The Aviation Marvel That Faded Away in Tragedy

The Concorde wasn’t just an aircraft; it was a leap into the future of supersonic travel. Accurately speaking, the aircraft flew at a Mach number of 2.04, more than twice the speed of sound. After enjoying decades in the pitch blue skies of the stratosphere, a fatal crash led to its abrupt decline. In this article, we explore the Concorde’s journey from one ambitious idea to a groundbreaking adventure, from its extraordinary design and features to its final flight. A legacy that holds a quiet corner of admiration among aviation lovers.

A Brief History and the Production of the Concorde

The 1950s and 60s saw the world diving deep into the field of aviation. While the USSR and the USA fought the space race, Britain and France partnered, signing a treaty in 1962 to work together on this project. The two companies involved in this project were the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) from the UK and Aérospatiale from France. Political complications at that time transformed this business project into a national project for both nations. The primary goal of the project was to create a jet that would fly faster than sound and reduce the travel time across the Atlantic Ocean by half. As a matter of fact, the Concorde wasn’t the first supersonic jet to be built or used for commercial travel. The Soviets were way ahead with their Tupolev Tu-144, a supersonic aircraft used years before the Concorde, but had to shut down operations due to safety issues. Similarly, the US had planned the American Boeing SST aircraft, but it never came off paper.

Ambitious dreams require huge investments, and in this case, the final cost of developing a supersonic aircraft was over $2.8 billion, much higher than the expected $100-150 million initially thought. Both British and French governments put in equal amounts of money, and many airlines were interested, with the project garnering over 100 orders. However, with the prices soaring, the low-frequency noise waves produced during flight that travelled long distances, high fuel usage, and the emission of three times more NOx and CO2 than other aircraft at that time, resulted in the Concorde being operated only by British Airways and Air France.

Technical Features and Flight Mechanics

The Concorde was designed to fly faster, higher, and smoother than any other aircraft. From developing new wing designs, to using powerful engines, from streamlining the body to reduce drag, to having a unique drooped nose for the pilots to see the runway, the Concorde was an antique.

• Speed and Altitude: The Concorde flew at about 2180 km/hr, or Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound. Its cruising altitude was 60,000 feet, much higher than the conventional 35,000 feet for commercial planes. At that height, passengers could see the curvature of the Earth and enjoy the horizon while the surrounding skies looked dark blue.
• Wings: The Concorde had a Delta wing design. A Delta wing is a triangular-shaped wing with a longer breadth in contact with the fuselage, allowing it to stay stable at high speeds. The wings of the jet didn’t have any flaps, slats, or ailerons, as in bigger planes. Instead, the Concorde used elevons, a combination of elevators and ailerons, to control pitch and roll. An interesting fact is that the Concorde’s airfoil design wasn’t given any number like the NACA series, being an advanced design with a unique ogival shape. The airfoil used was a result of multiple wind tunnel tests, computational studies, and flight tests, and was kept hidden from the public.

• Brakes: The Concorde had carbon disc brakes and a thrust reverser system to slow down quickly after landing.
• Engines and Thrust: The Concorde used four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojet engines, which provided excellent thrust for achieving supersonic speeds. The uniqueness of these engines was their afterburners, which added extra fuel to provide greater speeds during take-off and acceleration.
• Take-off and Landing: The Concorde needed a longer runway due to its weight and high speed. However, it was capable of landing at speeds as low as 111 km/hr or roughly 60 knots in aerodynamic terms, which was three times lower than a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a supersonic military jet.

Centre of Pressure and Gravity: For larger planes, the centre of pressure keeps fluctuating depending on the angle of attack. However, to maintain great speeds with minimum drag for a smaller aircraft, the Concorde was designed and made to fly at a low AoA between 2°-4° to reduce drag, and it also had an active hydraulic system that pumped fuel between tanks to make the centre of pressure coincide with the centre of gravity throughout the flight to balance the jet. Only during take-off and landing, the AoA was increased to generate more lift, while also being helped by vortex formation over the wings.

The Fatal Crash and Retirement of the Concorde

For over 25 years, the Concorde flew safely, an engineering brilliance in the skies. But on 25th July 2000, tragedy struck; not a human or instrument error, just fate writing in a different direction.

On its way to New York from France, a metal strip fell off from the previous flight that took off. While it rolled down the runway at a speed of 300km/hr, the strip struck and punctured one of the tyres of the Air France Flight 4590. The tyre burst with its debris hitting near the fuel tank under the left wing. The shockwaves from the impact punctured the weakest fuel tank, and fuel leaked and broke out into a fire. Engines 1 and 2 on the left wing shut down due to ingestion of hot gases, with Engine 1 recovering in a few seconds. The pilots shut down Engine 2, but with the other three engines just beginning to produce thrust, and the tyres unable to retract, there wasn’t enough power, lift and altitude to make a safe recovery. The Concorde pitched higher, then started descending and rolled left with a bank angle of over 100°, before crashing into a local hotel. All 109 passengers, including the crew and four people on the ground, were killed in the accident.

The Concorde had been the safest airliner in the world, with a couple of rudder skin separation incidents and multiple tyre failures only, but with zero casualties. These incidents were also a result of its high speed and were duly taken care of. Although the Concorde was not at fault for the accident, it lost the trust of its passengers, and with increasing maintenance costs, Air France and British Airways announced the end of the Concorde supersonic jet’s operations in 2003. Another factor for fewer passengers opting for flights was the 9/11 attacks in the US. Air France flew it for the last time on 30th May 2003, and British Airways, on 24th October 2003.

Conclusion

Though the Concorde no longer flies, decades later, it remains a symbol of human ambition. Out of the twenty aircraft ever built, eighteen are now displayed in museums, where people still admire the Concorde’s sleek and powerful design. The Concorde inspires aviation experts to bring back better, safer, and modified versions of it for future supersonic commercial flights.

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