The Concorde would have been 50 Today

[scianoir 610]

Perhaps I am biased, but, rightly or wrongly, I regard Concorde as the zenith of airliner development and, although I can understand the reasons behind its withdrawal, I still can’t help feeling that the airline industry took a step backwards on the sad day of its final commercial flight. I guess I am looking at it through ‘rose-tinted glasses’ but even so it is one of the few iconic airliners withdrawn from service without a replacement in sight.

Bill

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

It is a great testament to the French and British engineers that they succeeded where Boeing’s failed. President Kennedy wanted an even faster SST carrying more passengers and threw down the gauntlet to America’s best. Boeing pulled out and the rest is history.

Another remarkable fact. Air needed slowing from supersonic speeds to sub-sonic in just 11 feet. Concorde’s engineers managed that with the variable ramp system at the front of each engine. No ramp and the engines flame out. Clever, very clever.

[scianoir 610]

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

It is a great testament to the French and British engineers that they succeeded where Boeing’s failed.

Even more remarkable when you consider that they accomplished this using technology from the 50s/early 60s creating an airliner which was still without an equal and was still still carrying revenue passengers beyond the millennium! Truly amazing engineering!

Bill

[TheFamilyMan 280]

Here's a possible and realistic look into the future of super sonic commercial flight:

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2016/webt-supersonic-flight-hush-sonic-boom.html

Here's my take.  By the time this tech reaches fruition in the commercial market, the future fuel costs associated with such SS commercial flight may possibly render it impractical for that market.

[Ted Striker 338]

I'll play the devil's advocate on that to offer another take. By the time this tech reaches fruition so many people may be driving electric cars that there will be plenty of fuel for aviation. Either way it is exciting and I hope to see it reach fruition.

Since Lockheed Martin is involved it would be nice to see a model show up in P3D.

But back on topic, Concorde (had to erase "the" ) certainly is an engineering marvel and beautiful at that, especially considering how long ago it was designed and without computers.

Ted

Edited March 8, 2019 by Ted Striker

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

EVs will overrun the market in less than 5 years. Asia and Europe will see to that. Other than Tesla, the US will be left behind.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hopefully you are right!

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

It's not a climate change-related prediction. EVs are simpler to maintain, quieter and more powerful. Once consumers overcome their fear of having to plug in every 5 minutes, they will realize that ICEVs are as old fashioned as the rotary telephone.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

How did we get from Concorde to electric vehicles? 🙁

[Ted Striker 338]

Sorry Ray, looks I started the drift

Too bad the FSLabs P3Dv4 version of Concorde isn't ready, the 50th anniversary would have been a great time to release it. Regardless, it will be worth the wait.

Ted

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

I’ll let you off Ted ‘cos you’re a good bloke! 😉

I’m not flying her at the moment because although the PC is the dog’s wotsits having to run a UHD monitor at 1920*1080 is doing nothing for image clarity which is really frustrating.

They’re still working on it along with various Airbuses so I haven’t a clue when it will be released. It’s a year now since Lefteris sent out invites asking who would be prepared to pay 100GBP for it and they must have had enough replies to justify the work. I live in hope.

[Ted Striker 338]

Whew, Thanks Ray 

I run the FSLab Concorde in UHD but I turn down the scenery detail and don't have addon airports loaded. I trade the scenery detail for UHD clarity. I'm still a rookie in it so my eyes are mostly focused on the panel anyway, especially during takeoff, climbs, descents, and landings. I can make it from London to New York but it is close to the VAS limit and has dinged at me a couple times. I pause and save the flight at transition points just in case though. I don't think I have used the Concorde since I swapped out my 780GTX for a 1080ti and don't know if the 1080ti, which has a lot more VRAM, will use more VAS. 

Ted

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

Ted, I’m amazed to read you can run it at UHD and not run out of VAS. You must have all the sliders to the left.

I have Aerosoft Heathrow Xtended and FSDT JFK so there’s no way I could run in UHD. I’ll just have to be patient.

[Ted Striker 338]

About medium settings and only FTX Global. ORBX airports and regions are disabled when I fly Concorde. All my large addon airports by other vendors are in P3Dv4 with GEP3D and UTX.

Ted

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

Reverting to default airports would ruin the immersion factor for me on the LHR-JFK route but I’ll go to a default airport and see how it copes in UHD.

I have FTX Global and UT but those don’t affect VAS.