1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works in I heart radio and I love 5 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: all things tech and guys. I travel a decent amount, 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: but I do not hold any special frequent flyer status 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: with any airline. I have had the amazingly good fortune 8 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: to sit up in business class a dozen times or so, 9 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: even on international flights, which is amazing. But I've never 10 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: ever flown on one of the most prestigious aircraft to 11 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: have graced the skies. I never had the chance to 12 00:00:53,600 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: do it on the Concorde. The Concorde took its first 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: flight way back in nineteen sixty nine. It was a 14 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: test flight. It would be several more years before it 15 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: would go into passenger service. It would even be a 16 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: few years before we make its first transatlantic flight. But 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: if we take the date of its first flight as 18 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: the Concord's birthday, which I would argue is a pretty 19 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: arbitrary thing, but go with me. The famous aircraft celebrated 20 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: turning fifty on March second, two thousand nineteen. Because March 21 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: second nineteen sixty nine is when it first took flight, 22 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: But then the aircraft has also been out of service 23 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,119 Speaker 1: for more than a decade. So in this episode, we're 24 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: going to learn about the Concorde aircraft, what made it special, 25 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: how it worked, and why they aren't zipping all over 26 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: the place today. Now you all know I am physically 27 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: incapable of doing an episode without a history lesson being involved, 28 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: and this episode is no different. So to understand the 29 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: story around the Concorde, we actually have to go back 30 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: two decades before the Concorde ever took to the skies, 31 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: to a very special day. That day would be October nineteen. 32 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: That's when Captain Charles E. Chuck Yeager took controls of 33 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: an experimental aircraft, the Bell X one, a B twenty 34 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 1: nine bomber carried the X one up to twenty thousand 35 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: feet of altitude before releasing the jet from the bombay doors, 36 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: and that is when Yeager made history. Now, Yeager he 37 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: wasn't in tip top shape because he had been in 38 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: a horseback riding accident and he neglected to tell anyone 39 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: about it because he didn't want to get taken off 40 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: the test flight. He probably suffered a tiny bit of 41 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: discomfort during this flight because two of his ribs were broken. 42 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: So imagine not only being the first pilot to try 43 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: and control a rocket powered aircraft capable of going at 44 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: unprecedented speeds, but also doing so with your torso screaming 45 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: at you in pain. The X one's engine was a 46 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: Reaction Motors x l R eleven rocket engine. Before long, 47 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: Yeager was passing mock zero point eight five that represented 48 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: the fastest speeds that engineers could simulate in wind tunnels. 49 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: At that time. It was the literal truth that no 50 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: one was really sure what might happen next. Mock speed, 51 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: by the way, refers to the ratio of the speed 52 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: of a body like a jet, to the speed of 53 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: sound in the undisturbed medium through which the body is traveling. 54 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: So if a body a jet is going at the 55 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: same speed that sound travels through that medium, this being 56 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: the air, you would say it was traveling at mock one, 57 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: it's traveling at the same speed as the speed of 58 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: sound through that medium. Any number greater than one indicates 59 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: that the body the jet is traveling faster than sound 60 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: through that particular medium. So Yeager pushed the X one 61 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: past Mock one, reaching Mock one point zero six at 62 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: forty three thousand feet of altitude. As his top speed 63 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: and interesting stuff was starting to happen, shock waves formed 64 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,799 Speaker 1: over the top surface of his wings and just ahead 65 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: of the nose of the jet. The shock wave is 66 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: an important component of this story because it relates to 67 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: sonic booms, something the Concorde would have to deal with 68 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: decades later, and it means we have to talk a 69 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: bit more about sound. So sound propagates through the air 70 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: as changes in air pressure, fluctuations in air pressure rapid fluctuations. 71 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: As the Mock one description tells us, sound travels at 72 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: a fixed speed depending upon the medium it's traveling through. 73 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 1: So sound travels at different speeds through different types of media. 74 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: Sound traveling through water will move at a different rate 75 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,799 Speaker 1: than sound traveling through air, but within a single medium 76 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: under similar conditions, it will always travel at a fixed speed. Now, 77 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: this means a body moving through a medium can actually 78 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: catch up to the sound waves it is producing as 79 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 1: it moves. So let's say you are running down the 80 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: road at an incredible speed and you're singing a song 81 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: at the top of your lungs, and let's say for 82 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: the purposes of this example, the song is bird House 83 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: in your Soul, by they might be giants. The faster 84 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: you run, the more you catch up to the sound 85 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: waves of your singing. And if you run fast enough, 86 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: like at around seven hundred seventy miles per hour at 87 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: sea level under normal atmospheric conditions, you are moving at 88 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: the same speed as those sound waves. They're just building 89 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: up right in front of you, and you're keeping speed 90 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: with them. A person ahead of you wouldn't hear you 91 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: singing until you were right next to them, and then 92 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: the sound waves would hit them. Even if they saw 93 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: you running toward them from really far away, they wouldn't 94 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: hear you till you were right there. The sound can't 95 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: travel faster than seven seventy miles per hour. So there 96 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: you are, You're Berry Allen, and you're singing your heart 97 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: out while you're running as fast as you can. But 98 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: then you realize, oh, I think I could actually run 99 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: a little faster. Heck with it, I'm I'm gonna really 100 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: turn up the speed, So you pour it on, you 101 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:43,239 Speaker 1: crank it up beyond mock one. Now you're actually out 102 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,239 Speaker 1: running the sound waves that you are making the song 103 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: you're singing is literally trailing behind you, and as you 104 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: break through those sound waves, you're actually breaking the sound 105 00:06:55,560 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: barrier itself. You're breaking through a pressure wall of air pressure. 