NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Flight Demonstration and Capabilities Quesst Phase 3 Flight Operations By Dr. Pankaj Dhussa

1. Flight Demonstration and Capabilities
Quesst Phase 3 Flight Operations
Challenge
- The FAA banned commercial overland supersonic flights
in 1973 due to the sonic boom causing damage and
distress
- The goal of NASA’s Quesst Mission is to provide data to
regulatory agencies to assess the feasibility of removing
or modifying the supersonic overland speed restriction
- During Quesst Phase 3, NASA will fly the X-59 over several
US communities in 2026-2028 to gather data
- Noise data and responses from the community will guide
new policy for commercial overland supersonic flight
Quesst Phase 3 Overview
X-59 Aircraft Photo credit NASA
Expected Impacts
- Removing overland supersonic flight restriction to
significantly reduce travel time
- Aircraft speed limit replaced by sound limit
- New aircraft design for faster speed
Partners and/or Participants
• Quesst Mission Integration Office
• Commercial Supersonic Technology project
• NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
• NASA Langley Research Center
Solution ( or Proposed Solution)
- NASA will fly the X-59 over several communities within the
contiguous US
- Several dozen flights will create the sonic thump at random
times over a 4-week period
- Community participants will be asked to respond to survey
with their reaction to the sonic thumps
- NASA will record aircraft data along with noise
measurements from ground recorders
Results
Data gathered from the community flights will be analyzed
then forwarded to the ICAO Committee on Aviation
Environmental Protection (CAEP). The CAEP will use this data
to help create new regulations or policy regarding supersonic
flights over land.
X-59 Aircraft Photo credit NASA
Quesst Mission logo
Next Steps
- Initial meetings with candidate airfields to determine X-59
operations suitability
- Review candidate community’s ability to support placement
of ground test equipment
- NASA will engage with selected communities for their
participation in submitting a response to each flight