7gO HISTORY OI 1111 COMMITTE1 ON SCIENCI AND TECHNOLOGY 



CO maintain U.S. preeminence in aeronautics, including Federal subsi- 

 dies "to ease the legitimate problems of capital formation that are 

 now forcing U.S. manufacturers to go overseas in joint ventures." The 

 report advocated that "it is clearly in the national interest for the 

 United States to build an environmentally acceptable, fuel efficient 

 and economically viable supersonic air transport aircraft." In accom- 

 panying views, Goldwater suggested "phased but steady deregulation 

 of the airline industry," defining and strengthening the role of NASA 

 in aviation R. & D., and modification of depreciation and antitrust 

 requirements to aid the aviation industry. 



Milford's subcommittee ended its first two years of activity with 

 another round of held trips to aeronautics installations and another 

 pair of advance authorization hearings on NASA and FAA R. & D. 

 Despite repeated efforts, the subcommittee could never get the Senate 

 to go along with their concept of annual authorization legislation for 

 FAA. The hearings amounted, therefore, to recommendations which 

 did not have the force and effect of law r . 



The issue of the SST came to a head in 1976 when the French and 

 British Concordes were making test flights out of Dulles Airport. 

 Wydler decided that it was about time to find out for himself just how 

 noisy the Concorde actually was in EPNdB's (effective perceived noise 

 decibels). Armed with a special noise meter, Wydler and several others 

 piled into the car and headed for Dulles Airport. On the way out, 

 they hit a bump which tore the muffler, resulting in a roar which 

 reverberated through the Virginia countryside for the rest of the 

 distance. The noise meter shot up to a level higher than the noise 

 produced by any American jetliner. Then when the Wydler entourage 

 reached Dulles, they found that the pilot had arbitrarily changed the 

 runway he was to use. So when the Concorde took off some distance 

 away it was "quiet as a pussycat" and registered far less on the noise 

 meter than the roar caused by their own automobile. 



A NEW NAME FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE 



As the 95th Congress opened in 1977, the Milford subcommittee 

 was renamed "Transportation, Aviation and Weather." Milford at the 

 first committee Democratic caucus meeting on January 25, 1977, argued 

 for calling it "Aviation and Weather." But the next dav he explained: 



Mi Chairman, yesterday I spoke rather hastily and after consultation with 

 sonic of the members of the staff, they have indicated they didn't like my brilliant 

 idea of the name change So I would ask unanimous consent to change the name of 



