Concorde

For other uses, see Concorde (disambiguation).

British Airways Concorde G-BOAB.

File:Concorde under Verrazano Bridge.jpg

Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST) was the more successful of only two supersonic passenger airliners to have operated commercially (the Tupolev Tu-144 being the other). First flown in 1969, Concorde service commenced in 1976 and continued for 27 years. It regularly flew from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles. It set many records, including circumnavigating the world in a time of 31 hours 27 minutes 49 seconds flight, on August 16, 1995.

The costly development phase represented a substantial economic loss for the British and French governments, although it made large operating profits for British Airways for much of its service life. Commercial flights, by British Airways and Air France, began on 21 January 1976. As a result of its only crash (in 2000), world economic effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on 26 November that year. Even in retirement, Concorde remains an icon of aviation history.

Development

Concorde's final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The very high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.

Concorde on Take-Off.

Pre-production Concorde number 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, UK

In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. Sud Aviation ended designing the aircraft while British Aerospace Company, ensambled aircraft.

Britain's Bristol Aeroplane Company and France's Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 233 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a trans-Atlantic-ranged aircraft for around 100 people, while the French were intending to concentrate on a medium-range sector.

The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation. Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by Britain, issuing penalties for cancellation (Britain's Treasury twice came close to cancelling the project). A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones, thus the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale.

At first the new consortium intended to produce two versions of the aircraft, one for long range and one for short. However, while shopping the design to prospective customers, no interest was shown in the short-range version. Plans for this version were dropped, and the consortium secured orders for over 100 of the long-range version from the premier airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.

The aircraft was initially referred to in Britain as "Concorde," with the French spelling, but was officially changed to "Concord" by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to "Concorde." This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed "e" represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "you talk about 'E' for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland's contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied "it was also 'E' for 'Écosse' (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added 'e' for extravagance and 'e' for escalation as well!"

Construction of two prototypes began in February 1965: 001, built by Aerospatiale at Toulouse, and 002, by BAC at Filton, Bristol. 001 made its first test flight from Toulouse on 2 March 1969 and first went supersonic on 1 October. As the flight programme progressed, it embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971. 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport's opening.

These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to a sudden number of order cancellations - the 1973 oil crisis (Concorde used considerably more fuel per passenger mile than its subsonic competitors), acute financial difficulties of the partner airlines, a spectacular crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, take-off noise and pollution. Only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.

The United States had cancelled its supersonic transport (SST) program in 1971. Two designs had been submitted; the Lockheed L-2000, looking like a scaled-up Concorde, lost out to the Boeing 2707, which was intended to be faster, to carry 300 passengers and feature a swing-wing design. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated by, or at least encouraged by, the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor, despite President John F. Kennedy's impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights due to noise concerns.

Both European airlines flew demonstration and test flights from 1974 onwards. The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; it undertook 5,335 flight hours in the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft alone. A total of 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. This statistic equates to approximately four times as many as similarly sized subsonic commercial aircraft. Unit costs were £23 million (US$46 million) in 1977. Development cost overrun was 600%.

Design

Concorde was an ogival delta-winged aircraft with four powerful Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. The engines were jointly built by Rolls-Royce and SNECMA, the latter gaining its first foothold in civil aviation turbojet engine manufacturing. Concorde was the first civil airliner to have an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system. It also employed a trademark droop snoot lowering nose section for visibility on approach.

These and other features permitted Concorde to have an average cruise speed of Mach 2.02 (about 2,140 km/h or 1,330 mph) with a maximum cruise altitude of 18,300 metres (60,000 feet), more than twice the speed of conventional aircraft. The average landing speed was a relatively high 298 km/h (185 mph, 160 knots).

The final Concorde landing

File:Concorde interior.jpg

The flight deck.

The Concorde pioneered a number of technologies:

For high speed and optimisation of flight:

• Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
• Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus turbojet engines with reheat (afterburners) and variable inlet ramps
• Supercruise capability
• Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today's FADEC-controlled engines
• Droop-nose section for improved visibility in landing

For weight-saving and enhanced performance:

• Mach 2.04 for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum, although turbojet engines are more efficient at high speed)
• Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and relatively conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
• Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
• Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems
• Multifunction flight control surfaces
• High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic systems components
• Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
• Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control
• Parts milled from single alloy billet reducing the part-number count

Concorde's primary legacy is in the experience gained in its design and manufacture which later became the basis of the Airbus consortium. For example, Snecma Moteurs' involvement with the Concorde programme prepared the company's entrance into civil engine design and manufacturing, opening the way for Snecma to establish CFM International with General Electric and produce the successful CFM International CFM56 series engines.

Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue dials and switches, looked dated. With no competition, there was no commercial pressure to upgrade Concorde with enhanced avionics or passenger comfort, as occurred in other airliners of the same vintage (e.g. Boeing 747).

The key partners, BAC (later to become BAE Systems) and Aerospatiale (later to become EADS), were the joint owners of Concorde's type certificate. Responsibility for the Type Certificate transferred to Airbus with formation of Airbus SAS.

Main problems overcome during design

G-AXDN, Duxford, close up of engines.

Many issues were overcome whilst researching and developing Concorde.