106 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: And since sound through the air is all about air pressure, 107 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: a really interesting thing happens. There's a pressure collapse, Air 108 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: rushes in to fill a sudden low pressure, and there 109 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: is a sonic boom. It's essentially the sound of an 110 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: explosion allowed cracking noise. So you're running and you're singing, 111 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: you are the flash. People standing on the road up 112 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: ahead of you can see you there, see that you're 113 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: zooming towards them at an incredible speed, but they don't 114 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: hear you, and they don't even hear you when you're 115 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: right next to them. If you could take a snapshot 116 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: of the instant you run right next to these people, 117 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: they wouldn't have heard anything yet. It's only after you 118 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: have passed, when the sound waves you've emitted catch up 119 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: and that pressure disturbance wave hits the bystanders that they 120 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: experience the boom. And at that distance it is probably 121 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: a really bad thing to experience. It would probably mess 122 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: up your internal organs. To be honest, it's not that 123 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: pleasant when a supersonic aircraft passes thousands of feet overhead, 124 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: If it's low enough, it could possibly even cause a 125 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: disturbance strong enough to break windows. And that's another important 126 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: thing to remember. The sonic boom actually travels with the object, 127 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: it doesn't just happen when the object breaks the sound barrier. 128 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: Those disturbance waves trail behind the aircraft, creating a sonic 129 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: boom that follows along with the jet. So if a 130 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: supersonic aircraft travels directly over a populated area and maintains 131 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: that high speed, people in one town will hear the 132 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: boom shortly after the aircraft passes overhead. People three towns 133 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: over will hear a boom as the aircraft passes them, 134 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: So it's a traveling boom. More importantly, for this story, 135 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: Yeager made it back to the ground safely and was 136 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: no worse coming out of the experience than he was 137 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: going into it, though I imagine it did aggravate his 138 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: broken ribs. And Yeager's flight opened up interesting possibilities. Traveling 139 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,319 Speaker 1: at such high speeds could allow for much shorter flights 140 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,679 Speaker 1: across great distances. I'll explain why that was important in 141 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: just a second, but first, let's take a quick break. 142 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: So traveling at high speeds allows for shorter flights across 143 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: great distances. The only problem was companies would have to 144 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: figure out how to design and build a passenger aircraft 145 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: capable of supersonic flight to take advantage of it. Numerous 146 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: airlines and aviation companies began to consider the possibilities, and 147 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: some of them started to spit ball some design ideas. 148 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: It would take a while because this was super early days. 149 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: Most of the early supersonic jets were really just men 150 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: as research vehicles. A few were military vehicles, and none 151 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: of them could travel at those high speeds for very long, 152 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: nor could they really you the typical types of maneuvers 153 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: that a passenger jet would have to do routinely. So 154 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: what was needed was a commercial supersonic transport aircraft, or 155 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: an S s T as they were known. On November 156 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: twenty nine, nineteen sixty two, the governments of Britain and 157 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: France came together to propose a joint effort to develop 158 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: such a passenger aircraft. It was a Concord Agreement, which 159 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: is where the name for the aircraft came from. The 160 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: treaty the two governments signed meant that both countries would 161 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: share the costs and the risks of such an endeavor, 162 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: and they weren't the only countries interested in developing an 163 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: s s T. Both the then Soviet Union and the 164 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: United States were exploring the possibility as well. Boeing even 165 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: received a contract in the United States to build a prototype, 166 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: but that program ended in nineteen seventy one after a 167 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,599 Speaker 1: federal analysis concluded that the program would be too expensive 168 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: with two uncertain to payoff to justify funding it, so 169 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: that was put on the shelf. The Soviets actually saw 170 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: their program through to completion. They built an s ST 171 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: called the Tupa Love or the TU one four. It 172 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: got the nickname the Concorde SKI, somewhat uh narrow minded 173 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: nickname for a supersonic passenger jet, but I find it 174 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: particularly amusing because the TU one four had its first 175 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: flight a couple of months before the Concorde would in 176 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, and they even had their first supersonic 177 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: flight before the Concorde did. However, the Concorde would beat 178 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: the t U one when it came to entering into 179 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: commercial service to actually carrying passengers, and the Soviets would 180 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: end up shutting their passenger program down after less than 181 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 1: a year of being in service. But more on that later. 182 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: Let's get back to Concorde. The French and British governments 183 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:07,239 Speaker 1: contracted various companies to develop the components for the aircraft. 