|
|
| 17 Jun 2015 03:37 AM
|
The Concorde was a supersonic airliner made by Airbus (the company that makes the A380) and British Aircraft Corporation in the late '60s.
It went into commercial service in early 1976, with an inaugural flight from Paris to New York on March 21st.
The Concorde had an amazing maximum speed of Mach 2.04, or 1,330mph or 2,150kph. The average cruising speed was around Mach 1.9, or around 1,250mph or 2,000kph.
The Concorde was retired after a mid-air collision near Toulouse in July 2000 which killed 113 people. It's still the only major airline crash since the end of the Second World War.
A total of 20 Concordes were built; one was destroyed in the accident, 14 are on permanent display in various locations, and five remain stored at Bristol Airport in England.
In 2004 the British government announced it would allow the Concorde to operate again for short flights within Europe. However this plan was scrapped due to rising fuel prices.
The Concorde was designed to travel at Mach 2, so the only airports able to handle it were those that already had long runways with a headwind component of at least 5 knots, as there was no reverse thrust. The longest runway is at JFK airport in New York, though it's now only used by the Boeing 747-8.
The Concorde had 127 passengers on board and cost $900,000 to charter a flight to New York, but only $2,300 for an economy ticket.
It could fly from Paris to New York in just under 3 hours, compared to around 10 hours by conventional airliners. The Concorde could do this because it had no need to fly in a great circle route - it could go straight from A to B at supersonic speeds.
On the return flight, the Concorde would use an upwind component of between 5 and 35 knots, giving it a longer braking distance than normal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report
Abuse
|
|