Concorde to fly again.

[Capetonian]

I imagine there are technical reasons, as well as political and economic, to prevent this from coming to fruition. There's also the malevolent French who will want to scupper the idea as it wasn't theirs.

The revival of Concorde

The Telegraph
John O'Ceallaigh

When asked about the possibility of Concorde flying again, a British Airways spokesperson is emphatic: “There is absolutely no chance.”

That is, at least, as far as BA is concerned. While the airline has no plans to revive services, a group of enthusiasts have released plans to not only put one of the planes on permanent display in central London but to commence flights aboard the supersonic airliner once more.

Operated by BA and Air France, Concorde’s last flight took place on October 24 2003, and its demise has been heavily, enduringly, lamented by members of Club Concorde . The organisation comprises former Concorde pilots, charterers and frequent fliers, among others, and the group has now secured what it believes to be adequate financial backing to return Concorde to service.

They have two aims: firstly, to place one of the aircraft on a purpose-built platform positioned by the London Eye and above the Thames; secondly, to return another to use as part of a Return to Flight project.

Drawing from a £40 million investment, the club is aiming to purchase a Concorde currently stationed near Orly Airport in Paris and to place it as the main draw in a £16-a-head London tourist attraction that would include a restaurant offering dishes that were originally served on Concorde flights . Club president Paul James hopes the plane could be on display by 2017.

Getting Concorde back in the air would be rather more complex. The club has access to an additional reserve fund worth £120 million and plans to use this revenue to purchase a Concorde currently on display at Le Bourget airport in Paris. When restored (and dressed in an entirely new, neutral livery) and deemed safe to again take to the skies, the plane would be deployed for use in fly-pasts at air shows and made available for corporate and special events, as well as for private charter.

James will be well placed to cater to that demographic. During the aircraft’s heyday, he worked as a tour operator and chartered Concorde 19 times for luxury trips. A particularly extravagant excursion was a one-day visit to the pyramids in Cairo in 1982; priced at £780, it was marketed as the most expensive day trip in the world. He suggests that this future incarnation of the plane could be used, for example, to take groups from London to Monaco for the Grand Prix.

Club Concorde is aiming to recommence flights by 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Concorde flight, and should the initiative prove a success the organisation may subsequently aim to make flightworthy another Concorde at a later stage.

Jonathan Glancey, author of Concorde: the Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner (published October 1 by Atlantic Books), believes the group could well succeed in their efforts. “So many people miss Concorde [and it] could certainly fly again given both financial and technical wings, while from a technical point of view there is nothing a team of expert and motivated engineers can’t tackle. For the moment, we should support it. ”

He points to a successful precedent. Used by the RAF from 1960-92, the Avro Vulcan V-bomber XH558 “The Spirit of Great Britain” was later returned to service and has flown for eight further years thanks to the Sky Trust and Lottery funding. It is set to make its final flight next month.

While efforts to revitalise Concorde continue, a number of other companies are also seeking to launch commercial supersonic flights. Boston-based Spike Aerospace claims its proposed Spike S-512 supersonic jet will reach speeds of Mach 1.6 (1,100mph) and could be airborne in the early 2020s. NASA, meanwhile, recently provided funding to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California and other bodies to support their research into how to improve existing supersonic flight technologies .

Its passengers could expect to fly from New York to London within three hours but would need to adjust to one peculiar new feature: in order to reduce weight, minimise drag and maintain speed, the jet is expected to be built without windows in the main cabin . Instead, the jet’s interior walls would be covered in curved electronic screens that could display films or transmit footage of outside.

It seems the prospect of a return to commercial supersonic flights has had another burst of momentum

.

[om15]

120 M won't go far, unless the project has the backing of the Type Certificate Holder it won't be going anywhere. The vast sums of money poured into the Vulcan show how expensive this is, and that is for a private non commercial aircraft, imagine how much it would cost to modify Concorde to comply with EASA OPS for CAT approval.
Nice idea in theory, but..

[ian16th]

Didn't BA and Air France stop flying them because they were told that there would be no more spare parts?

[Cacophonix]

Didn't BA and Air France stop flying them because they were told that there would be no more spare parts?

Not so much spare parts (they can be cannibalised in many cases) but more that the key aerospace companies involved with the original Concorde won't support the programme (mostly for good reasons) and the biggest nigger in the woodpile will be BA and their oh so slimy English politics that will work in every way to stop the whole thing.

It is a beautiful idea but it won't happen.

Cue a video with a tear in my eye...

Let BA take us away ...

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9bVFkDhGPE[/bbvideo]

Caco

[Rwy in Sight]

A very minor point but what would the point being to offer a London - Nice flight in Concorde where her supersonic abilities can't be used. I am trying to see which events trips might be needed (or being a marketing plus) out of London and I fail to see many or at least enough to be used reasonably often.

