THE CONCORDE
INTRODUCTION
In 2003, one of the greatest aircraft ever built made its final landing. After 27 years of service, the well-known Concorde aircraft was shut down. Air France first stopped the use of the supersonic passenger aircraft followed by British Airways shortly thereafter. For some, the Concorde is a great aircraft. Whereas, for some, it is a noisy aircraft that will pollute the environment. the question is how can this great aircraft fail and not innovate at the same time?
SPECIFICATION
Technically, it is undeniable that the Concorde is an aircraft that brings a new revolution to the aviation world. The aircraft built through the program between the UK and France has led its day in its ways. The first aircraft that have computer-controlled engine air intake was The Concorde, making its acceleration very different in the aviation world at that time. It also allows it to slow the flow of air into the engine up to a thousand mph and as little as 4.5 meters of size, preventing its engine from exploding. It also has a carbon fibre brake and fly-by-wire control system, a computer-controlled semi-automatic system. It was incredible because it uses in the 1960s, it was a miracle of engineering. this system became famous because of Airbus.
Among the unique features of the Concorde are the wings as well as the long, plunging nose. This innovation enables the Concorde to have an aerodynamic shape to obtain minimum air resistance for faster and easier control. At the same time, it also gives pilots a good vision during take-off and landing. With all these features, the Concorde can reduce long-haul flight time by half. The passengers were able to cross the Atlantic in greater volume at twice the speed of sound which is 2.04 Mach.
HISTORY
The Concorde created in 1962 by the idea of Geoffroy de Courcel of France and Julian Amery of UK signed a treaty of Anglo-French supersonic aircraft. Seven years later, the first international flight of the Concorde took place on October 1, 1969. Its first commercial flight began when The Concorde Air France flew from Paris to Rio de Janeiro on January 21, 1976, meanwhile, British Airways Concorde flew from London to Bahrain. It is continued to serve rich passengers and fanatics of the aircraft between 1976 and 2000 until an accident took place in Paris that cost 113 lives. After 71 million Pound Sterling was spent on improving the security of the supersonic aircraft, the Concorde returned to service on November 2001. After just two years of the relaunch, the owner announced that the Concorde will be terminated.
WHY IT FAIL
One of the reasons why Concorde fails and does not innovate is that although Concorde is a great creation, Concorde may be introduced at the wrong time. The Concorde’s creation was perfected before the sharp rise in oil prices in the 1970s. The speed of this aircraft requires a lot of fuel consumption. This makes commercial use of the Concorde less profitable in an era where oil prices are rising. Due to the heavy use of oil, its oil capacity can carry passengers only to a limited distance. In addition, the Concorde can only carry 100 passengers but requires the same fuel as the Boeing 747. The Boeing 747 can fly twice further and carry four times passengers than Concorde. In addition, Concorde produces too much noise and releases more gas which causes environmental pollution.
In addition, operating expense limited its service. For example, the rising maintenance costs and the cost to increase its safety after the tragic accident that uses a lot of money. Financial losses led both airlines to cut routes, eventually leaving New York City as their only regular destination. Airbus Company had decided to stop the supply for replacement parts for the Concorde in 2003. In the 1970s, the Concorde was an advanced technology advanced, however, after 30 years, some of the technology was outdated. Also, the Concorde was an aircraft that lack of competing with the other aircraft of the same era such as the Boeing 747. Also, it was the last aircraft in the British Airways that need a flight engineer; unlike the modernized aircrafts, its role has been eliminated.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, its inefficiency was the reason for its failure, furthermore, the consumers’ confidence was shaken after the tragic accident in Paris that makes it worse. Even it was a fantastic feat of technology, design and built for a less modern era, it does not change that it meets the end. However, will it ever to innovate or will it remain as a history of technology?