184 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: One of the two companies responsible for developing the body 185 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: of the aircraft was the British Aircraft Corporation or b 186 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: a C. That was a pretty complicated story in itself. 187 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: That company was the result of the merger of several 188 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: other British aviation companies, and it could merit its own podcast. 189 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: B a C itself would later end up merging with 190 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: other aviation companies, and these days we know it as 191 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: British Aerospace. The other company responsible for developing the aircraft 192 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: body was France's Aerospecial, which I'm sure I'm butchering. There's 193 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: going to be a lot of butchering of French names 194 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: in this episode. I make apologies for it, but I 195 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: am an ignorant American type anyway. Aerospace cl was a 196 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: state owned aerospace manufacturer, and it also has a any 197 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: complicated history. The state owned companies are a very different 198 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: thing from the types of companies we tend to think about. 199 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: In the United States, Aerospacel would have its own complicated 200 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: corporate journey, and most of what was Aerospacel is now 201 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: part of the company. Airbus engine design fell to France's 202 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: I really apologize for this Society Nacionale dettude at the 203 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: construction de Motirosa or SNECKMA s n e c M A. 204 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: SNECKMA is way more fun for me to say. And 205 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: it also fell to a British company, Rolls Royce. Yep, 206 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,599 Speaker 1: Rolls Royce wasn't just a super duper fancy car manufacturer. 207 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: They make jet engines too, if you weren't familiar with that. Now, 208 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: I'll talk about the physical design of the aircraft first. 209 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: I'll get to the engines later. Remember when I said 210 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,199 Speaker 1: an object moving about as fast as sound owned uh 211 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: would be catching up to the sound waves that it's 212 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: actually producing. And that the object moves faster than sound, 213 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: it's breaking through the sound barrier. And that sound moving 214 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: through the air is really all about fluctuations and air pressure. 215 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: That means you have to design an aircraft that can 216 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 1: punch through a wall of air pressure to break through 217 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: that barrier. For that reason, the Concord's physical design featured 218 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: a body shaped sort of like a needle. A Concorde 219 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: jets fuselage measured nine and a half feet wide or 220 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: two point seven meters. A seven forty seven, by comparison, 221 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: would have measured a twenty feet or six point one 222 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: meters wide, But the Concord's length of two d two 223 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: feet or sixty one point seven ms was nearly as 224 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: long as a seven forty seven, so it's much more 225 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: narrow but almost as long as this other aircraft. The 226 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: Concorde could hold a total of one passengers, with two 227 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: seats on either side of a sin troll aisle, so 228 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: you have rows of four, two and two and twenty 229 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: five of them. You would never have a middle seat, 230 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: which is pretty awesome. You would only ever have a 231 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: window seat or an aisle seat. The typical flight crew 232 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: on a Concorde flight included a pilot, a co pilot, 233 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: a flight engineer, and six cabin crew members, so a 234 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: full Concord jet with a typical crew would have on 235 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: six people on board. Some flights actually had more crew 236 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: members on it than the typical six, so that wasn't 237 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: always the case. Also, the experience aboard of Concorde was 238 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 1: pretty darn posh. We're talking caviar and champagne. I'm guessing 239 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: that's where Robin Leach had all those dreams. And if 240 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: you don't know who I'm talking about, you need to 241 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: go over to YouTube and search for lifestyles of the 242 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: rich and famous. Anyway, back to the physical design of 243 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: this aircraft, the nose of the Concorde was really interesting. 244 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: It was actually move a bullet, wasn't fixed or bolted 245 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: into place in the way that you would think of 246 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: a normal aircraft. There was a reason for this. It 247 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: was to give pilots more visibility on the ground. Whenever 248 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: they were regg getting raid for takeoff or when they 249 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: were approaching for landing, the nose could actually be tilted 250 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: down thirteen degrees and that would provide the pilot's more visibility. Otherwise, 251 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: the nose was up so high that they couldn't really 252 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: see what was kind of in front of them on 253 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: the ground. Once the air pilots could engage the controls 254 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: and the nose would tilt up to its in flight position. 255 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: In addition, the Concorde had a delta wing design. The 256 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: wing swept back into a triangular shape and joined to 257 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: the fuselage of the aircraft all down the length of 258 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: the wing, as opposed to say, the wings of a 259 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: jet like the seven seven, which has rectangular wings that 260 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: stretch out from the sides of the fuselage. It doesn't 261 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: go all the way back the body of the plane. 262 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: It's called a delta wing because the shape resembles the 263 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: Greek upper case letter delta, which is a triangle. The 264 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: design allows for a really strong wing that can stand 265 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: up to the rigors of high speed, subsonic and supersonic flight. 