Concorde aircraft

During the flight the aircraft Concorde accelerated to speed 2150 km / h, while the fuselage was heated to 127 degrees Celsius, the speed limit was due to thermal heating it. fuselage could lengthen by about 24 cm, due to the thermal expansion of the structure.

In the forward fuselage fairing is in the form of a cone, which could deviate downward, providing an overview of the pilots during takeoff, landing and taxiing. In fairing built movable additional glazing, cover basic glazing cockpit mode supersonic flight.

Fuel system Concord is difficult, and in addition to its primary function is also used to rebalance the plane when passing the sound barrier. The fuel system includes 17 fuel tanks with total capacity of 119,280 liters. Upon reaching the transonic speed pumps fuel system moved about 20 tons of fuel from the tanks in front of balancing balancing tail tank. This allowed us to shift the center of gravity of the aircraft at 2 meters back, it was necessary for supersonic flight.

To improve the reliability airliner Concorde is equipped with three independent hydraulic systems, two main and one backup, which differ in color - green, blue and yellow.

Concord was the first aircraft, which applied by-wire control system, controls produce signals were transmitted to the executive hydraulic elements. In this case, there was still an autonomous mechanical control system by means of ropes and rods equipped with hydraulic actuators.

By 1972, the various airlines around the world have placed orders for 74 Concord, but a number of factors prevented this. In particular, the oil crisis of 1973 led to a rise in the cost of fuel. The emergence of a Boeing 747 made air travel more budget and increased the role of the ticket price, not the speed of the carriage. For this reason, most airlines have withdrawn their application, and it was sold only 5 aircraft of British Airways and 4 Air France, the remaining four aircraft from the 14 series have been proposed by him for the price of 1 pound.

Concorde aircraft did not follow at a certain height, as conventional airliners. Since altitude Concorde was no air traffic used a better flight mode - constant climb as relief aircraft due to running out of fuel. Flight and this mode is fully automatic.

Avionics Concorde allows you to automatically perform a transatlantic flight and landing in almost all weather conditions.

Total operating time Concord showed high reliability, the only accident entailed catastrophe July 25, 2000 in Paris, was caused by the raids Concorde during takeoff on a metal part, taken away from other aircraft. The result has been damaged wheel that with pieces, damaged fuel tank and chassis control wires. After takeoff, there was a fire, which broke the engine and the aircraft crashed to the ground, killing 100 passengers and 9 crew members and 4 people on the ground.

The British company Reaction Engines Limited is engaged in the program by name LAPCAT, which plans to build the aircraft on hydrogen fuel for 300 passengers called the A2, able to overcome the distance from Brussels to Sydney at the speed of 5000 km / h in 4, 5 hours. This can be considered a continuation of the era of supersonic aircraft Concorde and even project-2.