Concorde send off

[cessna_driver2]

Don't know if this has been posted. But thought you all would like to see these.

http://lorendjones.com/concorde/

 

[Flying Illini]

cool pics...it was an awesome airplane. Even though it was the safest airplane in history it still couldn't keep the accountants happy...

 

[contactapp]

Safest plane in history? What are you baseing your opinion on? Are you saying that the Concorde has the lowest accident rate per flight hour?

 

[MarineGrunt]

Safest plane in history? What are you baseing your opinion on? Are you saying that the Concorde has the lowest accident rate per flight hour?

I think you may be taking him out of context. I think he meant even IF it was...

 

[Ailerongirl]

Thanks for posting those pics!

I remember as a kid listening to my Grandpapa tell stories of helping design some component of the Concorde....*laugh* I knew how to say the word 'Concorde' before I even knew what one was!

 

[cessna_driver2]

I'll remember I got to see one last christmas out at JFK in New York.

Funny, I always thought it would be bigger!

 

[sky37d]

A question about the Concorde, and Citation X

I remember reading someplace that with the grounding of the Concorde, that the Citation X is the fastest civilian aircraft. I remember reading someplace that the X can cruise at 570 MPH, not kts, but I am puzzled.

I always thought (don't ask why) that the 707, and similar aircraft, cruised at 600 MPH, which would make it faster.

What is typical cruise speed for a 777, or 767, or 747, does anyone know

 

[EagleRJ]

Dunno about MPH- the most relevent way to compare cruising speeds is Mach number. That will give you a consistant measurement corrected for temperature, etc. If I'm correct, the Citation X cruises at around M 0.92. The impressive thing is not that it can do so, but that it can do so economically.

The fastest US civillian aircraft ever was the Convair 880. It would cruise at 0.96, but that was back when Jet-A was 15 cents a gallon and the airlines didn't care about fuel economy. Most airliners today can cruise at around 0.85, but ususally keep it at around 0.82 for fuel economy.

The Concorde may have been able to cruise at M 2.0, but it did so using brute force, not efficient design. It burned 60,000 pounds per hour just while taxiing, and consumed twice the amount of fuel crossing the Atlantic that a 747 did, while carrying a quarter as many people. It was fast, but it couldn't turn a profit.

I still hope Boeing builds the Sonic Cruiser. Carry 250 people at M 0.98, and do it efficiently! That will be the best of both worlds, and if anyone can pull it off, Boeing can.