266 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: It's a design used in lots of military jets, and 267 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle program in the United States used a 268 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,199 Speaker 1: delta wing design as a basis for their orbiter. The 269 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: design reduces drag at supersonic speeds while still allowing for 270 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: sufficient lift for takeoff and landing at subsonic speeds, and 271 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: it also provides stability. It eliminates the necessity for horizontal 272 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: stabilizers on the aircraft's tail. That design also meant the 273 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: Concorde had a steeper angle of attack for takeoffs and landings, 274 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 1: so I imagined flying on one of these was a 275 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: bit of a thrilling experience. If you've ever had to 276 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: fly in or out of an airport that had specific 277 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: ordinances that required a steeper than normal flight path. You 278 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: might have a hint of what it was like to 279 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: be on a concord. Now, I'm going to talk about 280 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,199 Speaker 1: the engines in just a second, but I figured it 281 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: would be a good time to give you an idea 282 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,640 Speaker 1: of what takeoff was like on a concorde. The jet 283 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: would accelerate from zero to two hundred twenty five miles 284 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: per hour or three hundred sixty two kilometers per hour 285 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,679 Speaker 1: in just three seconds, so that acceleration would push you 286 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: back into your seat all by itself, never mind the 287 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: fact that you would soon be climbing at a steeper 288 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: than normal angle. Another thing engineers had to take into 289 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: consideration was the wear and tear that air pressure, friction, 290 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:32,440 Speaker 1: and heat would have on the concorde. Traveling at supersonic 291 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: speeds meant that the aircraft body would heat up considerably 292 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: as high pressure air moved against the plane's surface. Measurements 293 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: showed that the concord's surface temperature during supersonic flight would 294 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: range from one seven degrees celsius or two hundred sixty 295 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: one fahrenheit at the nose of the plane down to 296 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: ninety one degrees celsius or one six degrees fahrenheit at 297 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: the tail. All that heat was bound to have an 298 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: effect on the lane. In fact, the air frame of 299 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 1: the Concorde would expand seven inches or seventeen point eight 300 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: centimeters during flight, so you can imagine that repeated flights 301 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 1: could cause some serious structural problems if the plane is 302 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: effectively changing shape by the magnitude of seven inches. For 303 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: that reason, engineers used a special aluminum or aluminium if 304 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 1: you prefer alloy, and that was known to be heat 305 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,280 Speaker 1: tolerant as well as lightweight, so it made a good 306 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: material for the airframe. Another way engineers chose to deal 307 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: with that heat was to coat the Concorde in highly 308 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: reflective white paint. It was paint designed to be about 309 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: twice as reflective as what you would find on other 310 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,200 Speaker 1: jets at the time. So what about the engines. Well, 311 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:53,440 Speaker 1: the Rolls Royce SNECMA Olympus five nine three turbojet engines 312 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: could each create eighteen point seven tons of thrust or 313 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,719 Speaker 1: one eight kilo Newton's and each Concorde had four of 314 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: those engines. Collectively, they burned six thousand, seven hundred seventy 315 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: one gallons or twenty five thousand, six hundred twenty nine 316 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: liters of jet fuel per hour, and there were seventeen 317 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: of them on each concord. Those seventeen tanks could collectively 318 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: hold thirty one thousand, five hundred sixty nine gallons or 319 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: one hundred nineteen thousand, five hundred liters of kerosene jet fuel, 320 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,880 Speaker 1: and some of that fuel wasn't used to make the 321 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: jet go. It was actually used to help balance the 322 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: plane itself. The Concorde had three auxiliary fuel tanks called 323 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,959 Speaker 1: trim fuel tanks. There were two in the front and 324 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: one in the tail, and their purpose was to help 325 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:53,120 Speaker 1: with flight stability and orientation. When the Concorde would reach 326 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: supersonic speeds, its aerodynamic center would shift backward. That caused 327 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,199 Speaker 1: the plane's nose to lower and point downward. To counter 328 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: that tendency, the Concorde could pump fuel backward into the 329 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: trim tank near the tail. The redistribution of fuel would 330 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: make the Concord's center of gravity match its center of lift, 331 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: and the plane would level out. As the plane left 332 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: supersonic speeds, the system would pump fuel into the forward 333 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: fuel trim tanks to essentially do the same process, but 334 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: in reverse because the jets nose would start to point upwards, 335 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: so they needed to counteract that action. These engines attached 336 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: directly to the underside of the concord's wings, rather than 337 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: using engine struts as is more typical in jet plane designs. 338 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: So why deviate from the standard, Well, engineers concluded that 339 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: engine struts wouldn't be able to stand up to the 340 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 1: stresses of supersonic travel, so the jets need to be 341 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,679 Speaker 1: directly integrated into the wing design, and it was collectively 342 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,640 Speaker 1: decided that a supersonic jet having an engine fly off 343 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: due to turbulence would be what is called a bad 344 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:06,400 Speaker 1: thing in aviation. The jet engines used a technology commonly 345 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: found on military superscient jets after burners, So to understand 346 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: how those work, it helps first to have a refresher 347 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: on how jet engines work in general. So think of 348 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,400 Speaker 1: a jet engine as a machine that takes incoming cold air, 349 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: heats it up tremendously, and jects it as outgoing hot 350 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,320 Speaker 1: air at a high velocity, and this creates forward thrust. 351 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: Because every action has an equal but opposite reaction, So 352 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: inside a jet engine are the following components you have 353 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine. And if 354 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,199 Speaker 1: you were to have like a cross section of a 355 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,640 Speaker 1: jet engine and you're looking at it from front to back, 356 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: that's the order you would see them in compressor, combustion chamber, turbine. 357 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: Now I'm going to talk about the compressor and the 358 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: turbine parts first, because the compressor's operation depends upon the turbine. 