On November 26, 2003 the supersonic passenger plane “Concord” takes to the air for the last time to perform the ritual “farewell” flight. In fact, passenger flights were finally suspended a month before.
“Concord” first flew on 2 March 1969, operated by British Airways and Air France from 21 January 1976 to 24 October 2003. Its first flight is on the Paris-Dakar-Rio de Janeiro route. The last French plane flies from New York to the Paris airport "Roissy-Charles de Gaulle" on May 31, 2003
The 185 ton “Concord” is a remarkable creation of an extremely ambitious program. Only 20 machines were built, carrying only 100 passengers each. The speed achieved is slightly more than Mach 2. (2,179 km/h). The transatlantic flight takes about 3.5 hours. During flight, the body is elongated by about 30 cm. because of the heating of the housing.
The most remarkable experience with “Concord” is that it is the only plane that “precedes the sunset”. During early evening flights from Paris or London to the US, the plane takes off in the dark and catches up with the Sun - the cabin can see it rising in the west.
“Concord” was the safest airliner until its single crash in 2000, if measured by the number of passengers killed in relation to the distance traveled.
Two factors affect the fate of the plane. The first is the Charles de Gaulle airport crash. in Paris on the late afternoon of July 25, 2000, as the plane took off for New York. The plane's left half-wing caught fire and the machine crashed. All passengers and crew perished, as did four people on the ground. The cause is a piece of metal on the runway that broke off from another plane. Passing through the wreckage at high speed, the “Concord” a tire bursts, resulting in damage to its structure, a fuel leak occurs. Although he manages to take off, he catches fire and falls.
The second factor that affected the fate of the plane, for economic reasons. On April 10, 2003 British Airways and Air France have both announced that they will end Concorde flights later in the year. They point to the unprofitability of “Concord” due to lower ridership following the 2000 crash, the decline in ridership following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, and increased fuel and maintenance costs.
“Concord” and the Tu-144 are the only supersonic aircraft to date that have performed passenger flights. The Russians early stop their machine from flying mainly for economic reasons.
Among those who paid $20,000 and enjoyed the Concorde are: Elton John, Sting, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Joan Collins, Luciano Pavarotti, Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Mike Tyson , Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart .