The Concorde was different from other aircraft in many ways

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1745421959989457206

by pr337h4m • 3 years ago

37 14 3 years ago

baudaux• 3 years ago

A great Great Britain - France collaboration

I'd recommend reading Mike Bannister's book on the Concorde if you are interested in its history and operational details: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60032319-concorde

wt__• 3 years ago

Yep it’s a superb book, definitely read/listen to it. (there’s a new book out by John Tye too, another Concorde pilot.)

And if you’re in the UK, visit Brooklands Museum where you can go on one where they’ve replicated some the noise, movement, displays etc. in the passenger cabin.

Also, only place in the world with a working Concorde flight simulator.

Bannister supports the museum and occasionally gives lessons in the flight simulator.

zokier• 3 years ago

I think its nice illustration of simple-easy-complex-difficult dichotomy. On one hand it appears super complex. But I suspect it is also conceptually very simple; each switch, button, dial, and indicator is most likely directly coupled to some one specific functionality. In comparison in modern aircrafts, with their sleek glass cockpits, lot of the same functionality might be hidden somewhere ten levels deep in menu hell and might have all sorts of weird modality etc built-in, so they are in some regards conceptually more complex. In similar vein in Concorde the controls and indicators were probably very directly coupled to their respective elements, again being simple in that regard, whereas in modern aircraft everything is done with impossibly complex computer systems that pilots (or even engineers) would have difficult time understanding.

andersrs• 3 years ago

It's the perfect symbol of peak boomerist individualism and failed nationalism. Burn as much fuel as you can. Make as much noise as you can. Who cares about the atmosphere and trying to live peacefully below it. It's an absolute engineering masterpiece. Six times the fuel per mile as a 747, uh, anyway, whatever it's loud and fast that's so cool!

wkat42422• 3 years ago

It was just a sign of the times. People just didn't realise the impact as the negative effects hadn't started yet and the benefits were huge in lifting most of Europe out of poverty.

Soon after the oil crisis happened though which was really the start of climate and environmental awareness.

bogomipz2• 3 years ago

The Oil Crisis was 1973-74. Commercial Concorde flights began two years later in 1976. I've never heard a connection between the Oil Crisis and the beginning the climate awareness. The crisis was considered a crisis specifically because we couldn't get enough it to burn.

klondike_klive• 3 years ago

I remember it going over my house as a kid and the noise was something else. I loved it, but then I was in my single-digits.

bogomipz2• 3 years ago

Your ageist take is unfortunate and certainly an odd one. The last 30 years(around the same time of the last Concorde flight in 2003), we have witnessed an explosion in private jet travel by the wealthy and elite. Would that be "peak millenial", "peak-genX", "peakest Boomer"[1]? The Concorde sat between 92 and 128 passengers, four abreast. I'm not sure how that qualifies as "individualism." It was practically a sardine can. The Concorde also had very limited service and routes. It also wasn't allowed to fly supersonic over land.

[1] https://weareyard.com/insights/worst-celebrity-private-jet-c...

itisit• 3 years ago

Call me a sonic boomerist! I eagerly await the return of FTS travel:

https://boomsupersonic.com/

cafard• 3 years ago

According to Wikipedia, the Concorde was agreed on in 1962 and had its first test flight in 1969. One usually counts the Baby Boom as starting in 1945. How many 17-year-olds were authorized to sign off on such expensive products in 1962? And how many 24-year-olds were aeronautical engineering leads in 1969?

I'm not so sure about the nationalism--it was a joint British and French project.

garaetjjte• 3 years ago

Is this written by AI or what? "One of main differences that instantly stands out is the additional bank of control panels on the right-hand side" -> "This was not uncommon at the time"

TradingPlaces• 3 years ago

It was also a pretty cramped plane, especially compared to a 747. I could not stand up straight, and I am 5’11"

The Concorde was different from other aircraft in many ways

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