Movement of centre of pressure

When any aircraft passes the critical mach of that particular airframe, the centre of pressure shifts rearwards. This causes a pitch down force on the aircraft, as the centre of gravity remains where it was. The engineers designed the wings in a specific manner to reduce this shift. However, there was still a shift of about 2 metres. This could have been countered by the use of trim controls, but at such high speeds this would have caused a dramatic increase in the drag on the aircraft. Instead, the distribution of fuel along the aircraft was shifted during acceleration and deceleration to move the centre of gravity, effectively acting as an auxiliary trim control.

Engines

To be economically viable, Concorde needed to be able to fly reasonably long distances, and this required high efficiency. For optimum supersonic flight, the engines needed to have a small frontal cross-sectional area to minimise drag and a low bypass ratio to give a high, supersonic exhaust speed. Turbojets were thus the best choice of engines. The more efficient and quieter high bypass turbofan engines such as used on Boeing 747s could not be used. The engine chosen was the twin spool Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593, a version of the Olympus originally developed for the Vulcan bomber, but further developed for Concorde.

Concorde's ramp system Schematic

Actual Concorde's ramp system

The inlet design for Concorde's engines was critical. All conventional jet engines can intake air at only around Mach 0.5; therefore the air needs to be slowed from the Mach 2.0 airspeed that enters the engine inlet. In particular, Concorde needed to control the shockwaves that this reduction in speed generates to avoid damage to the engines. This was done by a pair of ramps and an auxiliary flap, whose position was moved during flight to slow the air down. The ramps were at the top of the engine compartment and moved down and the auxiliary flap moved both up and down allowing air to flow in or out. During takeoff, when the engine's air demand was high, the ramps were flat at the top and the auxiliary flap was in, allowing more air to enter the engine. As the aircraft approached Mach 0.7, the flap closed; at Mach 1.3, the ramps came into effect, removing air from the engines which was then used in the pressurization of the cabin. At Mach 2.0, the ramps had covered half their total possible distance. They also helped reduce the work done by the compressors as they not only compressed the air but also increased the air temperature.

Concorde engine twin intake displayed in a museum from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. (Museo del Concorde)

Engine failure causes large problems on conventional subsonic aircraft; not only does the aircraft lose thrust on that side but the engine is a large source of drag, causing the aircraft to yaw and bank in the direction of the engine which has failed. If this had happened to Concorde at supersonic speeds, it would almost certainly have caused a catastrophic failure of the airframe. During an engine failure its air intake needs are virtually zero, so in Concorde the immediate effects of the engine failure were countered by the opening of the auxiliary flap and the full extension of the ramps, which deflected the air downwards past the engine, gaining lift and streamlining the engine, minimising the drag effects of the failed engine. In tests, Concorde was able to shut down both engines on the same side of the aircraft at Mach 2 without any control problems.

The aircraft used reheat (afterburners) at take-off and to pass through the transonic regime (i.e. "go supersonic") and were typically switched off at all other times. The engines were just capable of reaching Mach 2 without reheat, but it was discovered operationally that it burnt more fuel that way, since the aircraft spent much longer flying in the high-drag transonic regime even though reheat is relatively inefficient.

Due to turbojets being highly inefficient at low speeds, Concorde burned two tonnes of fuel taxiing to the runway. To conserve fuel only the two outer engines were run after landing. The thrust from two engines was sufficient for taxiing to the ramp due to low aircraft weight upon landing at its destination. A Concorde once ran out of fuel taxiing to the terminal after a flight; the pilot was dismissed.

Heating issues

Beside engines, the hottest part of the structure of any supersonic aircraft is the nose. The engineers wanted to use (duralumin) aluminium throughout the aircraft, due to its familiarity, cost and ease of construction. The highest temperature that aluminium could sustain over the life of the aircraft was a maximum of 127 °C, which limited the top speed to Mach 2.02.

Concorde went through two cycles of heating and cooling during a flight, first cooling down as it gained altitude, then heating up after going supersonic. The reverse happened when descending and slowing down. This had to be factored into the metallurgical modelling. Owing to the heat generated by compression of the air as Concorde traveled supersonically, the fuselage would extend by as much as 300 mm (almost 1 foot), the most obvious manifestation of this being a gap that opened up on the flight deck between the flight engineer's console and the bulkhead. On all the Concordes that had a supersonic retirement flight, the flight engineers placed their hats in this gap before it cooled, where the hats remain to this day. In the Seattle museum's Concorde a protruding cap was cut off by a thief in an apparent attempt to steal it, leaving a part behind. An amnesty led to the severed cap being returned; the museum has been examining options to reattach it in some way.

In order to keep the cabin cool, Concorde used its fuel as a heatsink for the heat from the air conditioning. The same method also cooled the hydraulics. During supersonic flight the windows in the cockpit became too hot to touch.

Concorde also had restrictions on its livery; the majority of the surface had to be white to avoid overheating the aluminium structure due to the supersonic heating effects of Mach 2. In 1996, however, Air France briefly painted F-BTSD in a predominantly blue livery (with the exception of its wings) as part of a promotional deal with Pepsi Cola. In this paint scheme, Air France were advised to remain at Mach 2 for no more than 20 minutes at a time, but there was no restriction at speeds under Mach 1.7. F-BTSD was chosen for the promotion because she was not then scheduled to operate any long flights that required extended Mach 2 operations.

Structural issues

Due to the high speeds at which Concorde travelled, large forces were applied to the aircraft structure during banks and turns. This caused twisting and the distortion of the aircraft's structure. This was resolved by the neutralization of the outboard elevons at high speeds. Only the innermost elevons, which are attached to the strongest area of the wings, are active at high speed.

