The last days of Concorde
Concorde, the mythic plane, is going to stop his career. Air France will stop the flighs in late may, and British Airway, a month later. There maybe some special flights after, but the concorde will not fly anymore after october the 31. 
During 27 years , Concorde, the Franco-britain plane has flights all over the atlantic at 2250 km per hour at 18 000 meters of altitude. There is no project to replace it now (only some drawings projects in the desk of engineers).
This decision is the consequence of the exceptional decrease of the passengers since 9/11 (drop to 50 % of occupation of seat ) who affected many aerians companies, and the effect of the gulf war (drop to 20 % of occupation of seats ).
For the first time in plane's history, there will be a regression. No more passengers plane will be able to go at mach 2, more no plane will be supersonic for years.
During 27 years , Concorde, the Franco-britain plane has flights all over the atlantic at 2250 km per hour at 18 000 meters of altitude. There is no project to replace it now (only some drawings projects in the desk of engineers).
This decision is the consequence of the exceptional decrease of the passengers since 9/11 (drop to 50 % of occupation of seat ) who affected many aerians companies, and the effect of the gulf war (drop to 20 % of occupation of seats ).
For the first time in plane's history, there will be a regression. No more passengers plane will be able to go at mach 2, more no plane will be supersonic for years.
Comments
Originally posted by agent302
Well, I think it's lack of fuel capacity played a big part in the lack of widespread acceptance. Why would an airline buy a Concorde that can only do transatlantic routes when a 747 can carry more people and cross the Pacific?
The Concorde had a bad start. He was introduced during the first oil crisis, and was not allowed to fly in US the first years of his career for noise reasons. Now it's an old plane : 27 years. Like every old planes he had too finish his career. The bad thing that no real commercial project is on the way to replace him. Perhaps we would not see an other supersonic plane for the next two decades (and at least nothing in the next decade).
I think the main reasons for retiring the plane are obviously the decline in passenger numbers, and also the increasing worries about mechanical failure (rudder had given constant trouble in recent years) as well as a cramped cabin.
Any new design for a supersonic passenger jet should take into account the amount of room in the cabin as well as increasing seating and fuel economy, though IMO we will be waiting quite a while before we see any replacement for concorde.
The end of an Era
Originally posted by ColanderOfDeath
I believe the grounding of this phallus shaped globe trotting Flugzeug by the French and then subsequently by the British is a metaphor for the post-modern post-UN emasculation of French and British influence without their colonial military hegemony and presages their forthcoming impotence on a global stage (or the stage at The Globe at least for the Brits) as their diplomatic gravitas shrinks like a post-coital penis throughout the 21st Century which will be characterized by the decline of European nation-states and the reign of the effete Beaurocratic Conglomerate which threatens to usurp each EU nation-state's sovereignty in total without providing a corresponding rise in Europower.
Have you ever consider the effect of a hypersonic phallus in someone ass ?
On a personal note, I will miss the ultimate Icarian phallus aspect of the Concorde most.
Have you ever consider the effect of a hypersonic phallus in someone ass ?
Not really to be honest. I believe however that the Kama Sutra clearly states that a phallus would have the ability to reach hypersonic speeds only when thrust in a vacuum. I know I frequently suffer from air resistance which causes my massive monkey to reach a terminal velocity well short of hypersonic speeds due to the forces of drag (as opposed to people in drag who are an even scarier force) from that air resistence. As for the consequences this hypersonic schlong would have, I can only speculate but I believe that the appropriate phrase is "Shock and Awe".
Originally posted by ColanderOfDeath
Not really to be honest. I believe however that the Kama Sutra clearly states that a phallus would have the ability to reach hypersonic speeds only when thrust in a vacuum. I know I frequently suffer from air resistance which causes my massive monkey to reach a terminal velocity well short of hypersonic speeds due to the forces of drag (as opposed to people in drag who are an even scarier force) from that air resistence. As for the consequences this hypersonic schlong would have, I can only speculate but I believe that the appropriate phrase is "Shock and Awe".
I hear that man's 'rye' leaves the phallic tract at about 3 km/h. A lot slower in the US (just thinking how many feet an hour would be hurtling out of my johnson makes me jack-knife to the floor) due to the heads-hands-and-schlongs system. You overly flatter yourself when you use the word hypersonic and the word phallus in one sentence. Especially in your case, with all those little holes all around ya.
phallus
Wait... what happened to the train in the tunnel thing?
It's a bit sad for me to here the Concorde will be retired. Remember 2001 Space Odyssey? We're supposed to be booking flights to the moon by now.
Wait... what happened to the train in the tunnel thing?
Ack. Don't even get me started on the Chunnel as a manifestation of emerging gender roles.
And now Amtrak teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. It's enough to make the 21st Century ladies man cry at the successes of radical feminism. Soon we will have no trains, only tunnels.
Originally posted by xterra48
The problem with the concore is that it uses too much fule, driving the price of a ticket up at an exponential rate over a traditional jet, while the time gain is only 1/2.
Price of a return ticket today is up to 7000 euro, according to Belgian news sources.
Originally posted by bunge
It's sad, but they should have been working on a replacement already. ...
They have been. It's just not cost effective. They spec'd out a fast sub-sonic plane and no one wanted to buy it.
Mind you, after the acident in France I would not fly on it if you paid me.
- T.I.
Originally posted by tonton
Now we know why you really became a doctor.
More to the point, a plastic surgeon...
- T.I.
Mind you, after the acident in France I would not fly on it if you paid me.
Mind you all concordes have been retrofitted with kevlar protected fule tanks, and Michelin developed new tires that, at speeds higher than those at takeoff, do not burst even when running over sharp metalic objects. Both of these were the immediate causes of the crash. Not to mention the concorde is one of the only planes that still flys with an onboard flight-engineer. Some un-named person's fears are unfounded.
Originally posted by The Installer
More to the point, a plastic surgeon...
- T.I.
You are right i miss the old one