How could Concorde fly so fast?

The Concorde airliner set a record during its flight from New York to London in 2014. 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. The supersonic plane could fly at more than twice the speed of sound. But how fast was this plane, and what made it so fast?

The jet, which flew from 1976 to 2003, had a takeoff speed of 250 mph (402 km/h) and an average cruising speed of 1,350 mph (2,173 km/h). In comparison, a Boeing 737-700one of most common aircraft models stolen nowadays, has a takeoff speed of 173 mph (278 km/h) and a cruising speed of 514 mph (828 km/h).

To achieve high speeds, Concorde engineers needed to design a craft capable of handling both low-speed scenarios, such as takeoff and landing, as well as supersonic cruise speeds, Tony Farineadjunct assistant professor of aeronautical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, told Live Science in an email.

“A wing designed for effective supersonic performance is generally very poor at providing the necessary lift at slow speeds during takeoff and landing,” Farina said. To reduce drag, supersonic wings are typically thinner and more swept back, Farina said, compared to standard wings which are thicker to more easily provide lift.

Providing lift was particularly important, because the faster a plane goes, the more drag force it experiences, said Bob van der Lindencurator of aeronautics at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Essentially, faster planes experience more forces that oppose lift.

One way Concorde engineers solved this problem was by designing a plane with a sleek body, Farina said, including a narrow passenger cabin and an elongated tail cone. Engineers also used a delta wing, a wing profile typically reserved for fighter jets, van der Linden said.

“The delta wing had very good high-speed characteristics, as well as very good low-speed characteristics,” he told Live Science.

A photo of the Concorde plane flying with clouds in the background.

The Concorde had a “drooping nose”, nicknamed “drooping snoot”, which helped the pilot see his surroundings during takeoff and landing. (Image credit: travelview via Getty Images)

This triangle-shaped wing design was intended to reduce the aircraft’s drag, but it introduced an interesting design quirk. Due to the shape of the aircraft’s body, Concorde planes had to land with their noses higher in the air than a traditional commercial airliner. This made it very difficult for pilots to see where they were going, van der Linden said.

“They actually had to find a way for the nose to come down (mechanically),” he said. “In the business we call it a ‘snoot droop’.”

Supersonic planes designed today now get around that problem by using technology that Concorde didn’t have access to when it was designed in the 1960s, Farina said.

“Currently under development, the XB-1 Supersonic Boom The plane uses an augmented vision system (cameras and screens) to avoid having to lower the nose,” Farina said.

In addition to having an elegant design, Concorde aircraft were powered by four turbojet engines which individually generated 18.7 tonnes of thrust and burned nearly 7,000 gallons (26,000 liters) of jet fuel per hour. In comparison, the Boeing 737-800 uses 850 gallons (3,200 liters) of jet fuel per hour.

Concorde also increased the thrust created by its engines, using a device called afterburner, van der Linden explained.

“Afterburners are really used on very high-speed fighter jets or bombers, and they just dump raw fuel into the exhaust flame,” he said. “It makes the plane go even faster, but your fuel burn rate goes through the roof.”

Ultimately, it was the fuel cost associated with the Concorde that made it a commercial failure, van der Linden said. Other incidents, including the fatal Air France Flight 4590 The crash of 2000 only made things worse.

“It’s a magnificent airplane,” van der Linden said. “But to maintain such a fast speed, you need a lot of power. Power means a lot of fuel, and a lot of fuel means a higher price.”

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