Additionally, the relatively narrow height of the fuselage meant that the aircraft flexed more, particularly during takeoff, and pilots were able to look back down the cabin and see this occurring, but it was less visible from most of the passengers viewpoints.

Brakes

Due to a relatively high average takeoff speed of 250 mph (400 km/h), Concorde needed good brakes. Concorde's brakes were one of the first major users of anti-lock braking systems, which stop the wheels from locking when fully applied, allowing greater deceleration and control during braking, particularly in wet conditions.

The brakes were carbon-based and could bring Concorde, weighing up to 185 tons (188 tonnes) and travelling at 190 mph (305 km/h), to a stop from an aborted takeoff within one mile (1600 m). This braking manoeuvre brought the brakes to temperatures of 300 °C to 500 °C, requiring several hours for cooling.

Range

Concorde needed to travel London to New York non stop, and to achieve this the designers gave Concorde the greatest range of any supersonic aircraft. This was achieved by a combination of careful development of the engines to make them highly efficient at supersonic speeds, by very careful design of the wing shape to give a good lift to drag ratio, by having a relatively modest payload, a high fuel capacity, and by moving the fuel to trim the aircraft without introducing any additional drag.

Nevertheless, soon after Concorde began flying, a Concorde 'B' design was produced with more powerful engines, the fuel-hungry and noisy reheat removed, with slightly bigger fuel capacity and slightly larger wings with improved aerodynamic performance at all speeds. This which would have given 500 km greater range even with greater payload. This was cancelled due to poor sales of Concorde.

Passenger safety at altitude

Concorde's designers were concerned with two very important consequences of high altitude flight: the presence of ionizing radiation, and the threat of loss of cabin atmospheric pressure.

Increased radiation exposure

The high altitude at which Concorde cruised meant passengers received almost twice the flux of extra-terrestrial ionising radiation as those travelling on a conventional long-haul flight. Because of the proportionally reduced flight time, however, the overall equivalent dose was less than a conventional flight over the same distance. Unusual solar activity led to an increase in incident radiation, so the flight deck had a radiometer and an instrument to measure the rate of decrease of radiation. If the level was too high, Concorde descended to below 47,000 feet (14,000 m). The rate of decrease indicator indicated whether the aircraft needed to descend further, decreasing the amount of time the aircraft was at an unsafe altitude.

Cabin pressurization and loss of pressure

Concorde fuselage

Airliner cabins are usually pressurized to 6-8,000 feet elevation while the aircraft flies much higher. Concorde's pressurization was set to a lower altitude than most other commercial jets.. Some passengers can have difficulty even with that pressurization. A sudden reduction in cabin pressure is hazardous to all passengers and crew. Concorde's cruising altitude was 60,000 feet; subsonic airliners typically cruise below 40,000 feet. Above 50,000 feet, the lack of oxygen would limit consciousness in even a conditioned athlete to no more than 10-15 seconds. A cabin breach could even reduce air pressure to below the ambient pressure outside the aircraft due to the Venturi effect, as the air is sucked out through an opening. At the Concorde's altitude, the air density is very low; a breach of cabin integrity would result in a loss of pressure severe enough so that the plastic emergency oxygen masks installed on other passenger jets would not be effective, and passengers would quickly suffer from hypoxia despite quickly donning them. Concorde, therefore, was equipped with smaller windows to reduce the rate of loss in the event a breach, a reserve air supply system to augment cabin air pressure, and a rapid descent procedure to bring the aircraft to a safe altitude. The FAA enforces minimum emergency descent rates for aircraft and made note of the Concorde's higher operating altitude, concluding that the best response to a loss of pressure would be a rapid descent. Pilots had access to CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) which used masks that forced oxygen at higher pressure into the crew's lungs.

Droop nose

Concorde's famous drooping nose was a compromise between the need for a streamlined design to reduce drag and increase aerodynamic efficiency in flight and the need for the pilot to see properly during taxi, takeoff, and landing operations. A delta-wing aircraft takes off and lands with a high angle of attack (a high nose angle) compared to subsonic aircraft, due to the way the delta wing generates lift. The pointed nose would obstruct the pilots' view of taxiways and runways, so Concorde's nose was designed to allow for different positioning for different operations. The droop nose was accompanied by a moving visor that was retracted into the nose prior to the nose being lowered. When the nose was raised back to horizontal, the visor was raised ahead of the front cockpit windscreen for aerodynamic streamlining in flight.

A controller in the cockpit allowed the visor to be retracted and the nose to be lowered to 5° below the standard horizontal position for taxiing and takeoff. Following takeoff and after clearing the airport, the nose and visor were raised. Shortly before landing, the visor was again retracted and the nose lowered to 12.5° below horizontal for maximum visibility. Upon landing, the nose was quickly raised to the five-degree position to avoid the possibility of damage. On rare occasions, the aircraft could take off with the nose fully down.

A final possible position had the visor retracted into the nose but the nose in the standard horizontal position. This setup was used for cleaning the windscreen and for short subsonic flights.

The two prototype Concordes had two fixed "glass holes" on their retractable visors. The USA Federal Aviation Administration objected to that restrictive visibility and demanded a different design before it would permit Concorde to serve US airports, which led to the redesigned visor used on the production aircraft and the four "pre-production" aircraft (101, 102, 201, and 202).

