Concordes' last day.
Such a beautiful plane, such ugly economics. It'll be really odd not see her in our skies, people still stop and stare as she passes over, magic. What feats those French and British design teams and engineers accomplished. This is the first time i can think of avaiation taking a technological backwards step, today to cross the atlantic 3.5 hours, tomorrow and evermore, 8. Sniff. Vive La Concorde!
Comments
I will always remember standing at Heathrow on a grey winter's day..watching this long thin bird rolling down the runway with a thunderous roar as the engines picked up speed.
The flame of orange contrasted so brilliantly against that heavy leaden sky...and apart from the noise that rattled the windows..the thing I remember most clearly of all..was how every single head in that airport turned to watch that graceful creature take off.
Thankyou Concorde....You showed us what we could achieve if we put our differences aside...
Originally posted by Aquafire
Thankyou Concorde....You showed us what we could achieve if we put our differences aside...
Fellows
Originally posted by Scott
Dry your tears guys it's just a plane.
Yes but it was the plane.
For the first time in plane history, a plane is not replace by a better one. There won't be any supersonic plane for at least a whole decade.
Originally posted by Scott
But for some reason SS flight is not allowed over the US.
I thought SS flight wasn't allowed over any land? As I recall, the sonic booms can actually cause quite a bit of damage on the ground. Am I right? Doesn't the Concorde wait until it's over the ocean to go into supersonic flight?
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
As I recall, the sonic booms can actually cause quite a bit of damage on the ground. Am I right?
More like confusion and an occasional barking dog. Might depend on how high the plane is though. We once had a fighter jet go supersonic right above our lovely burgh by mistake, and there were plenty of funny stories to be heard afterwards. We, for instance, took the bang to be coming from below us (I live in a multilevel terraced house). Thinking someone might have forcibly entered our home, we went downstairs armed with kitchen knifes to check out the situation. Nobody got hurt.
I'm thinking: leaving from New York, the Concorde could always have made a little excursion across the Atlantic to go sonic and then return to fly to LA, and vice versa.
It was a fine bird though. I would have liked to fly it one day.
While the past 30 years have seen little in the aerodynamic development of airliners, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that most design teams are so terrified to do something vastly different and new, because safety is more important than performance in this case. But we'll see. MDD was working on some interesting projects before the Boeing merger.
Originally posted by MarcUK
Personally I think the reason to scrap concorde is more to do with WMD than the economics. I could see the US very scared of a WMD of concordes size hitting the whitehouse at Mach 2.
Puh-Leeze..lets not bring WOMD into this..
As far as I recall, the only Concorde crash was brought about by a scrap of metal left on the runway and kicked up by the Concorde's wheels & into its thinly protected fuel tanks...
It is all to do with costs...pure and simple...
Originally posted by MarcUK
Personally I think the reason to scrap concorde is more to do with WMD than the economics. I could see the US very scared of a WMD of concordes size hitting the whitehouse at Mach 2.
disagree. A concorde travels about twice as fast. maybe 3 times as fast, we'll say. I bet a 747 is 3 time more massive.
ergo equal momentum.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
disagree. A concorde travels about twice as fast. maybe 3 times as fast, we'll say. I bet a 747 is 3 time more massive.
ergo equal momentum.
I'm skeptical of the WMD theory, as well, but would momentum really be the key issue in a collision or energy? Momentum is a product of mass and velocity while energy is a product of mass and velocity^2 (1/2 mv^2, to be specific).
Originally posted by Eugene
Ever sit inside a Concorde? I'll take the 1st class cabin of any of the jumbos any day.
My father took the concorde one time, because Concorde was the only solution for him to be in time for a trial a man make against his company.
Normally my father used to take first class cabin in boeing, and he travelled a lot all around the world. i can say he knowed much about airports and planes.
The travel in the concorde from Paris to New York was nice. First the passengers of concorde where recieved in a special guest room in the airport with Champagne and other goodies for free.
Then they took the plane, and they recieved upon request a certificate of supersonic travel. The food was excellent also : foie gras ... good wines.
The seat where not huge, but the travel was nice and short. Travelling at mach 2,2 at 60 000 feet was a great experience for him.
"My father took the concorde one time,.....Travelling at mach 2,2 at 60 000 feet was a great experience for him. "
What a Buzz.......
I have harboured several avionic dreams.
To fly in ~
1: Sopwith Camel ( WW-1 era )
2: P-51 Mustang
3: Concorde
4: X-15
5: Zeppelin
I've only gone gliding & done lotsa commercial flights but those would be my ultimate trips....