Science: Never Before .. .

Oft in the stilly nights of the 1970s, the earth's peace will be torn by a thunderous crash as a sleek, supersonic airliner passes high overhead. Such airliners represent the fondest hope of commercial aviation, but they also present serious problems. Writes Bo Lundberg, director of Sweden's Aeronautical Research Institute, in Britain's New Scientist: "A 180-ton Mach 2 or 3 airliner flying at 70,000 ft. would sweep the earth's surface with a thunder-like noise along the entire supersonic flightpath. rattling and often shattering windows, and awakening sleeping people within a band some 70 miles wide. Never before in history would so...