Scheduled flights

Concorde G-BOAF. The final flight of Concorde landing at Filton Airfield, near Bristol, on 26 November 2003

Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio (via Dakar) routes. The U.S. Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen protest over sonic booms, preventing launch on the coveted transatlantic routes. However, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman, gave special permission for Concorde service to Washington Dulles International Airport, and British Airways and Air France simultaneously began service to Dulles on 24 May 1976.

When the US ban for over-water supersonic flight was lifted in February 1977, New York banned Concorde locally. The ban came to an end on 17 October 1977 when the Supreme Court of the United States declined to overturn a lower court's ruling rejecting the Port Authority's efforts to continue the ban (The noise report noted that Air Force One, at the time a Boeing 707, was louder than Concorde at subsonic speeds and during takeoff and landing.). Scheduled service from Paris and London to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport began on 22 November 1977. Flights operated by BA were generally coded "BA001" to "BA004."

While commercial jets take seven hours to fly from New York to Paris, the average supersonic flight time on the transatlantic routes was just under 3.5 hours. In transatlantic flight, Concorde travelled more than twice as fast as other aircraft - other aircraft frequently appeared to be flying backwards. Up to 2003, Air France and British Airways continued to operate the New York services daily. Concorde also flew to Barbados's Grantley Adams International Airport during the winter holiday season and, occasionally, to charter destinations such as Rovaniemi, Finland. In October 1992, Goodwood Travel chartered an Air France Concorde and circumnavigated the world in 31 hours and 1 minutes and this Concorde holds the world record.

For a brief period in 1977 and again from 1979 to 1981, British Airways and Singapore Airlines shared a Concorde for flights between Bahrain and Singapore Paya Lebar Airport. The aircraft, G-BOAD, was painted in Singapore Airlines livery on the port side and British Airways livery on the starboard. The service was discontinued after three months because of noise complaints from the Malaysian government; it could only be reinstated on a new route bypassing Malaysian airspace. An ongoing dispute with India prevented Concorde from reaching supersonic speeds in Indian airspace, so the route was eventually declared not viable. During the Mexican oil boom, Air France flew Concorde twice weekly to Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport via Washington, DC, from September 1978 to November 1982. The worldwide economic crisis during that period resulted in the cancellation of that route; the last flights were almost empty. From time to time, Concorde came back to the region on chartered flights to Mexico City and Acapulco.

Between 1984 and 1991, British Airways flew a thrice-weekly Concorde service between London and Miami. This was accomplished subsonically by extending the Dulles flight to Miami and returning the same way.

From 1978 to 1980, Braniff International Airways leased ten Concordes, five each from British Airways and Air France. These were used on subsonic flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington Dulles International Airport, flown by Braniff flight crews, Air France and British Airways crews then taking over for the continuing flights to London and Paris. The aircraft were registered in both the United States and their home countries: a sticker covered up the European registration while it was being operated by Braniff. The flights were not profitable and were usually less than 50% booked, which forced Braniff to end its tenure as the only U.S. Concorde operator in May 1980.

Passenger experience

BA Concorde interior before the crash in year 2000. It was changed slightly after.

Passenger experience on Concorde differed in many ways from that on subsonic commercial airliners. British Airways and Air France configured the passenger cabin as a single class with around 100 seats — four seats across with a central aisle. Headroom in the central aisle was barely six feet (1.8 m) and the leather seats were unusually narrow with legroom comparable to economy class on large airliners. With almost no room for overhead storage, carry-on luggage was severely restricted.

In the 1990s, features which were common in the first class and business class cabins of a long-haul Boeing 747 flight, such as video entertainment, rotating or reclining seats and walking areas were absent from Concorde. However, the flight time from London to New York of approximately 3.5 hrs compensated for the lack of those features. There was usually a plasma display at the front of the cabin showing the altitude, the air temperature and the current speed in both miles per hour and Mach number.

To make up for these missing "comfort" features, a high level of passenger service was maintained. Meals were served using specially designed compact Wedgwood crockery with short silver cutlery.

The experience of passing through the sound barrier was less dramatic than might be expected. The moment, accompanied by a slight surge in acceleration, was announced by one of the pilots.

At twice a conventional airliner's cruising altitude, the view from the windows clearly showed the curvature of the Earth, and turbulence was rare. During the supersonic cruise, although the outside air temperature was typically −60 °C, air compression would heat the external skin at the front of the aircraft to approximately +120 °C, making the windows warm to the touch and producing a noticeable temperature gradient along the length of the cabin.

The delta-shaped wings allowed Concorde to attain a higher angle of attack than conventional aircraft, as it allowed the formation of large low pressure vortices over the entire upper wing surface, maintaining lift. This low pressure caused Concorde to disappear into a bank of fog on humid days. These vortices formed only at low air speeds, meaning that during the initial climb and throughout the approach Concorde experienced light turbulence and buffeting.

Concorde flew fast enough that the weight of everyone onboard was temporarily reduced by about 1% when flying east. This was due to centrifugal effects since the airspeed added to the rotation speed of the Earth. Flying west, the weight increased by about 0.3%, because it canceled out the normal rotation and, with it, the normal centrifugal force and replaced it with a smaller rotation in the opposite direction. Concorde flew high enough that the weight of everyone onboard was reduced by an additional 0.6% due to the increased distance from the centre of the Earth.

Concorde's cruising speed exceeded the top speed of the solar terminator. Concorde was able to overtake or outrun the spin of the earth. On westbound flights it was possible to arrive at a local time earlier than the flight's departure time. On certain early evening transatlantic flights departing from Heathrow or Paris, it was possible to take off just after sunset and catch up with the sun, landing in daylight; from the cockpit, the sun could be seen rising from the horizon in the west. This was much publicised by British Airways, who used the slogan "Arrive before you leave."

