Jan 5 1976
From The Space Library
5 January-4 February: Permission to fly the British- and French-built Concorde supersonic transport into the U.S. was the subject of a hearing called by Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman, Jr., in Washington to help him decide the matter within 30 days. Basic arguments pro and con were not new, observers agreed, as they had all been thrashed out in a bitter 1971 congressional fight that halted U.S. efforts to build an SST after about $1 billion had been spent on the project. The case against the Concorde had been that it was too noisy and that its emissions polluted the atmosphere and depleted the stratospheric ozone shield. Spokesmen for the Concorde cited its benefits in speed of travel and technical achievement. At the hearing, representatives of the Va. state government called for approval of Concorde landings at Dulles, in view of the airport's significance as Virginia's international gateway; these advocates found themselves opposed to the views of the local Va. jurisdictions which did not want the SST landing there. Gov. Hugh Carey of N.Y. opposed the Concorde's coming into JFK Airport because of the noise. On 6 Jan. the Environmental Protection Agency reversed its previous stand, calling for a total ban on commercial operations in the U.S. of the British-French SST. On 13 Jan., the Aerospace Industries Assn.-U.S. manufacturers of aerospace vehicles and components submitted a letter deploring the cancellation of the U.S. program and supporting Concorde's application to operate. On 29 Jan., the Am. Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, claiming to represent 22 000 engineers and scientists, called for a limited-operations trial period to collect data as the basis for a final decision on giving Concorde access to U.S. airports. The Concorde had begun regular passenger service 21 Jan. between Paris and Rio de Janeiro, and between London and Bahrain, as the climax of 14 yr of technical cooperation between Britain and France and a joint investment of more than $3 billion.
Secy. Coleman announced 4 Feb. that he had granted the Concorde "limited scheduled commercial flights" into the U.S. for a period not to exceed 16 mo under precise limitations. British Airways and Air France could send up to 2 flights per day into JFK and Dulles airports, but the permission could be revoked upon 4 mo notice or immediately in case of emergency. The limitations included prohibitions on landing or takeoff in the U.S. before 7 am or after 10 pm local time, and on flying at supersonic speed over the U.S. or any of its territories. In his 61-page decision with 36 pages of appendix, Coleman said the 16-mo period should be long enough to demonstrate the validity of his judgment. Upon hearing of the secretary's decision, 2 members of the Senate Commerce Committee were narrowly defeated in an attempt to ban the Concorde from landing in the U.S. by attaching such a ban to a bill authorizing funds for airport development. The Concorde's only supersonic competitor was the USSR's Tupolev-144, in service since 26 Dec. 1975 within the Soviet Union as a freight plane. (NYT, 5 Jan 76, 1; Av Wk, 5 Jan 76, 26; W Star, 6 Jan 76, A-3; W Post, 6 Jan 76, A-1; AIA Aerospace News Release 76-1; text, AIAA letter to DOT, 29 Jan 76; NYT, 21 Jan 76, 16-17; W Star, 21 Jan 76, A-3; B Sun, 28 Jan 76, A-6; NYT, 1 Feb 76, 3-1; DoT Release 09-76, 4 Feb. 76; NYT, 5 Feb 76, 1, 16, 32M; W Post, 5 Feb 76, A-1, A-18; B Sun, 5 Feb 76, A14)
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