Two decades ago, the end of the operational life of the Concorde, a plane produced by BAC/Aerospatiale responsible for revolutionizing transatlantic travel, was declared. The Concorde was able to show the world that it was beyond other jets for almost 3 decades. However, the only fatal accident with the model and the September 11 attacks forever ended the fate of the supersonic plane that was certified to fly until mid-2009.
A Brief History of the Concorde
With the capacity to transport up to 100 engers, the Concorde was born from an industrial agreement between the governments of England and , which sought to create a supersonic aircraft for the exclusive transport of engers at a supersonic speed Mach 2 (about 2.200 km/h).
With its first flight in October 1, 1969, the Concorde began a demonstration tour just two years later, and its direct competitor was the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, an aircraft that faced financial problems in its development, being discontinued.
A Air and British Airways were the two main operators of the model with seven units each. Concorde began commercial operations on January 21, 1976, when the Air launched the flight connecting Paris to Rio de Janeiro, a route that included a technical stopover in Dakar, Senegal. While British Airways, in turn, connected the city of London to Bahrain.
Concorde could also fly at a maximum altitude of up to 60.000 feet (18 km), high enough to avoid turbulence, giving engers the opportunity to observe the curvature of the earth. Given its operational robustness, the aircraft was able to fly faster than the Earth's own rotation, making it possible to take off from London after sunset and land in New York during the day.
Concorde's speed was so impressive that on December 19, 1985, the supersonic achieved an unprecedented feat: Concorde took off from Boston at the same moment that an Air Boeing 747 took off from Paris. The Concorde landed in Paris, performed ground services for about an hour, then headed back to Boston, and still landed. 11 minutes before the Boeing 747.
the beginning of the end
Without ing fatal accidents for 25 years, the Concorde saw its destiny collapse on July 25, 2000. When one of the engines of the F-BTSC that operated the flight 4590 of Air ingested a part left on the runway at Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris, by a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off moments before, causing a fire in one of the engines and consequently bringing down the aircraft. All occupants (one hundred engers and nine crew) and four people on the ground died.
Following the tragic accident, both British Airways and Air kept their respective Concorde fleets grounded. With its reputation and reliability in check, the aircraft received modifications for the return of regular enger operations, taking place in November 2001, but before that, the Concorde suffered another severe blow: the terrorist attack in September 11th, 2001 in the United States, which sharply slowed down the entire global aviation sector.
With the drop in demand for international flights, keeping up-to-date maintenance of an aircraft with almost 30 years of service has become a very expensive and unfeasible task. To make matters worse, the Airbus ended its maintenance , forcing both Air as for British Airways to seal the end of operations with one of the most iconic aircraft in the history of aviation even before planned, as British Airways held certification to operate the Concorde until 2009.
The Goodbye
The first farewell to the Concorde took place on May 30, 2003 by Air , when 5 months later, it was British Airways' turn to end the 27-year legacy with the Concorde on October 24, 2003.
During British Airways' last farewell flight at London-Heathrow, the airport set up a grandstand so that the public could watch the special moment up close. In addition to formation flights, the aircraft received a special baptism with blue, red and white water, to symbolize the British, French and North American flags. The special moment was widely followed by local and international media.
Some curiosities and historical facts
Nose that curved when landing:
To improve the visibility of the runway for the pilot at the time of landing, the Concorde did something that no jet aircraft had done before: the aircraft could raise or lower the angle of its nose.
“Other Operators”:
In addition to Air and British Airways, Concorde operated exchange flights for a short period with Braniff and Singapore Airlines. With emphasis on the operations of the extinct Braniff. The North American operated the London - Washington Dulles – Dallas Fort Worth flight in partnership with British Airways, with the international leg operated exclusively by the British Airways crew, while the Braniff crew took over the domestic leg between Washington and Dallas.
This operation was so complex that to operate domestic flights within the United States, the Concorde took off with foreign registration from London and “landed” in the United States with a North American registration. This is because the American aviation authority at the time, the CAA (equivalent to FAA) did not allow a non-American aircraft to operate with a United States airworthiness certificate, including the need for operation within the USA to be subsonic.
Low in Rio de Janeiro:
During the Aviator's Day celebrations on October 23, 1977, an Air Concorde made one of its most iconic low es in its history at Jacarepaguá airport, in Rio de Janeiro. The Air aircraft made two es, performing a low- (low ) with the landing gear deployed, with a second high over the aerodrome.
The air event also featured special lows of a boeing 707 cargo from Varig, a 727-100 from Transbrasil, also including the presence of Embraer AT-26 Xavante fighters from FAB, you can check all the low es in the video below:
Of the 20 examples built, only two were destroyed:
Of the 20 Concorde units produced, 18 can be found on permanent display, one of which is at the French Airbus Factory in Toulouse. Another twelve units are spread across aerospace museums in the US, UK and , as well as four other airports, including London-Heatrow and Paris – Charles de Gaulle.
To date, only two units have met the sad end and were destroyed, both from Air . These are the F-BTSC due to the sad accident in Paris on July 25, 2000 and the F-BVFD, a retired plane with just 5.814 flight hours after 5 years of operations, between 1977 and 1982.
The F-BVFD was cannibalized for years for the transfer of parts, when in 1994 the aircraft had its nose removed after being auctioned for around 400 francs.
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