Flight characteristics

In regular service, Concorde employed a relatively efficient cruise-climb flight profile. As aircraft lose weight from consuming fuel, they can fly at progressively higher altitudes. This is (generally) more efficient, so conventional airliners employ a stepped climb profile, where air traffic control will approve a change to a higher flight level as the flight progresses. During a landing approach Concorde was on the "back side" of the drag force curve, where raising the nose would increase the sink rate.

With very few other civil traffic operating at its cruising altitudes, dedicated oceanic airways or "tracks" were used by Concorde to cross the Atlantic. These SST, ("Super-Sonic Transport"), tracks were designated:

Track Sierra Mike (SM); A uni-directional track used by westbound flights of both British Airways and Air France.

Track Sierra November (SN); A uni-directional track used by eastbound flights of both Air France and British Airways.

Track Sierra Oscar (SO); A bi-directional track used by westbound Air France flights which might conflict with westbound British Airways flights routing simultaneously on Track SM, and by eastbound Air France flights which might conflict with eastbound British Airways flights routing simultaneously on Track SN.

Track Sierra Papa (SP); A uni-directional seasonal track used by westbound British Airways flights routing from London Heathrow to Barbados.

Due to the nature of high altitude winds, these SST tracks were fixed in terms of their co-ordinates, unlike the North Atlantic Tracks at lower altitudes whose co-ordinates alter daily according to forecast weather patterns. Concorde would also be cleared in a 15,000-foot block, allowing it to slowly climb from 45,000 to 60,000 feet during the Oceanic crossing as her fuel load gradually decreased.

BA flights flown by Concorde added "Concorde" in addition to the standard "Speedbird" callsign to notify Air Traffic Control of the aircraft's unique abilities and restrictions. The flight numbers of the BA Concorde flights were 001–004; BA Concordes therefore used callsigns "Speedbird Concorde 1" through to "Speedbird Concorde 4". With the retirement of Concorde those flight numbers are now unused. French Concordes used the standard "Air France" callsign.

Paris crash

Main article: Air France Flight 4590

On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSCdisaster, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the first and only fatal incident involving the type.

According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), it was caused by a titanium strip, part of a thrust reverser, that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off about four minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the left main wheel bogie. The tyre exploded, and a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank and broke an electrical cable. The impact caused a shockwave that fractured the fuel tank some distance from the point of impact. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning but were unable to retract the landing gear, hampering the aircraft's climb. With engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed, entering a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left. The impact occurred with the stricken aircraft tail-low, crashing into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse.

Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled (0). After the accident the death rate was 12.5 deaths per million flights, more than three times worse than the second worst aircraft. However no aircraft's safety can be accurately measured from a single incident and safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash. The crash of the Air France Concorde nonetheless proved to be the beginning of the end for the type.

The accident subsequently led to a programme of modifications, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially-developed burst-resistant tyres.

Return to service

The first test-flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3:20 hr flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2 and 60,000 feet before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London-New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations.

The first BA passenger flight took place on 11 September 2001, and was in the air during the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.

Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by then mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Withdrawal from service

Air France Concorde at Sinsheim

On 10 April 2003, British Airways and Air France simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following the 25 July 2000 crash, the slump in air travel following 9/11 and rising maintenance costs.

That same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways' Concordes at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. However, although the cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each, the money for buying the aircraft was loaned by the government - this loan was written off when British Airways was privatised in 1987.

After posting large losses on their Concorde flights in the early 1980s, British Airways paid a flat sum of £16.5 million in 1984 to the UK government to buy their Concordes outright. After doing a market survey and discovering that their target customers thought that Concorde was more expensive than it actually was, BA progressively raised prices to match these perceptions. It is reported that BA then ran Concorde at a profit, unlike their French counterparts. Although BA refused to open the accounts, it has been reported to be up to £50 million per year in the most profitable year and a total revenue of £1.75 billion on costs of £1 billion.

Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come." Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus' unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the ageing airframes.

It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, and that the airlines discovered during the grounding that Concorde's first class passengers were loyal to the airlines and carrying them on subsonic aircraft gave greater revenue and that this was the real reason for the withdrawal from service.

The small hope remaining for Concorde today rests with a dedicated group of French volunteer engineers keeping one of the youngest Concordes in near airworthy condition. These engineers, working on the Air France aircraft retired to the Le Bourget Air and Space Museum in Paris, hope that one day Concorde will be able to show her majesty again by taking to the skies. Concordes based in Britain, however, have had their fluids drained and their systems have been disconnected, making it even harder for it to regain airworthiness certification.

Air France

Air France made its final commercial Concorde landing in the United States in New York City from Paris on 30 May 2003. Firetrucks sprayed the traditional arcs of water above F-BTSD on the tarmac of John F. Kennedy airport. The final passenger flight for the airline's SSTs was a charter around the Bay of Biscay. During the following week, on 2 June and 3 June 2003, F-BTSD flew a final round-trip from Paris to New York and back for airline staff and long-time employees in the airline's Concorde operations. Air France's final Concorde flight took place on 27 June 2003 when F-BVFC retired to Toulouse.

An auction of Concorde parts and memorabilia for Air France was held at Christie's in Paris on 15 November 2003. Thirteen hundred people attended, with several lots exceeding their predicted values by an order of magnitude.

