Thread: Will Concorde Ever Fly Again?

Originally Posted by disco man

The part about the American spy plane pilots is quite funny.

The Blackbird must have been on approach to land.

Why is that mate? just curious.

The Blackbird flies much much higher than Concorde and much, much faster.

I have family that worked on Concorde development.

A beautiful, noisy aircraft...

SR71 BLACKBIRD

Service Ceiling:
85,000'+

Maximum Speed:
Mach 3.3+ (Limit CIT of 427 degrees C)

Cruising Speed:
Mach 3.2

Engines:
2 Pratt & Whittney J-58 (JT11D-20A) with 34,000 lbs. of thrust.

Range:
3,200 nautical miles (without refueling)

VS CONCORD

Mach 2.04 (~2,179 km/h or 1,354 mph)
altitude of 60,000 feet
4,800 gallons per hour

I don't know why no plane manufacturer is interested in the Supersonic flight. I guess that with today's technology it could be easily achieved and can offer such flight for cheap compared to the ticket price on the Concorde.

Spending less time between two airports means more passengers commuted.

The problem of sonic boom is basically unsolved, and the resulting restrictions on operation mean that the routes where it could be used are too limited. This is likely to mean operators, and hence manufacturers will have very limited interest.

You can carry more passengers per plane simply by making the plane bigger - this needs only incremental technology, and is the route to financial success being pursued by most airlines and the major manufacturers.

John