Thursday, February 8, 2007

Concorde


Concorde

Want to get from London to New York in just 4 hours? Just hop onboard the world's fastest passenger airplane, the Concorde! Let us see what drives this supersonic!!!!!!

Concorde is capable of flying faster and higher than most commercial jets. For example, a Boeing 747 aircraft cruises at about 901 kph, or Mach 0.84, at an altitude of 35,000 ft (10,675 m). But the Concorde cruises at 2,172 kph, or Mach 2, at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,300 m). As the Concorde travels faster than the speed of sound and almost twice as high as other commercial jets, several features set it apart from other aircrafts.

The fuselage of the Concorde is about 9.5 ft (2.7 m) wide (the 747’s is 20 ft (6.1 m)). Length of the Concorde is about 202 ft (61.7 m), slightly shorter than a 747. The long, narrow shape of the Concorde reduces the drag on the plane as it moves through the air. Concorde’s wings are thin, swept back and triangular, while those of a 747 are swept back but rectangular. There is also no space between the fuselage and the wing of the Concorde as in the 747. This is called a delta-wing design. The Concorde has a longer, needle-shaped nose compared to most commercial jets. This helps to penetrate the air, and it tilts down while takeoff and landing (138) so the pilots can see the runway. Also a visor protects the windshield when flying at supersonic speeds. The delta wing provides stability to the aircraft & eliminates the need of a horizontal stabilizer on the tail like most other aircrafts.

The engines provide the necessary thrust for takeoff, cruising and landing. Concorde is powered by 4 Rolls Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbo jet engines each generating 180 KN of thrust. The four engines together burn 25,629 liters of fuel per hour. These are attached directly to the underside of the wing without engine struts helping to reduce air turbulence and making a more stable engine. The engines use afterburners used on supersonic military jets to gain additional thrust to reach supersonic speeds. These mix additional fuel with the exhaust gases from the primary combustion chamber and burn it to get more thrust.
Concorde has 17 fuel tanks that hold a total of 119,500 liters of fuel. The main tanks are located in each wing (five on each side) and fuselage (four). It also has 3 auxiliary or trim fuel tanks (two in front and one in the tail). As the Concorde moves faster than sound, the air pressure and friction heat up the plane & the temperature of the aircraft's skin varies from 1278C at the nose to 918C at the tail. To help reflect and radiate this heat, the Concorde has a high-reflectivity white paint that is about twice as reflective as the white paint on other jets. The heat encountered causes the airframe to expand 7 inches (17.8 cm) in flight. To minimize the stress on the aircraft, it is manufactured using a special aluminum alloy (AU2GN), which is lightweight and more heat-tolerant than titanium.
The Concorde can hold 100 passengers while the crew consists of the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and six cabin crewmembers. As the plane taxis to the runway and begins takeoff; its nose is down. The engines fire with 38,000 pounds of thrust, and it goes from 0 to 225 mph (362 kph) in just three seconds which pushes one back into their seat due to acceleration. It quickly reaches the cruising altitude and passes the sound barrier. The plane's nose is now up. A sign inside the cabin displays the Mach number continuously. Outside the window, one can see the Earth's curvature; at the edge of space between the stratosphere and the ionosphere & the colors of the ionosphere.

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