Two French Concordes at Le Bourget and Toulouse have been run occasionally, and it is possible that they could be prepared for future flights for special occasions. It appears that the French initiatives present a much better chance of seeing Concorde fly in the future.

British Airways

Parade flight at Queen's Golden Jubilee

BA's last Concorde departure from Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados was on 30 August 2003. BA conducted a mini North American farewell tour in October 2003. G-BOAG visited Toronto Pearson International Airport on 1 October 2003, G-BOAD visited Boston's Logan International Airport on 8 October 2003, and G-BOAG visited Washington Dulles International Airport on 14 October 2003. G-BOAD's flight to Boston set a record for the fastest transatlantic flight from east to west, making the trip from London Heathrow in 3 hours, 5 minutes, 34 seconds.

In a final week of farewell flights around the United Kingdom, a Concorde visited Birmingham on 20 October, Belfast on 21 October, Manchester on 22 October, Cardiff on 23 October, and Edinburgh on 24 October. Each day the aircraft made a return flight out and back into Heathrow to the cities concerned, often overflying those cities at low altitude. Over 650 competition winners and 350 special guests were carried.

On 22 October, Heathrow ATC arranged for the inbound flight BA9021C, a special from Edinburgh, and BA002 from New York to land simultaneously on the left and right runways respectively.

On the evening of 23 October 2003, the Queen consented to the illumination of Windsor Castle as Concorde's last west-bound commercial flight departed London and flew overhead. This is an honour normally reserved for major state events and visiting dignitaries.

British Airways retired its aircraft the next day, 24 October. G-BOAG left New York to a fanfare similar to her Air France predecessor's, while two more made round trips, G-BOAF over the Bay of Biscay, carrying VIP guests including many former Concorde pilots, and G-BOAE to Edinburgh. The three aircraft then circled over London, having received special permission to fly at low altitude, before landing in sequence at Heathrow. The two round-trip Concordes landed at 4:01 and 4:03 p.m. BST, followed at 4:05 by the one from New York. All three aircraft then spent 45 minutes taxiing around the airport before finally disembarking the last supersonic fare-paying passengers. The pilot of the New York to London flight was Mike Bannister.

File:Conc01.jpg

Mike Bannister (left) in the cockpit of BA002

All of BA's Concordes have been grounded, have lost their airworthiness certificates and have been drained of hydraulic fluid. Ex-chief Concorde pilot and manager of the fleet Jock Lowe, estimated in 2004 it would cost £10-15 million to make G-BOAF (at Filton) airworthy again.. The cost is now estimated at over £100M. BA maintains ownership of the Concordes, and has stated that they will not fly again, as Airbus will not support the aircraft.

On 1 December 2003, Bonhams held an auction of British Airways' Concorde artifacts at Kensington Olympia, in London. Items sold included a Machmeter, nose cone, pilot and passenger seats, cutlery, ashtrays and blankets used onboard. Proceeds of about £750,000 resulted, with the first half-million going to Get Kids Going!, a charity which gives disabled children and young people the opportunity to participate in sport.

BA announced in March 2007 that they would not be renewing their contract for the prime advertising spot at entrance to London's Heathrow Airport, where, since 1990, a 40% scale model of Concorde was located. The owners of the site, BAA wanted to charge £1.6 million per year to let it. It will now be occupied by an Emirates Airbus 380. The Concorde model, which bears the "registration" G-CONC, was removed and transported for display in Surrey, under the care of the local Brooklands Museum.

Aircraft histories

Main article: Concorde aircraft histories

Concorde G-BOAG at Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington, USA

In total, 20 Concordes were built, six for development and 14 for commercial service.

These were:

• Two prototypes
• Two pre-production aircraft
• 16 production aircraft
  • The first two of these did not enter commercial service
  • Of the 14 that flew commercially, 12 were still in service in April 2003

All but two of these aircraft, a remarkably high percentage for any commercial fleet, are preserved; the two that are not preserved are F-BVFD (cn 211), withdrawn in the 1980s and scrapped in 1994, and F-BTSC (cn 203), which crashed in Paris.

Concorde Aircraft

Number	Reg	First Flew	Last Flew	Hours	Location
001	F-WTSS	2 March 1969	19 October 1973	812	The Museum of Air and Space, Le Bourget, France
002	G-BSST	9 April 1969	4 March 1976	836	Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, UK
101	G-AXDN	17 December 1971	20 August 1977	632	Imperial War Museum, Duxford, UK
102	F-WTSA	10 January 1973	20 May 1976	656	Musee Delta, Orly Airport, Paris, France
201	F-WTSB	6 December 1973	19 April 1985	909	Airbus Factory, Toulouse, France
202	G-BBDG	13 December 1974	24 December 1981	1282	Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey, UK
203	F-BTSC	31 January 1975	25 July 2000	11989	Destroyed in air crash outside Paris, France
204	G-BOAC	27 February 1975	31 October 2003	22260	Manchester Airport Viewing Park, UK
205	F-BVFA	27 October 1976	12 June 2003	17824	Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, Virginia USA (outside Washington, DC)
206	G-BOAA	5 November 1975	12 August 2000	22768	Museum of Flight, East Lothian, Scotland
207	F-BVFB	6 March 1976	24 June 2003	14771	Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, Germany
208	G-BOAB	18 May 1976	15 August 2000	22296	Heathrow Airport, London, UK
209	F-BVFC	9 July 1976	27 June 2003	14332	Airbus Factory, Toulouse, France
210	G-BOAD	25 August 1976	10 November 2003	23397	Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, New York, USA; in December 2006 the aircraft was temporarily moved to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn for the duration of restoration and rehabilitation work on Intrepid and the pier at which Intrepid and Concorde were located, expected to last until 2008
211	F-BVFD	10 February 1977	27 May 1982	5814	Broken up
212	G-BOAE	17 March 1977	17 November 2003	23376	Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados
213	F-BTSD	26 June 1978	14 June 2003	12974	The Museum of Air and Space, Le Bourget, France
214	G-BOAG	21 April 1978	5 November 2003	16239	Museum of Flight, Seattle, USA
215	F-BVFF	26 December 1978	11 June 2000	12421	Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France
216	G-BOAF	20 April 1979	26 November 2003	18257	Filton Aerodrome, Bristol, UK

