Imagine sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow airport waiting to take off.
You are in a slender cabin of a jet that only holds about 100 passengers.
The captain comes on the intercom and warns you that the plane has been cleared for take
off.
You are about to go from 0 to 225 miles per hour in thirty seconds.
You will be forced back into your seat as the plane takes off and reaches Mach 2.
In three hours you will have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and have landed in New York City.
This may seem like a futuristic flight, but it was just another day for the supersonic
Concorde jet.
The first ideas for a supersonic passenger jet came out of the 1940’s and 50’s.
Europe was recovering from the second World War and Britain had put a great deal of research
and resources into the development of jet technology.
They had jet engine technology that the rest of the world wouldn’t replicate for another
five years.
The government decided to use the technology not just for their military, but for commercial
aircraft as well.
This led to the British-built de Havilland Comet created in 1949.
It was the first commercial jet airliner in the world.
On the other side of the Atlantic supersonic technology was being developed by the United
States.
In 1947 the first supersonic jet, the Bell X-1, was built.
It broke the sound barrier and allowed the pilot to achieve Mach 1.
It was only a matter of time before the advanced British engines and supersonic technology
were combined to make a supersonic passenger jet.
In 1958 the English Electric Lightning reached Mach 2 while carrying a payload and without
the use of afterburners.
It was this flight that led to the concept of the Concorde becoming a reality.
The Concorde is still to this day the only supersonic jet ever to fly commercial flights.
From the beginning the supersonic jet technology was expensive.
The British government funded the research using taxpayer money.
On March 2nd, 1969 the first prototype of the Concorde flew its maiden journey.
It cruised over the Atlantic at Mach 2 which is 1,350 miles per hour.
This was 800 miles per hour faster than the 747s being used by other airlines.
It flew at an altitude of 60,000 feet, which was five miles higher than other planes.
Only twenty Concordes were ever built and of those twenty only fourteen were delivered
to British Airways and Air France.
British Airways fully embraced the new supersonic jet and the Concorde ended up making just
under 50,000 flights carrying a total of 2.5 million passengers.
In its heyday the seven Concordes British Airways owned made up one third of their entire
profits.
That is a lot of profit for seven planes, meaning the tickets were not cheap.
They cost an average of $4000 to $5000 dollars per person.
From the beginning the Concorde was fraught with problems.
The project itself cost 4.5 billion dollars in today’s currency.
It was a huge investment for a plane that wasn’t guaranteed to even fly.
One of the main reasons that we no longer have supersonic passenger jets is because
of the price to build and maintain the aircraft.
At the time that British engineers were developing their supersonic passenger jet technology,
the French company, Sud Aviation, was building a supersonic passenger jet of their own.
They called it the Super Caravelle.
However, the same challenges that Britain faced with expensive costs caused Sud Aviation
to give up their endeavour.
In the end the British and French decided on a partnership that would allow them to
build the aircraft more affordably.
This partnership led to the name Concorde, which means agreement.
Another hurdle that the Concorde faced was pushback on the plane’s noise and sonic
boom.
The four Rolls-Royce Olympus 593 engines produced huge amounts of power, which caused them to
generate a deafening noise.
The engines were thermally efficient at high thrust and each engine produced 32,000 pounds
of force when running normally.
When the afterburner was activated each engine put out 38,000 pounds of force, which was
essential to break the sound barrier.
The engines could be heard by everyone in the airport upon take off of the Concorde.
The sound was considered a disruption and annoyance to the passengers and airport staff.
The sonic boom was another problem.
A sonic boom occurs when a build up of air molecules is displaced by an aircraft moving
faster than the speed of sound.
As the air molecules rush around the aircraft and fill the space that the plane had just
passed through, they create a loud shockwave similar to thunder.
It is the speed at which the molecules are pushed apart and then come back together that
creates the loud noise.
This was a problem not only for people on the ground as the Concorde flew over head,
but to other planes in the sky as well.
The Concorde pilots had to warn any planes they were passing ahead of time so that the
captain could warn the passengers of the impending loud noise.
Many airline companies saw the Concorde as just too costly and too noisy to fit into
their business plans.
The Concorde was made of aluminium with a 204 foot (62.1m) fuselage and an 84 foot (25.5m)
wingspan.
The wings began about halfway down the body of the aircraft and flared out all the way
to the back of the plane.
This unique delta-wing design was necessary to maintain sustained supersonic flight.
The delta-wing was also designed to allow efficient manoeuvrability during lower speeds,
such as take off and landings.
Most of the fuel tanks were contained within the wings of the Concorde.
A special flight engineer was needed on every journey to actively manage the weight distribution
to keep the plane balanced.
Supersonic jets required top of the line pilots.
The Concorde pilots were a group of elite members.
Of the veteran pilots who signed up for the 28 week training course, around 50 percent
failed.
The training regiment consisted of over seventy-five hours in the flight simulator, circuit work,
and extra training for take offs and landings.
Then if the pilot was still in the program they were observed for two months on passenger
flights, before successfully completing the course.
One main difficulty the pilots had was with controlling the powerful Concorde engines.
