Why was Concorde nose tilted?

Its “droop nose,” designed so pilots could lower the front cone for better visibility during takeoff and landing, was disabled when the plane was decommissioned and drained of hydraulic fuel. Conservators and volunteers, however, are now working to reactivate the feature.



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During take-off and Landing the nose fairing and the visor, which it houses, are lowered (or drooped) to improve the pilots' field of vision. In flight, the nose and visor are raised to present clean aerodynamic lines; the visor also protects the windshield from extreme frictional heating.

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The jet only had to fly at 50% capacity to break even. The plane was grounded after an accident shortly after takeoff in July of 2000 that killed all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The official investigation blamed a titanium strip that fell from a Continental plane minutes earlier.

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flying on the Concorde was not a comfortable experience. this ultra fast supersonic jet. was once revered as the future of business travel, but its interior felt more like flying in a shoebox.

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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.

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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.

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Supercharged: Concorde was the first -- and still only -- passenger aircraft that had turbojet engines with afterburners. Raw fuel was introduced into the exhaust of the plane's four engines, immediately increasing the engines' thrust by almost 20%.

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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.

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Antilock breaks, now standard on cars and aircraft, were first developed to prevent Concorde from skidding as it landed at high speeds. In addition to two tires near the nose of the plane and four under each wing, the plane has bumper gear beneath its tail in case it tips to the ground during takeoff or landing.

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The court ruled that the crash resulted from a piece of metal from a Continental jet that was left on the runway; the object punctured a tyre on the Concorde and then ruptured a fuel tank.

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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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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.

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The Concorde carried out supersonic flights until 2003, when it was retired. Also, because the plane flew faster than the speed of sound, it created a sonic boom, an explosive noise caused by shock waves that were a nuisance to people on the ground.

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The aircraft quickly proved itself unquestionably as it reached speeds of up to 1,354 mph. To put that into context, that is around 800 mph faster than a Boeing 747 and over 350 mph faster than the earth spins on its axis!

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In real life, Diana took several trips aboard the Concorde, both with Prince Charles and solo.

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BA never suffered a serious accident with its seven strong fleet. Concorde service was profitable by the late 1980s and if not for the economic downturn and Air France Concorde crash of 2000, may have survived to this day.

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Over the Irish sea and rapidly running out of fuel the Tornado had a hard time catching up with the mighty Concorde. Over more than a hundred miles or so, 5–10 minutes the Concord could outrun every fighter.

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Only 20 Concordes were ever built. The standard return fare from London to New York was £6,636 in 2003. Concorde guzzled a staggering 25,629 litres of fuel per hour. Over one million bottles of champagne have been consumed on Concorde passenger flights.

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