How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

The end of Concorde

What was arguably the death knell for Concorde

was the disastrous crash of Air France’s Flight 4590

in 2000, which killed all 100 of its passengers, nine

crew members and four people on the ground. The

crash was caused by a titanium strip falling off a

Continental Airlines DC-10 aircraft that had taken

off minutes before the ill-fated Concorde. The strip

pierced one of Flight 4590’s tyres, caused it to

explode and consequently sent rubber into one of

the aircraft’s fuel tanks. The resultant shockwave

caused a major fuel leak, which then ignited due to

electrical landing gear wires sparking.

Post-crash, despite Concorde being arguably

one of the safest operational passenger airliners in

the world, both A ir France and British A ir ways

• its only t wo operators – reported a steep
  decline in passenger numbers, leading
  both fl eets to be decommissioned in 2003.

4x © Aerion

Concorde was an engineering masterstroke. So

why did the luxurious jetliner get shut down?

A British A ir ways Concorde

tak ing off shor tly before

the jetliner’s retirement

Aerion SBJ

Aerion Corporation is arguably at the cutting

edge of supersonic fl ight research, with the

company collaborating closely w ith NASA on

developing the tech necessary to introduce its

Supersonic Business Jet (SBJ), a piece of kit that

will be able to take passengers any where at over

1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) per hour.

This ability will come courtesy of the advanced

research into a technology called natural

laminar fl ow (NLF). Laminar fl ow is the condition

in which air in a thin region adjacent to a plane’s

w ings stays in smoothly shearing layers, rather

than becoming turbulent. This means that the

more laminar the airfl ow, the less aerody namic

friction drag impinges on the wings, which

improves both range and fuel economy.

This is possible due to the tapered bi-convex

w ing design, which is constructed from carbon

epox y and coated w ith a titanium leading edge.

The partnering of this with the SBJ’s aluminium

composite fuselage delivers an aircraft that not

only prov ides a range of over 7,400 kilometres

(4,600 miles) and a ma ximum altitude of 15,544

metres (51,000 feet), but an aircraft that can do all

this while suffi ciently reducing fuel burn and

therefore operating costs. The latter point is

incredibly important as it was a primar y factor

that led to Concorde being scrapped.

The SBJ supersonic plane will

be able to cruise at Mach 1.6,

taking passengers from Paris

to NYC in just over four hours

The SBJ will be able to travel from New

York to Paris in four hours and 15 minutes,

almost half the time of a regular jetliner

The SBJ’s cabin measures 9.1m

(30f t) and allows for three

dedicated seating areas

The statistics...

Length: 45.2m (148.3ft)

Width: 19.5m (64.2ft)

Height: 7. 1 m (2 3. 3 f t)

Weight: 20,457kg (45,100lb)

Wing area:

111.5m^2 (1,200ft^2 )

Engines: 2 x PW JT8D-200

Max speed: Mach 1.6

(1,960km/h; 1,218mph)

Max range: 7,407km (4,603mi)

Max altitude:

15,544m (51,000ft)

Aerion SBJ

© James Gordon

Wing

Aerion’s NLF wings will be

made from carbon epox y

and coated with a titanium

edge for erosion resistance.

Materials

The SBJ’s empennage (tail),

fuselage and nacelles use a

mix of aluminium and

composite materials for

strength and heat resistance.

Engine

The SBJ uses a modified

version of Pratt & Whitney’s

JT8D-200 jet engine, which

is de-rated to 8,890kg

(19,600lb) of static thrust.

AIR