[henry crun]

It is not technically possible because the design is fundamentally unsafe, in other words it cannot be made safe to fly. Those who did fly in the white pointy-nose goose were very lucky to get down alive, it was an accident waiting to happen, and when it did happen the manufacturers realised the game was up and they'd better bury any idea of flying it again.

[probes]

hm. Wasn't it a strip of metal on the rway that triggered the catastrophe?

[rgbrock1]

henry:

The Concorde's design was fundamentally unsafe? How so? Please elaborate.

[stuart]

hm. Wasn't it a strip of metal on the rway that triggered the catastrophe?

Sure was as well as it being an overweight take off and a lot of other factors, as a member of the team at Filton who helped build the Cord I take exception to certain remarks above. (not yours probes btw)

[rgbrock1]

hm. Wasn't it a strip of metal on the rway that triggered the catastrophe?

Sure was as well as it being an overweight take off and a lot of other factors, as a member of the team at Filton who helped build the Cord I take exception to certain remarks above. (not yours probes btw)

So does that mean you do not share the opinion that the Concorde was fundamentally unsafe to fly?

[henry crun]

Well documented history. By choosing a thin-winged delta design they committed themselves to inadequate landing gear with slender tyres. This made it vulnerable to runway debris. The problem was compounded by other issues.

[Shaggy sheep driver]

Absolute bollocks Mr Crun. Concorde was a perfectly safe design which considering what it did, and that nothing else, despite the best efforts of USSR and USA, could do it, was no small achievement by the design and build teams.

The Paris accident was more about the way AF (mis) operated the bird than about bits of runway debris. Far from considering myself 'lucky to survive' I am privileged to think I did once fly at M2 and 60,000' on the magnificent white bird. Me and a few others; she flew for 27 years and, Paris apart, never so much as scratched a pax or crew member (or any test crew).

[CharlieOneSix]

A pilot on the same RN helicopter Squadron as me went on to fly Concorde - quite a jump (via subsonic types) from a 90kt Wessex to M2 and he loved every minute of flying it. I think he would agree with SSD's sentiments.

[Shaggy sheep driver]

Forgot to mention - this 'return to flight' bunch are dreamers. Not a snowflake's chance in hell the wonderful white bird will fly again. Do I really need to reiterate why?

[Alisoncc]

SSD, could fly again if towed behind a Vulcan.

Understood both had similar donks - Olympus 500 series.

[stuart]

I remember the Rolls Royce test bed when I was a fitter at Filton, boy it was noisy.

thumb_Image 10-10-2015 at 00.46_1024.jpg

[Shaggy sheep driver]

Concorde's engines were a considerable upgrade on the Vulcan's. Olympus 593; 40,000 lbs of thrust with afterburner! But the really, REALLY clever bit in Concorde's propulsion system wasn't the 593, it was the intake. This kept the engines in a subsonic environment at M2, and provided 70% (yes, 70%!) of the forward thrust at supercruise! It's the bit the Russians didn't get right on the TU144 (they didn't get the wing shape right, either).

[Capetonian]

Good luck, and I wish I could believe in it.

'Affordable' supersonic flights planned for 2023

Sir Richard Branson has announced plans to re-introduce supersonic transatlantic flights within six years after his space company entered into a partnership with US-based start up Boom.

Boom founder, pilot and former Amazon executive Blake Scholl, yesterday unveiled a prototype aircraft which he claims will be able to fly between London and New York in 3.5 hours.

XB-1, located in a hangar at Centennial Airport in Denver, is a one-third scale version of the full production model that Boom aims to have ready for passengers by 2020.

Branson claims the flights will cost $5,000 (about £4,000) return, which is more affordable than a transatlantic crossing on Concorde before it was scrapped.

"I have long been passionate about aerospace innovation and the development of high-speed commercial flights," Branson said.

"As an innovator in the space, Virgin Galactic's decision to work with Boom was an easy one. We're excited to have an option on Boom's first 10 airframes.

"Through Virgin Galactic's manufacturing arm, the Spaceship Company, we will provide engineering and manufacturing services, along with flight test support and operations as part of our shared ambitions."

Denver-based Boom said the jets will each have only 45 to 50 seats and eventually they could also offer supersonic flights to Tokyo and Sydney.

Several other companies, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are developing new supersonic jets, but Scholl said his plan was likely to be the first to come to fruition as it doesn't require any new technology that would need to be approved by regulators.

Scholl said test flights would begin in southern California, with plans to launch the first commercial departures in 2023.

Tickets will be cheaper than on Concorde, he said, because of developments in technology and lighter materials.

Meanwhile, start-up private jet operator Bliss is planning to launch transatlantic flights from Stansted in January. it says it will operate flights to New York La Guardia, leaving Stansted on Friday afternoon, using 10 to 14 seat aircraft. Tickets will cost about $12,000 each way.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Beat me to it, but this might show a photograph - the original does,but not sure if it will reproduce here. Give it a go.

http://www.flyingmag.com/boom-unveils-s ... ODA0MjI0S0

[500N]

I doubt it will happen.

Too many hurdles.