The Concorde was famously loud: a take-off at Washington airport in 1977 measured 119.4 decibels. By comparison, a clap of thunder hits 120 decibels while the pain threshold for the human ear is around 110.
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People inside the plane didn't hear a thing. In fact, the transition to supersonic flight was so unimpressive that they decided to install a “mach meter” inside the passenger cabin so that people would know then they passed the speed of sound.
NOVA: What did a passenger feel on takeoff? Calvert: Even on the smoothest runway Concorde vibrated a lot on takeoff. If you sat in the way back of the cabin while the plane was taking off you could see that the entire 150-foot cabin was whipping up and down in the fishing-rod motion I described.
Below Mach 1.3, this would dissipate in the atmosphere, but Concorde could 'supercruise' at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound, causing a noise like a thunderclap to be heard on the ground.
The Concorde was famously loud: a take-off at Washington airport in 1977 measured 119.4 decibels. By comparison, a clap of thunder hits 120 decibels while the pain threshold for the human ear is around 110.
Concorde used the most powerful pure jet engines flying commercially. The Aircraft's four engines took advantage of what is known as 'reheat' technology, adding fuel to the final stage of the engine, which produced the extra power required for take-off and the transition to supersonic flight.
Fifty years ago, the federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land. The rule prohibits non-military aircraft from flying faster than sound so their resulting sonic booms won't startle the public below or concern them about potential property damage.
Concorde were allowed to fly over land, but subsonically only. The Concorde was terribly inefficient, relatively speaking, at subsonic velocity in general. At supersonic speeds, the shockwave could cause real damage on the ground. Concorde was capable of Mach 2.04, 1,354 mph and cruised at altitude at 1,340 mph.
Such speed didn't come cheap, though: A transatlantic flight required the high-maintenance aircraft to gulp jet fuel at the rate of one ton per seat, and the average round-trip price was $12,000.
Technical, financial, and regulatory hurdles make a return to the skies extremely unlikely. Concorde is an aircraft that captures the imagination and is instantly recognizable even to non-aviation fanatics.
Concorde is sadly no longer flying, but it is still possible to visit some of the remaining 18 airframes, there are others not open to the public but you can still see them.
Concorde's fastest transatlantic crossing was on 7 February 1996 when it completed the New York to London flight in 2 hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds. Concorde measured nearly 204ft in length and stretched between 6 and 10 inches in flight due to heating of the airframe.
Looping the loopI asked Jock Lowe if they ever did aerobatics when they were testing Concorde. He said they did execute barrel rolls, but never a loop-the-loop, although the aeroplane was more than capable of doing it. Doubtless it would have spilled some champagne.
Bathroom: The smallest room on Concorde was also a squeeze. Su Marshall, who flew on the airplane, said she was advised by a regular passenger to go before takeoff as the size made it impossible to pee once in the air.
On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on the ground killed. This was the only fatal incident involving Concorde; commercial service was suspended until November 2001.