359 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,719 Speaker 1: So the compressor is essentially a series of bladed fans. So, 360 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: for the purposes of an analogy, imagine you have ten 361 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: fans that you've taken out of box fans, you know, 362 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: the kind of fans that you would put in a 363 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: in a window. So you've taken ten of those, and 364 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: you've taken the fan blades out of all ten, and 365 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: you've mounted them all on the same pole. But the 366 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: fans that are in the odd numbered positions, so one, three, five, seven, 367 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: and nine, those can freely rotate around the pole. But 368 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: the even numbered fans have been bolted in place. The 369 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: poll is going to remain stationary. The fans that are 370 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: bolted to it will remain stationary. The rotating ones can 371 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: freely move, and somehow magically, you've created a method to 372 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: make them rotate in the direction you need them to 373 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: go in. I don't care how you do it. Maybe 374 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: you've got a Wand so the rotating fans are rotors 375 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: and the fixed fans are statters. Now, imagine you've en 376 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: cased this entire thing in a tube, and as air 377 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: moves into the tube, you have these turning fans, and 378 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: it pulls the air in and compresses the air as well. 379 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: As the air continues to move past, both the rotors 380 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: and the statters and the rotating fans add more pressure 381 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 1: to the air. And as the air pressure goes up, 382 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: so does the air temperature. Now that's what's going on 383 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 1: in a jet engine, but in a jet engine, it's 384 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: happening on steroids and the turbine on the other end 385 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 1: of this system is what is providing the rotational force 386 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: to move the compressor rotors. So in between those two 387 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,919 Speaker 1: components is the combustion chamber, and that's where jet fuel 388 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: gets injected and then burned. It's ignited, and that heats 389 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: the air that's passing through the jet engine. The air 390 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,920 Speaker 1: is coming from the compressor through the combustion chamber, it's 391 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: combining with jet fuel. It's getting ignited. That heats the 392 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,640 Speaker 1: air up into super hot gases that then pass through 393 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: the backside of the combustion chamber. The heat causes air 394 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: to expand, and by shaping the end of the jet 395 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: engine so that air can only really escape from a 396 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,160 Speaker 1: relatively narrow exhaust port, you end up getting a lot 397 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: of thrust. You've increased the speed at which the gas 398 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: is going to come out the back of the jet, 399 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: and that increases the thrust on the jet, or a 400 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: forward thrust movement. The hot air has to leave and 401 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: you've only provided the one exit, so it moves to 402 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: that high speed and you get that forward thrust on 403 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: the way out. The hot air actually turns that turbine, 404 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,120 Speaker 1: so the hot air is passing through the turbine that's 405 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,920 Speaker 1: creating the rotational force, and it transmits the rotational force 406 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: to the compressor blades, the rotors specifically. So what does 407 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: an afterburner do because that's just a regular jet engine. Well, 408 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,679 Speaker 1: there's a hint in the name. After Burners are components 409 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: used in some jets to provide additional thrust, and the 410 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: way they do that is to heat up that exhaust 411 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: gas to even higher temperatures in order to increase the 412 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 1: velocity of the gas as its exhaust staying out the 413 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,360 Speaker 1: back of the jet engine, so that provides more forward thrust. 414 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: You've just increased the velocity of the escaping gas. So 415 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,640 Speaker 1: why not just do that in a normal jet engine? 416 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,199 Speaker 1: Why not just soup up the combustion chamber so that 417 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: it heats up the air even more. Well. The parts 418 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: of a jet engine can only withstand so much heat, 419 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: and by parts, i'm mainly talking about that turbine that's 420 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: used to provide the rotational force to the compressor rotors. 421 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: If you heat it up too much, then it's going 422 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: to destroy that turbine and you're going to have a 423 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: complete engine failure. So, and after burner comes after the 424 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,399 Speaker 1: turbine of the jet engine, you get this hot gas. 425 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: It's just passed through the turbine, imparting some rotational force 426 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 1: to it, and that exhausted gas, which still has some 427 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: air that wasn't all consumed in combustion, combines with a 428 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: little more jet fuel and goes into another after burner 429 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: combustion chamber, and that's further back in the overall engine. 430 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: That increases the temperature of the exiting gases significantly, which 431 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:05,440 Speaker 1: increases the velocity of the escaping exhaust and boosts the thrust. 432 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: Inside the afterburner chamber, you would find some sort of 433 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: lining that would actually help protect the jet engine casing 434 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: from all that heat. The lining would be extremely heat resistant. 435 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,240 Speaker 1: Typically there beholes in it as well to help deal 436 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: with some of the noise coming from this combustion chamber. 437 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: Otherwise that noise would become uh this very strong vibrational 438 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: energy that could cause structural damage to the actual jet, 439 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: because that's how much how much energy we're talking about here, 440 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: It's it's a huge amount. And then you would have 441 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,760 Speaker 1: the end of the chamber, which would be a converging 442 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: and then diverging nozzle. So the chamber converges in tilts inward. 443 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: It creates that narrow path for the gases to flow through, 444 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: and then the nozzle diverges or widens out to allow 445 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:57,199 Speaker 1: them to disperse into the atmosphere. And ideally the size 446 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 1: the the width of that divergence is such that the 447 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: pressure of the exhaust coming out equals the air pressure 448 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: that the aircraft is moving through, and you have a 449 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: very efficient system. Otherwise you have some other factors you 450 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: have to take into consideration, but it gets way too complicated, 451 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: so we're not going to go into that for this discussion. 