The Monster

The U.S. last week sketched the details of what it hopes will be the world's first supersonic commercial transport. Federal Aviation Administrator Najeeb Halaby, asked by the Kennedy Administration to investigate the feasibility of such a plane, spelled out the desired quality of what he called "the monster." The new plane should cruise at Mach 3 (about 2,000 m.p.h.) at an altitude of 65,000 to 75,000 feet, fly from Los Angeles to New York in 74 minutes, and zip across the North Atlantic in less than two hours.

Target date for the Mach 35 to enter passenger service: 1970.

Though five big U.S. planemakers have already turned out their own preliminary designs of Mach 3 commercial jetliners (see cut), development costs, estimated as high as $500 million, have scared them off. Under the new system, the Government and planemakers will decide on one design for the Mach 3; the Government will then let contracts to one or more planemakers and share the burden of the development costs. President Kennedy has asked Congress for $12 million to get the program started, and the Government may recoup at least a part of its investment by collecting a royalty on each plane. Planemakers estimate that the new craft will sell to the airlines for from $12 million to $25 million, depending on the number of manufacturers involved. (A Boeing 707 costs $6.1 million.)

Aeronautical experts expect about 150 Mach 3 jetliners to be in service by 1975. The planes will carry 100 to 130 passengers, have a crew of six, and be able to land and take off from most runways now used by subsonic jets. Except for tough, heat-resistant windshields in the cockpit, they will be windowless to give the fuselage greater strength. The passengers will see the outside by television.

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