Cultural and political impact

Concorde remains a powerful symbol, both for its technology and sculptural shape. It is a symbol of great national pride to many in Britain and France; in France it was thought of as a French aircraft, in Britain as British.

Environmental impacts

The reaction of people to the prospect of severe overflying noise also represented a socially important change. Prior to Concorde's flight trials, the developments made by the civil aviation industry were largely accepted by developed democratic governments and their electors. The popular backlash (particularly on the eastern seaboard of the USA) against the noise of Concorde represented a political turning point and thereafter scientists and technologists in many industries began to take environmental and societal impacts more seriously, accepting that engineers, powerful investors and governments could not always allow their economic or career interests to prevail.

Carol Vendi, one of the key protesters of the "SST" (Super Sonic Transport - the US term given to the Concorde aircraft), ultimately gained political ground over the whole issue and was elected to the US Congress. Concorde led directly to a general noise reduction in aircraft flying out of JFK; it was found that Concorde was actually quieter than some aircraft (partly due to the pilots temporarily throttling back their engines to reduce noise during overflight of residential areas). This caused the other airlines to have to follow suit.

Concorde produced nitrogen oxides in its exhaust, which, despite complicated chemical interactions with other ozone-depleting chemicals, are understood to produce a net degradation to the ozone layer at the stratospheric altitudes it cruised. It has been pointed out that other, lower-flying, airliners actually produce ozone during their flights in the troposphere, but vertical transit of gases between the two is highly restricted. There have been accusations that the anti-SST lobby overstated the case for ozone degradation to suit their political ends. The tiny fleet size meant the absolute destruction was not significant.

From this perspective, Concorde's technical leap forward can be viewed as boosting the public's (and the media's) understanding of conflicts between technology and the environment. In France, the use of acoustic fencing alongside TGV tracks might not have been achieved without the 1970s furore over aircraft noise. In Britain, the CPRE have issued tranquility maps since 1990 and public agencies are starting to do likewise.

Concorde travelled, per passenger, 17 miles for each gallon of fuel (mpg) (or 20 l/100km). This efficiency is comparable to a Gulfstream G550 business jet (~16 mpg or 18 l/100km per passenger), but much lower than a Boeing 747-400 (~91 mpg or 3.1 l/100km per passenger)

Public perception

Concorde was normally perceived as a privilege of the rich, but special circular or one-way (with return by coach or ship) charter flights were arranged to bring a trip within the means of moderately well-off enthusiasts.

Her mystique was such that an overflight would frequently temporarily halt day-to-day business, and she was usually referred to by the British as simply "Concorde" and the French as "le Concorde" (rather than "un Concorde"), as if there were only one.

As a symbol of national pride, a plane from the BA fleet made occasional flypasts at selected Royal events, major airshows and other special occasions, sometimes in formation with the Red Arrows. On the final day of commercial service, public interest was so great that grandstands were erected at London's Heathrow Airport to afford a view of the final arrivals. Crowds filled the boundary road around the airport and there was extensive media coverage.

Thirty-seven years after her first test flight, Concorde was announced the winner of the Great British Design Quest, organised by the BBC and the Design Museum. A total of 212,000 votes were cast with Concorde beating design icons such as the Mini, mini skirt, Jaguar E-type, Tube map and the Supermarine Spitfire.

Comparison with other supersonic aircraft

The only other supersonic airliner in direct competition with Concorde was the Soviet TU-144. Although the TU-144 entered service earlier, it was retired in 1978. Although Lockheed, North American Aviation and Boeing prepared supersonic airliner studies, only the still-born project, the Boeing 2707, proceeded to the mock-up stage as the sole American entry into the supersonic sweepstakes.

As a result of a rushed development program, the TU-144 was cruder and less refined than Concorde, with cabin noise notably higher. The early version of the TU-144D had significantly lower range than Concorde, largely due to its underpowered engines. It required reheat to maintain Mach 2.0 and cruised at Mach 1.6. The vehicle had poor control at low speeds because of a simpler, dedicated supersonic wing design. In addition, the Tu-144 required parachutes to land while Concorde had sophisticated antilock brakes. It also had two crashes, one at the 1973 Paris Air Show, which made further sales impossible, and another during a cargo flight. Later versions had retractable canards for better low speed control, and military engines from Tu-160 that gave them nearly the range of Concorde. It had 126 seats. With a top speed of Mach 2.35 (made possible due to titanium and steel leading edges), while theoretically a more competitive aircraft, this version was not exportable due to the military engines.