452 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: So how about some performance stats. We talked about what's 453 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: going on inside the engine, but what does that actually 454 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: translate to. Well, the Concord's top cruising speed was one thousand, 455 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: three hundred fifty four miles per hour, which is two thousand, 456 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: one seventy nine kilometers per hour. It's also known as 457 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: mock two point zero four. They'll keep in mind the 458 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: speed of sound depends upon lots of stuff. Sound actually 459 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: travels slower at high altitudes than it does at sea 460 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: level under typical atmospheric conditions, but again we won't go 461 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: into that. The Concorde also cruised along at a much 462 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: higher altitude than other jets did, typically at around sixty 463 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: thousand feet or eighteen thousand, three hundred. Contrast that to 464 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: the good old Boeing seven forty seven, which was a 465 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: standard aircraft in United States service for a really long time. 466 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 1: It would cruise at a speed of around five hundred 467 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: sixty miles per hour or nine hundred one kilometers per hour, 468 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: and it would do so in an altitude of around 469 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: thirty five thousand feet or ten thousand, six hundred seventy five, 470 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: so the Concorde would travel in an altitude nearly twice 471 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: as high as A seven seven and more than twice 472 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: as fast, almost three times as fast s seven forty seven. 473 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: While the first prototype Concord to take flight did so 474 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: in March nineteen and the first one to go supersonic 475 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: did so in the fall of that year, there was 476 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: still a lot more testing to do before people could 477 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: buy a ticket and travel on one of these. The 478 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:47,560 Speaker 1: first transatlantic test flight between London and New York happened 479 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: on September ninety three, and the first passenger service would 480 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: follow three years later on January one, nineteen seventy six, 481 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: and initially you could fly between London and ball Rain, 482 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: or Paris and Rio de Janeiro. A bit later service 483 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: extended from both London and Paris to Washington, d C. 484 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: And New York City, and a lot miller was to follow. 485 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: But let's take a quick break, so you could travel 486 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: from London or Paris to DC or New York City. 487 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: And then there were a few other routes that would 488 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: be added seasonally, but they were all limited because the 489 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: noise the plane created as it flew overhead meant that 490 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: the airlines had to be really selective of their routes 491 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: to avoid causing too much of a disturbance overpopulated areas. 492 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: They tried to limit their flights over the water, not 493 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: over the land, so there are only so many places 494 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: you could go, and no one on land one of 495 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: their days to be punctuated by constant sonic booms. So 496 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: the concords blistering speed did help for those transatlantic flights. 497 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: It meant you could hop on the concorde and at 498 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: a flight from London to New York and you could 499 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: get there in about three and a half hours if 500 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: you factor in another half hour for all the taxiing 501 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: and other procedures. It meant that you would be landing 502 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,719 Speaker 1: in New York about an hour before you left London. 503 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 1: Because London is in the time zone we designate as 504 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: being Coordinated Universal Time or u t C what we 505 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: used to call Greenwich meantime, New York is at UTC 506 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 1: minus five, meaning it's five hours behind London on standard time. 507 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: So if you take off from London at noon and 508 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: you land in New York three and a half hours later, 509 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: and then you have all the taxing and stuff. You'd 510 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: be stepping off the plane with a local time in 511 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: New York being eleven am, so from the perspective of 512 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: your watch, you've actually landed an hour before you took off. 513 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: Of course, back in London it would be four pm, 514 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: but that's not nearly as much fun when you want 515 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: to walk around and pretend that you're a time traveler. Now, 516 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: obviously that only works if you're traveling west. If you're 517 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: going east, you have to add time zones to your 518 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: travel time. But still the flight time itself would be 519 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,720 Speaker 1: back significantly. And perhaps the most important thing is that 520 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: as a passenger, you're not stuck on a concorde as 521 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: long as you would be on another passenger jet. You 522 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: get to spend more time at home or at your 523 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: destination and less time traveling, and that's a pretty cool experience. 524 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: It was also an expensive experience. If we had just 525 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: for inflation, a round trip ticket between London and New 526 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: York City would set you back about twenty thousand dollars. 527 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: But the Concord's reputation is tied to more than impressive 528 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: speed performance. It's also tied to tragedy engineering problems, political 529 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: and social hurdles, and economic factors that collectively brought the 530 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,920 Speaker 1: program to an end. In the early two thousand's. The 531 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: Concorde aircraft had a reputation for being mechanically difficult. Usually 532 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: the mechanical failures were non critical, but there was one 533 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: terrible instance where that was not the case. On July twenty, 534 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: two thousand, a flight leaving Paris for New York crashed 535 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: just after it took off. All aboard the plane died 536 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: in that crash, as did a few people on the ground. 537 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 1: An investigation concluded that there had been a loose strip 538 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,959 Speaker 1: of metal on the runway, and that when the Concorde 539 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: passed over the metal, it tore into one of the 540 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: jets tires. The tire blew out, and pieces of the 541 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: tire got pulled into either the engine or the fuel tank, 542 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: or both, and caused a fire on the port side engine. 