environment around Kennedy Airport.


11
The Coleman decision.  The Concorde was ready to commence commercial operations in 1975.  In late summer British Airways and Air France applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for an amendment of their operations specifications to permit the use of the SST in transatlantic service to the United States.  See 14 C.F.R. § 129.  Approval of the airlines' applications could hardly have been entrusted to the routine processes of the FAA: the potential promise of supersonic jet aviation, the special importance of the Concorde to two of America's closest allies, and the serious environmental questions raised by the aircraft, all required a decision by the cabinet officer responsible for transportation, on the basis of a carefully prepared environmental impact statement.  Secretaryprocedures, including a sharp left turn upon takeoff, as prescribed by the FAA.  The operations specifications were amended in accordance with the Secretary's order on April 2, 1976.


13
In Secretary Coleman's view, a testing period of actual Concorde operations was an essential prelude to the final decision on the aircraft's acceptability in the United States.  The Concorde, whatever imperfections it may have, is a potentially revolutionary development in transportation.  Only the knowledge concerning the demand for supersonic air transportation that comes from testing the product will tell us whether the revolutionary possibilities are likely to be realized and whether the massive investment in research required to overcome the plane's present environmental deficiencies is justified.  Moreover, the community reaction to Concorde noise is a subjective matter