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The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST) was one of only two supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service. Concorde details and links.
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Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde
This supersonic transport (SST) was one of only two supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service. Concorde had a cruising speed of Mach 2.04 and a cruise altitude of 56,000 feet (17,000 metres) with a delta wing configuration and an evolution of the afterburner-equipped engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber.
It is the first civil airliner to be equipped with an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system. Commercial flights, operated by British Airways and Air France, began on January 21, 1976 and ended on October 24, 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on November 26 that year.
Passenger Experience
Compared to other commercial airliners, Concorde provided an unusual passenger experience. Both British Airways and Air France configured the passenger cabin as a single class with around 100 seats - four seats across with a central aisle. Despite being a nominally exclusive luxury class, most passengers were surprised to find how cramped the cabin was. Headroom in the central isle was barely six foot (1.8 m), and the leather seats were unusually narrow with legroom comparable to coach class on other planes. Flights operated by BA were coded 'Speedbird 1' through 'Speedbird 4'.
In the 1990s many features which were common in the first class and business class cabins of a long haul Boeing 747 flight such as video entertainment, rotating or reclining seats, perambulatory areas, were completely absent from Concorde. The only video entertainment was a plasma display at the front of the cabin showing either the altitude, the air temperature or current speed in mach number. With no room for overhead storage, even carry on luggage was severely restricted. Meals were served using specially designed compact Wedgwood crockery with short silver cutlery. The ratio of cabin crew and lavatories per passenger was also considerably lower than typical for a first class cabin. These privations were offset by the much shorter flight time.
Air France ConcordeThe unique experience of passing through the sound barrier was less dramatic than would be expected given the turbulent history of supersonic flight. The moment would be announced by one of the pilots, otherwise the slight surge in acceleration could easily be missed.
At twice the normal cruising altitude, turbulence was rare and the view from the windows clearly showed the curvature of the Earth. During the supersonic cruise, although the outside air temperature was typically -60°C, air friction would heat the external skin at the front of the plane to around +120°C making the windows warm to the touch and producing a noticeable temperature gradient along the length of the cabin.
Most remarkably Concorde was the only plane able to overtake the terminator. On certain early evening transatlantic flights departing from Heathrow or Paris, it was possible to take off at night and catch up with the sun from the cockpit you could see the sun rise in the west.
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Concorde SST