543 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: The aircraft then crashed into a hotel. The accident prompted 544 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: both the UK and France to ground their Concord planes. Now, 545 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 1: despite the high price for a ticket, the venture was 546 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: losing money. Fuel and maintenance costs for the aircraft were 547 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: sky high. Pun intended the oil crisis of the early 548 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: seventies hurt the Concorde before it even entered into passenger service, 549 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,240 Speaker 1: with several airlines canceling orders for the aircraft and so 550 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: operating the Concord fleets was largely a money losing proposition. Ultimately, 551 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: it became pretty clear that the service was too risky 552 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: and not economically viable. On top of that, there was 553 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 1: the environmental impact created by burning so much jet fuel 554 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: on every flight. However, I should point out typically the 555 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: Concorde would burn less fuel than other jets because the 556 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 1: flight time was so much shorter on a Concorde, so yes, 557 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: it burned more fuel per hour, but its spent fewer 558 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,520 Speaker 1: hours in the air. There was also concern that at 559 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: the high altitude that that exhaust could end up having 560 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: a negative impact on the ozone layer. So there were 561 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:34,360 Speaker 1: a lot of environmental concerns related to the Concord. In addition, 562 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,920 Speaker 1: because the aircraft couldn't fly over land without causing a ruckus, 563 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: Asia was off limits. The jets didn't have the fuel 564 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 1: capacity to travel west from Europe and get all around 565 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: the world to get to Asia, and business travel was 566 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: shifting more towards Asia as time was going on, which 567 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 1: wasn't a factor when they were first planning the Concorde. 568 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: The Concorde seemed like it was too high a cost 569 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,279 Speaker 1: to cut down on travel time by a few hours 570 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: across the atlant The convenience did not justify the expense, 571 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,719 Speaker 1: and it was just not making money, and that high 572 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: cost had been a problem from the very beginning. Just 573 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: developing the Concorde went way over budget. According to Ross Aimer, 574 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: the CEO of Arrow Consulting Experts quote, cost overruns were tremendous, 575 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,800 Speaker 1: going from seventy million pounds to one point three billion 576 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,880 Speaker 1: pounds end quote. Both Air France and British Airways would 577 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 1: cease Concord flights in two thousand three. Out of the 578 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 1: twenty Concord jets ever built, only fourteen ever served as 579 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: passenger aircraft, seven in the UK, seven in France. After 580 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: being grounded, some of the planes were disassembled, while others 581 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,200 Speaker 1: were put into museums. But what about the other supersonic 582 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: transport aircraft that I mentioned earlier, the Tupolev or the 583 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: Concord Ski. Well, it took flight a couple of months 584 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: before the Concord's first test flight, and it achieved supersonic flight, 585 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 1: first being the Concord by four months in the summer 586 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty nine, but the actual passenger service in 587 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,680 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union didn't start until after Concorde entered service. 588 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: So what happened In nineteen seventy three a t U 589 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: crashed during the Paris Air Show, possibly probably due to 590 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: pilot error. While going through some complicated air maneuvers, the 591 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,239 Speaker 1: aircraft broke apart and fourteen people died, six on the 592 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,800 Speaker 1: plane and eight on the ground. The highly publicized accident 593 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: put the passenger program on ice in the USSR and 594 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: delayed its roll out until November one, nineteen. It was 595 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: reportedly a much noisier experience. Like the Concorde, the t 596 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: U one four could only achieve supersonic flight through after burners, 597 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 1: but they apparently used military after burners and they was 598 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 1: produced a lot of noise along with all that thrust. 599 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: So the TUO design, as I understand it, didn't mitigate 600 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: that noise very well, and so passengers would endure a loud, vibraty, 601 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: shaky flight and that didn't sound very pleasant. The only 602 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:03,360 Speaker 1: serve US they had was between Moscow and Kazakhstan, and 603 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: flights were rarely full. The service completed fifty five passenger 604 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,920 Speaker 1: flights before being canceled. It was already destined to be 605 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: mothballed when another fatal accident happened. On May twenty three, 606 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:19,279 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, a t U one caught on fire 607 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 1: near Moscow and made an emergency landing. The two fatalities 608 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,319 Speaker 1: were flight engineers. The unreliability of the aircraft and the 609 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: absence of economic incentives to continue running passenger flights meant 610 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: the t U one forty four would transition into running 611 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:36,000 Speaker 1: mail carrying jobs and serving as a test bed for 612 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 1: aerospace operations. Only seventeen t U one forty four were 613 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,439 Speaker 1: ever built, including the prototypes, and from what I've seen, 614 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,359 Speaker 1: the last flight of a t U one forty four 615 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: happened in nineteen Several companies and organizations are working to 616 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:55,359 Speaker 1: build a new generation of super fast planes. We're not 617 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: talking supersonic necessarily, we might be talking hypersonic. These would 618 00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: be aircraft capable of traveling at insane speeds like mock 619 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,400 Speaker 1: five or faster. NASA tested such an aircraft back on 620 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: November six, two thousand four, a year after Concorde had 621 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:16,160 Speaker 1: shut down. The aircraft had the designation X forty three A, 622 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: and the X tells you it's an experimental aircraft. It's 623 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,120 Speaker 1: set a world speed record for a jet powered aircraft 624 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: at mock nine point six. That's nearly seven thousand miles 625 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,920 Speaker 1: per hour or eleven thousand, two hundred sixty five kilometers 626 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,400 Speaker 1: per hour. Now that wasn't an ss T. The X 627 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:38,479 Speaker 1: four three A was an unmanned test vehicle. It's meant 628 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 1: as a proof of concept, but it is just one 629 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: example of how NASA continues to research hypersonic vehicles. Companies 630 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: like Boeing have shown off concepts of hypersonic passenger planes. 