Why were concordes decommissioned

Fill 2 Copy 11 Created with Sketch. Friday 4 June , UK. Why you can trust Sky News. More on Airlines. Related Topics: Airlines United Airlines. Related Topics Airlines United Airlines. The operators also blamed rising maintenance costs. Although advanced when it was launched, 30 years on the planes were outdated and expensive to run.

By the time Concorde was retired it was the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer. Twenty Concorde planes were built in France and the UK - six prototype and development aircraft and 14 service planes which were operated by Air France and British Airways. Concorde number was moved to its new home by engineers from British Airways and Airbus, who towed the iconic aircraft across Filton Airfield and up a ramp into the new purpose-built hangar.

Although this all happened before the jet left the ground, it was too late to abort take-off, and the damaged engines were unable to give the airport enough momentum to gain altitude or speed. After a sudden descent, Concorde crashed into a hotel in the Parisian suburb of Gonesse after just two minutes, with the crew attempting to divert to nearby Paris-Le Bourget airport. All passengers were killed, as well as the nine crew members on board and four people on the ground.

Over a decade after the tragedy, Continental Airlines, whose aircraft supplied the debris, and John Taylor, the mechanic responsible for the crucial metal strip, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

However, the conviction was overturned after less than two years. Following the accident, all Concorde planes were grounded for almost a year to allow for the introduction of new safety improvements such as Kevlar-lined fuel tanks and better electrical controls. The aircraft gets blisteringly hot when it goes supersonic, which caused Concorde to expand inches at its cruising speed of Mach 2 due to thermal expansion.

Once through the doors of the sleek, tiny, cigar tube into the body of Concorde, I knew I had entered into the rarified air of gods and kings. But dang, things were small and cramped.

Besides the Concorde being the fastest supersonic commercial airplane in aviation history, it also accomplished other significant advancements.

One of them being its air intake control units, or AICUs in short. This was the first time a digital processor was used to give an airplane full control of an essential system. The brakes on Concorde were developed to withstand high temperatures. Developed by a multi-national company called Dunlop, the brakes were the first carbon-based ones to ever be used on an airliner. The wheels had multiple rotors, and each were cooled down by individual electric fans.

Concorde was also the first aircraft to open service from Rio de Janeiro to Washington, D. With its incredible speed and increased routes, Concorde had flown for a total of 17, hours. One of the issues that negatively affected the success of Concorde was the cost of fuel.