How sad that this graceful machine will no longer fly. What is equally sad is the BBC’s unbalanced reporting of this. Examples:
Concorde has been ravaged by safety problems
Concorde has been blighted by a rash of problems
A number of unrelated incidents including engine failure, cracked windows, a broken nose cone and part of a rudder dropping off have disrupted flights
This ‘rash of problems’ is surely quite typical of any currently flying aircraft. Hearsay I know, but my previous partner of 2 years is a Cathay Pacific flight attendant, and regularly reported such incidents happening. Engine failure is the most common - on one flight the 747 in question landed on one engine. On another, they had to turn back because the landing gear wouldn’t retract.
To my knowledge, the Concorde underwent more rigorous testing than any other commercial airliner, and the only fatal accident was the result of a collision with a rudder component that fell off a previously departing DC10.
I think that the reason they must be dropping it is because it’s just not cost-effective to run a supersonic airliner.
They used to do subsonic pleasure jaunts over Britain to make some more money. People would pay a fair bit of money, take off, fly about a bit and drink a glass of champagne, just so they could say they’d been on Concorde.
Are they going to replace the concord with any other supersonic planes? Since we are on the subject, are there any new jumbo pasengers jets that we’ll be seeing anytime soon? weren’t the 747’s from the 70’s?
I think the Concorde showed that there is not really a demand for super-sonic travel (or the cost is too high). Plans for new planes by Airbus and Boeing focus on increasing payload, fuel economy and range rather than going super-sonic.
The 747 first came into commercial service in 1970. There have been several updates since then and many airlines currently use the 747-400. It comes in two versions. One for long haul flights and another for shorter domestic routes. The 747 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft.
I read somewhere that the main problem with Concorde is do with:
the small capacity of passengers which may partly explain
the high prices of tickets; and
the high fuel costs associated with this type of propulsion
this plane also uses technology couple of decades old.
This same article said that Boeing and Nasa are developing a supersonic passenger carrier that would be much bigger and thus more commercially practical. This design wont feature the unique moving nose (which has to do with the supersonice design, but doesnt allow the pilots to see during takeoff and landing, thus the nose bends when not in flight. downside: this hydraulic stuff weighs a lot), but instead will have a fixed nose which obstructs cockpit vision. so they are testing a cockpit with side windows and a computer screen “front window” using IR technology allowing the pilots to “see” during landing/takeoff.