631 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,439 Speaker 1: At the a I a A Aviation Forum in two 632 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,759 Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, Boeing unveiled a concept of a passenger jet 633 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,360 Speaker 1: that would, in theory, hit speeds of mock five. Instead 634 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,080 Speaker 1: of a conventional jet engine, the hypersonic aircraft would use 635 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 1: a ramjet once it hit high speeds. That's because the 636 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: speed it would travel out would cause a turbine to 637 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: spend so fast it would break apart. Ram jets use 638 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 1: the forward motion of the aircraft itself to compress the 639 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,680 Speaker 1: air into an afterburner chamber, so the hypersonic jet would 640 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:24,320 Speaker 1: likely have turbojet engines for the slower speeds, the subsonic 641 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: and maybe supersonic speeds. Then a valve would allow air 642 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,920 Speaker 1: to bypass the turbo fans and go straight to the ramjets. However, 643 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,320 Speaker 1: I wouldn't get too excited because most estimations put the 644 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,280 Speaker 1: launch date of such a service at twenty to thirty 645 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: years in the future, So if you need to get 646 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,400 Speaker 1: to wherever you're going faster than that, you could probably 647 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: just walk there. In addition to figuring out how to 648 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,720 Speaker 1: fly really fast, engineers are working on how to reduce 649 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: the profile of aircraft so that they can in turn 650 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: reduce the sonic boom effect, making the aircraft more practical 651 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 1: over a larger numb of flight paths and not just 652 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: over the ocean. Back at NASA, engineers have been experimenting 653 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,479 Speaker 1: with jet body designs and have proposed an aircraft called 654 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 1: the X fifty nine QUEST. The s T is not 655 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: an ST in quest. It is an uppercase SST for 656 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:21,800 Speaker 1: supersonic transport, which is cute. Lockeed Martin is building that jet. 657 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:25,400 Speaker 1: If it works as the engineers intended, this test vehicle 658 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,799 Speaker 1: should be able to travel at supersonic speeds, not hypersonic, 659 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:33,800 Speaker 1: but supersonic speeds without creating as explosive a sonic boom. 660 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:37,040 Speaker 1: The goal is to make a more modest boom. In fact, 661 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: the agency calls it low boom. No boom isn't really 662 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 1: an option because you know physics. And besides NASA, there 663 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: are other companies like Virgin Galactic, which is partnering with 664 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:54,040 Speaker 1: of course Boom Technology to build a quiet supersonic jet, 665 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 1: and Spike Aerospace. Yet another company is also in the 666 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 1: race for quiet super fast flight. The company closest might 667 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: be Arian Corporation. With support from Airbus, it is producing 668 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:11,120 Speaker 1: a supersonic business jet called the A S two and 669 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,680 Speaker 1: that should have a top speed of around mock one 670 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: point five, so not as fast as the Concorde, but 671 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:21,200 Speaker 1: still pretty darn fast. However, it's also a low capacity jet. 672 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: It has room for twelve passengers per plane, so I'm 673 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 1: guessing that's gonna be a pretty tough ticket to score. 674 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 1: The question remains whether or not these types of jets 675 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:37,800 Speaker 1: will be commercially viable with the cost of operating them. 676 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: Is it ever going to mean that the operational costs 677 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,160 Speaker 1: will be low enough so that companies running supersonic flights 678 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: can make a profit without setting stratospheric and that's also 679 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:50,960 Speaker 1: upon ticket prices. Or are you going to need to 680 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,400 Speaker 1: take out a second mortgage if you ever want to 681 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:55,600 Speaker 1: get a plane ticket on one of these things. My 682 00:41:55,680 --> 00:42:00,799 Speaker 1: guess is that supersonic and definitely hypersonic travel will be 683 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,359 Speaker 1: luxury options. There will be an option that really only 684 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:06,799 Speaker 1: a select few will be able to take advantage of 685 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:12,120 Speaker 1: the truly wealthy, uh and connected, unless somehow the economies 686 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 1: of scale takeover and make things cheaper. I doubt you're 687 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:19,640 Speaker 1: going to find your standard options whenever you log into 688 00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:25,560 Speaker 1: your airline to include supersonic flights at budget prices. But 689 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: I could be wrong. I hope I am. It would 690 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: be awesome if that were the case. It would be 691 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: great to get to places faster, but I suspect that, 692 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: at least in the near future, that's not going to 693 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:38,360 Speaker 1: be the case. But that wraps up this discussion of 694 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,040 Speaker 1: the Concorde. Happy birthday, Concorde, Welcome to the Big five. 695 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,279 Speaker 1: Oh um, I guess you're not up too much because 696 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:49,840 Speaker 1: you retired back in two thousand three. Retirement sounds nice. 697 00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:51,799 Speaker 1: Send me a postcard, let me know how that's going 698 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,840 Speaker 1: for you. If you guys have suggestions for future episodes 699 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, why not send me a message. You 700 00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: can email me. The address for the show is tech 701 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:03,759 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop me 702 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:05,879 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook or Twitter. The handle it both 703 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,360 Speaker 1: of those is tech Stuff hs W. You can pop 704 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:12,080 Speaker 1: on over to our website that's text Stuff podcast dot com. 705 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,480 Speaker 1: That's where you're going to find links to our social media, 706 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 1: to our older episodes. You'll find a link to our 707 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,480 Speaker 1: store that's over at t public dot com slash tech stuff. 708 00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,520 Speaker 1: Every purchase you make over there ends up helping the show, 709 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:27,120 Speaker 1: and we greatly appreciate it, and I will talk to 710 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:36,720 Speaker 1: you again really soon for more on this and thousands 711 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:48,840 Speaker 1: of other topics. Because it how stuff works dot com