The American design was to have been larger, seating 300. It was also intended to reach higher speeds of up to Mach 3.0, which made the construction more difficult, as high temperatures ruled out the use of duralumin. Running a few years behind Concorde, the extra costs of these features may have helped to kill the project. The discovery from flights of the XB-70 Valkyrie that sonic booms were quite capable of reaching the ground also meant that the aircraft was subject to the same environmental concerns that contributed to hindering commercial success of Concorde. The American government had spent over $1 billion on the project.

Possible replacements

In November 2003, EADS, parent company of the Airbus aircraft manufacturing company, announced that it was considering working with Japanese companies to develop a larger, faster replacement for Concorde. However, recent news reports suggest only $1m is being invested every year into research, much less than the $1bn needed for the development of a viable supersonic airliner.

In October 2005, JAXA, the Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency, undertook aerodynamic testing of a scale model of an airliner designed to carry 300 passengers at Mach 2. If pursued to commercial deployment, it would be expected to be in service around 2020 - 2025.

Research into supersonic business jets is ongoing. The British company Reaction Engines Limited, with 50% EU money, are researching LAPCAT, a design for a hydrogen-fuelled plane carrying 300 passengers, capable of flying nonstop from Brussels to Sydney at Mach 5+ in 4.6 hours.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 9
• Capacity: 92-120 passengers (128 in high-density Layout)

Performance

• Thrust/weight: .373
• Fuel consumption for max. range (max. fuel/max. range): 46.85 lb/mi (13.2 kg/km)
• Maximum nose tip temperature: 260 °F (127 °C)

Concorde in popular culture

During the multi-venue Live Aid, when famine relief concerts were held on 13 July 1985, pop star Phil Collins flew on Concorde from London so that he could perform at both the London and Philadelphia venues on the same day.

Notable appearances or mentions include:

• Heaven Can Wait (1978) film: The soul of quarterback Joe Pendleton (played by Warren Beatty) is to be transported to heaven on a waiting Concorde, with Mr. Jordon (James Mason) as his chaperon; Joe declines to board.
• Hart To Hart (1979-1984) television series: features Concorde landing in the opening title credits.
• The Concorde: Airport '79 film: Concorde starred in this poorly received and outlandish film sequel in the Airport series. The Concorde used for the live-action aerial filming was the Air France Concorde that crashed 21 years later on 25 July, 2000.
• The Concorde Affair (Concorde Affaire in orig.) Italy (1979) film: Director: Ruggero Deodato.
• Superman II (1980) film: Superman overtakes Concorde on his way to Paris.
• Doctor Who television series: Concorde features in the 1982 story "Time-Flight."
• The Transformers (1984-1987) television series: as the Aerialbot leader Silverbolt in the animated TV series. In the toy line, the Micromasters: "Supersonic" and "Skydive" also turn into Concordes.
• The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) film: Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith) arrives in New York on an Air France Concorde. The film's Second Unit Director, Eric Schwab, went to considerable effort to calculate the exact time and day when a runway at JFK would line up exactly with the setting sun, to serve as a spectacular backdrop.
• Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2004) television series: Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone made regular trips to New York on Concorde.
• Sabrina (1995) film: Linus Larrabee (Harrison Ford) takes an Air France Concorde from New York to Paris in order to meet Sabrina on time, since she had left New York earlier on a conventional Air France flight.
• The Parent Trap (1998 version) film: Hallie and her father take Concorde so that they can beat the twins' mother and Annie to London.
• Snatch (2000) film: Cousin Avi flew on Concorde from New York City to London to see Doug the Head, then back, after an unexpected turn of events, and again to London in the closing scene of the film.
• Cats & Dogs (2001) film: Concorde was used to transport secret agent dogs from the UK to the USA.
• Public reaction to the Air France Concorde crash was cited by Jeremy Clarkson during a 2004 TV appearance on Parkinson as a primary inspiration for his book I Know You Got Soul.
• SuperSonic Dream (2005) television documentary: a PBS NOVA documentary about Concorde.

References

• Beniada, Frederic. Concorde. St Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7603-2703-3.
• Calvert, Brian. Flying Concorde, The Full Story. London: Crowood Press, 2002. ISBN 1-84037-352-0.
• Endres, Günter. Concorde. St Paul, Minnestota: MBI Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1195-1.
• Kelly, Neil. The Concorde Story: 34 Years of Supersonic Air Travel. West Molesey, Surrey, UK: Merchant Book Company Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-90477-905-0.
• Knight, Geoffrey. Concorde: The Inside story. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976. ISBN 0-297-77114-0.
• McIntyre, Ian. Dogfight: The Transatlantic Battle over Airbus. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-275-94278-3.
• Orlebar, Christopher. The Concorde Story. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-85532-667-1.
• Winchester, Jim. The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-34-2.

External links

• "ConcordeSST.com" (Comprehensive fan site)
• "Farewell to Concorde" (BBC)
• Aircraft-Info.net - Concorde
• af001.com
• BA001 Trip Report & Concorde appreciation page
• British Airways Concorde page
• British Airways video clips from the final flights
• "Concorde Jet" site
• Concorde illustrated history web site
• Design Museum (UK) Concorde page
• Concorde on display at Manchester Airport - UK
• British Medical Journal
• CAA
• FAA Document

Related content

• G-BBDG
• Supersonic transport

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Boeing 2707
• Tupolev Tu-144

Related lists

• List of Concorde pilots
• List of airliners
• List of topics related to the United Kingdom