The Legacy of the Concord

The concord. Every aviation enthusiast knows about this plane. It was a supersonic airliner that does not exist anymore. This article will be about the legacy of the concord.

The concord was supersonic airliner. The concord reached speeds of mach 2 on it’s normal flights. A normal airliner travels at around 100 knots under the speed of sound, which means concord could halve the time it takes to travel from 1 location to the other. This aircraft flew higher than most commercial airliners do, so it was able to go this fast without any restrictions.

I will talk about the technical specs of the concord now. This plane was powered by 4 Rolls Royce Olympus engines. These engines had afterburners in them to help the concord travel at supersonic speeds. This aircraft had delta wings with a wingspan of 84 ft long and 25 ft wide.

The specialty of the concord and what made it iconic was the the pointy nose. It had the ability to raise or lower. This process was called droop snoot.

The concord had its nose landing gear quite far back from the nose. All the wheels had brake fans to help in cooling down the brakes. The engines were so powerful that at idle power, the pilots had to hold the brakes. It also did not have rear gear tilt.

The concord was a project that was a collaboration between the French government and British government. They were trying to beat the Americans when it came to advanced airliners.

The British and French government showed some prototype concords at the Paris airshow. At one point at the Paris airshow, airlines started ordering the concord. The government from both sides were happy, but the Boeing 747 was also getting interest. All airlines cancelled their concord orders and opted for the 747.

There were 2 airlines who were now stuck with the concord. If you have not guessed already, these 2 airlines were British Airways and Air France. As a part of the government project, both airlines had to use the concord.

The concord had needle dials and steam gauges. This is because this plane was built in 1976. The image below shows the concord’s flight deck

20 concord’s were built in the end and 14 ever entered service. This is when things went super downhill for concord. Air France Flight 4590. A terrible tragedy that killed all 100 passengers and 9 crew members. The plane had rolled over some debris while taking off and the debris popped one of the tires. The tire rubber got into the intake of the #1 and #2 engine. That caused them to blow up and the concord crashed near a hotel, killing 4 people and injuring 6 people.

Air France and British Airways then proceeded to retire the concord and the last concord flight flew on November 26, 2003.

This was the legacy and legend of the concord. I hate to end with such a sad ending. They had supersonic travel from 1976 to 2003, why don’t they have it now? This article is part of my tribute to the concord. This was a legendary plane and it will be missed forever.