One pilot recounted that his flight instructor asked him to level off at 2000 feet, but he
overshot it by double and ended up leveling off at 4000 feet.
This was due to the unparalleled thrust of the Concorde’s engines.
Imagine it is the 1980’s and you are a wealthy business person.
A very wealthy business person.
You are based out of New York City, but you have a very important client in London that
is in dire need of your assistance.
You have to get across the Atlantic, and fast.
You book your flight on a Concorde and inform the client you will be there in three hours.
But what was it like to be a passenger on a supersonic passenger jet?
You are sitting in the exclusive Concorde lounge at JFK airport.
The roar of plane engines is dampened and you are served high end liquor as you read
the newspaper.
Then a representative of British Airways informs you that it is time to board.
You grab your drink and embark onto the plane.
It isn’t very big, but the chairs are comfortable and the service is first class.
You get strapped in and take a look out the window.
The captain comes on the intercom to inform you, and the other passengers, that you have
been cleared for takeoff.
He warns it’s going to get pretty loud and you will be forced back into your seat.
The supersonic Concorde zooms to top speed, the afterburners are deafening, it feels like
someone is pushing on your chest with all their strength.
A minute later it is quiet and you level off.
What an experience.
The flight attendants spring into action, knowing they have less than three hours to
service all of the passengers and make sure everyone is comfortable.
The plane reaches Mach 2 meaning you are traveling twice the speed of sound and your sonic boom
can be heard by anyone you pass over.
Every minute you travel 22.5 miles.
You are offered another beverage and a complementary cigar.
You light up.
Smoke fills the cabin as you and the other passengers enjoy comforts only the Concorde
can provide.
You are reading a book when the captain comes back on the intercom.
He offers to show you the cockpit and the complexities of the Concorde’s flight controls.
You enter the small room and marvel at all of the dials and gadgets.
Upon returning to your seat the flight attendant asks if there is anything else they can get
you as you will be landing soon.
You get a glass of champagne and watch out the window as the Concorde descends and lands
at Heathrow airport.
Only a few hours ago you were in New York City and now here you are in London.
It’s incredible.
As you disembark you get a signed certificate as evidence that you flew on the Concorde.
Your journey is complete.
Today we no longer have supersonic passenger jets.
There are many reasons for this such as the exuberant cost of maintaining the aircraft.
Another reason was because of the noise of the aircraft and environmental concerns.
There were often protests on runways and lobbying against the airline companies to get rid of
the Concorde.
It used vast amounts of precious fuel and released more exhaust than regulations allowed
regular passenger jets to put into the atmosphere.
The sonic booms were disruptful to people on the ground as the Concorde flew overhead.
Unless you were riding in the Concorde it was more of a nuisance than anything else.
Then on July 25th, 2000 a fatal crash made international headlines.
Fight 4590 ran over a metal strip that was left on the runway by another aircraft.
The metal punctured a tire sending shards of rubber and metal into the underside of
the wing.
The impact sent a shock wave through the fuel tank located in the wing and it ignited.
It was too late to abort take off and the pilot tried to divert the plane to another
airport close by.
But the plane was out of control and on fire.
The Concorde ended up crashing into a hotel killing 113 people including everyone on board
and four people on the ground.
All Concordes were grounded until an investigation into the cause of the crash could be carried
out.
The Concorde as a passenger jet never recovered from this terrible accident.
British Airways and Air France fixed the flaw that led to the crash and resumed flying the
Concorde again in November of 2001.
But the crash making international news and the expensive cost of tickets kept the supersonic
jet from ever being successful again.
At the same time the second war in Iraq led to fuel shortages, which also contributed
to the Concordes decline.
It was unsustainable for the companies to keep operating the Concorde.
On October 24th, 2003 the final Concorde journey was made from JFK in New York City to London
Heathrow.
The reign of the supersonic passenger jet was over.
Several companies have tried to bring back the supersonic passenger jet.
American firms such as Aerion, Boom, and Spike are developing new designs.
Boom is planning a flight of a prototype for their supersonic passenger jet in 2020.
The Boom Overture will carry fifty-five to seventy-five people and reach a speed of Mach
2.2.
The new design uses more efficient engines and materials, but the body shape has remained
almost completely unchanged from the Concorde.
This a testament to the engineers that created the first supersonic passenger jet over fifty
years ago.
Airline passengers can no longer fly across the Atlantic in under three hours.
This is because the Concorde, the only supersonic passenger jet up to this point in history,
was just not viable.
Exuberant costs, environmental concerns, and the fatal crash in 2000 led to the retiring
of the fourteen Concordes in circulation.
However, the supersonic passenger jet may be making a comeback and people may soon again
be soaring through the air at twice the speed of sound.
What do you think?
Should supersonic jets make a comeback?
Would you fly in one?
Let us know in the comments below!
If you think flying is too expensive and you’re looking for a different way to ride on a plane,
check out our video on What Happens When You Hide in the Landing Gear of a Plane.
Or if you want to know more about the military side of jets check out the Most Powerful & Dangerous
Fighter Jets In The World.
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