 

mobile audio booth designed and 

equipped to demonstrate the 

‘‘Gulfstream Whisper’’, the aerospace 

company’s latest effort to provide a 

solution to the traditional sonic boom. 

A supersonic aircraft such as the 

Concorde in cruise produces a 

traditional jagged ‘‘N-wave’’ sonic boom 

pressure wave, resulting in a loud, 

jarring double boom on the ground as it 

passes by. Gulfstream’s patented spike 

for controlling and reducing sonic boom 

transforms the traditional N-wave sonic 

boom into a smooth and more rounded 

pressure wave shaped roughly like a 

sine wave or a sideways ‘‘S’’. This 

change in the wave shape results in a 

softer sound that is quieter than the 

Concord sonic boom by a factor of 

10,000. Gulfstream developed the 

mobile SASSII so others could 

experience this dramatic sound 

difference. The simulator enables 

visitors to sense for themselves the 

dramatic difference in sound, 

reverberation, and intensity. Using a 

sophisticated, computer-based audio 

system, the acoustic engineer sends the 

audio feed into a sound booth where 

visitors can compare various sound 

signatures. 

Public involvement is essential in any 

future definition of an acceptable new 

standard that would allow supersonic 

flights over land. We anticipate that this 

will be one of many meetings informing 

the public on the continual 

developments in the research of shaped 

sonic booms and other technical and 

environmental challenges that need to 

be addressed in developing a new 

supersonic airplane. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 18, 

2011. 

Lourdes Q. Maurice, 

Executive Director, Office of Environment and 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–12742 Filed 5–23–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

[Summary Notice No. PE–2011–24] 

Petition for Exemption; Summary of 

Petition Received 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 


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