Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, one of the busiest Airports in Europe and the then only place in France to catch sight of the world’s most prestigious passenger plane-The “Concorde”. Often described as a beautiful flying bird and the white rocket, its flying is a real show. Everyone was watching and the sight was spectacular like going on a noisy air show.
This plane was a technological marvel, the world’s only supersonic commercial airliner. It could fly twice the speed of sound at altitudes that brush the edge of space. It flew above 55,000 ft into the mystical deep blue sky.
Invention of aircrafts, fastest mean to travel led the revolution of travel industry. Cities and places which could only be reached by roads and railways now could be reached in much lesser time. The initial aircrafts flew an excess of 100 miles per hour. Gradually as the airlines business expanded, thus the standard of travel and the passenger’s comfort too.
Piston driven aircrafts of the 1950’s were capable of crossing the Atlantic in less than 18 hours. Back then, airline industry was getting bigger and the world’s aircraft manufacturers were working flat out on new designs and to cope with the demands of airline companies which could carry more passengers that too faster.
With the rapid development of aircraft, the obvious solution was to build jet propelled airliners. The new breeds of airliners were smooth and sleek. Passengers were now being seated on comfortable air conditioned cabins, cruising through the air, seemingly motionless. Crossing the Atlantic was no longer 18 hours of noisy propellers pounding the aircraft through bouncy clouds but 8 hrs of smooth but quiet and comfortable travel.
Since the early 1950’s, military and civil aircraft manufacturers had been rapidly discovering the challenges with aircrafts being pushed to ever increasing speeds. As the jet propelled aviation progressed at an outstanding rate, so did the quest for more speed. The race was on to fly at MACH-1, the speed of sound, then to go beyond. To achieve that, an aircraft have to punch through nature’s greatest obstacle, the Sound Barrier.
Since World War II, tests were been going on throughout the world on wing designs trying to reduce the amount of drag. There had been many controversies on the choice of best wing design which would enable an aircraft to fly at the speed, beyond aircraft flies; it experiences resistance from the air. This is known as the drag.
The amount of lift compared to drag that an aircraft experiences at given speed is a measure of its aerodynamic efficiency. Thin wing section seems to be the answer for less drag, but thinner the wing, the less strength it will have. When an aircraft reaches the sound barrier, the air molecules rushing past the wings surfaces in effect becomes compressed which instead of creating lift, forces the nose down. To correct this, the pilot pulls back on the stick which then creates a great strain on the wings causing then to flatter. Thin wings under such strain could literally break off.
The Vulcan bomber was a delta winged aircraft without a tail section but with a tail fin. During the tests of Concorde, the Vulcan was the aircraft chosen to use as a test bed for new engines designed by Rolls Royce. The design for a passenger jet based on the variations of a Vulcan bomber suggested that it might be possible to carry fifteen passengers from London to New York in three hours. But to be economically viable for an airline to run such a service, the aircraft would have to be able to carry a much heavier payload. Therefore a better aerodynamic shape would have to be devised.
To build an airliner capable of flying through the sound barrier takes enormous amount of research and development. Every increase in speed, costs massive efforts and for the designs of Concorde, this was the boldest advances in the history of airline travel. The technical breakthrough was well beyond the resources of any one nation. Britain and France joined hands on the project. In 1962, a formal agreement was signed between both the nations to bring Concorde into existence. This one project made both nations to Europe’s largest technological enterprise. The concept of Concorde took advantage of complex aerodynamics based upon the elegant simplicity of the paper craft which gives life and simplicity at all speeds ideal for a supersonic airline.
Concorde’s materials had years of testing. In French and British laboratories, thousands of samples have been tried out. Many different kinds of materials like aluminum alloy, titanium alloys and stainless steel were examined. Many components were made by heat resistant nickel based alloy.
The British aircraft corporations were responsible for making the nose, tail and part of the fuselage. In the building of an airliner, hundreds of ongoing modifications were necessary following tests on their performance. There were over 500 British and French companies involved in building Concorde.
In a little over seven years, the designers and engineers took the ideas from the drawing board to the first prototypes. Two prototypes Concorde’s were built, 001 for French version and 002 for the British version. The idea that an aircraft could carry over 100 passengers over the Atlantic in three hours at speeds faster than a rifle bullet, that dream now was about to be a reality. Not wanting to be outdone by the British and the French, the United States of America also decided to embark on such a program with Boeing. A design competition was held by the Federal Aviation Authority and the Boeing swing wing concept was selected- The Boeing B-2707.
Unfortunately the project soon ran into difficulties, the overall concept proving over ambitious and impractical. The aircraft was to be build from titanium alloy would be heavy and expensive. It would carry 300 passengers at the speed of Mach 2.7 over a distance of 3900 miles. At 318 feet long, it would be the longest aircraft ever built. The swing wing would have enabled good takeoff and landing performances but the hinges required for such wings proved far too heavy to be practical.
The project was finally killed off by the environmentalists who rallied against the design and killed it finally in 1971. Russia shocked the world with the Tupelov 144. In looks it was very similar to Concorde, was able to carry 121 passengers at mach 2.3 at a distance of 4000 miles, a performance which on paper was slightly superior to Concorde. The Tu-144, nick named Concordski made her maiden flight on the 3rd of December 1968, two months ahead of Concorde. Russia had taken the leap to produce the first supersonic civilian transport but the basic design proved fatal.
The 001 was ready for its first flight. On 2nd of March 1969, the aircraft was rolled out of its hanger to make its debut. The world’s press, gathered to see British pilot take the French Concorde to the air for the very first time marking the start of a new chapter in the airlines history. That was the beginning of new era, the age of supersonic travel; bringing countries closer together than ever before. Just over one month later, 002 was up in air on its maiden voyage. Two months later, both aircraft appeared on the Paris air show.
The Crash
Concorde used fuel at staggering rate. In a short taxi to the runway, the planes four engines would already use as much fuel as the average car uses in six months. Booking a seat on this jet required deep pockets. The return trip to New York was priced more than 9000$. After getting the regular clearance from the Air Traffic control, Concorde was ready to fly. Concorde’s take off speed is 198 knots, almost 40 knots faster than a 747.
The planes four afterburners ignited giving the plane the boost it needed to achieve that incredible speed. The first officer told the captain that they had reached V1, the decision speed. But it was not the normal take off. They felt something and were going to abort the takeoff. But they had to continue takeoff because sudden stop was not possible. Suddenly the plane began veering left. The flight engineer urged the captain to abort the take-off, but it was too late to stop.
The captain lifted the supersonic jet into the air. The people from ATC realized that a disaster has happened. They immediately pushed the red button which was the button for alert. They alerted the Concorde’s flight crew that it’s under fire, with flames behind the jet. The plane was engulfed in flames. The captain struggled for the control of the aircraft as the engineer shut down the burning engine and activated a fire extinguisher. Something that was not covered in any training, something in pilot’s career that he/she never wanted to face. The ATC cleared all the planes from Concorde’s path. The first officer wanted to head for a nearby airport. But the crew was unable to control as the fire that was rapidly consuming the plane.
Shocking plane in flames was captured by an amateur camera man. In the cabin, panic and terror stroke, like hell. The supersonic marvel of modern aviation slammed into an airport hotel. All 109 passengers and crew onboard Concorde were dead. 4 more people were killed on the ground. The incident shook France and the world at large. Until that day Concorde had a remarkable safety record. 31 years of supersonic flight and not a single fatal crash. Amazing record with such an end was never expected. The air queen has left, glory lost.
The Investigation
On the outskirts of Paris, the fuel laden Concorde had ignited an inferno. Investigators were anxious to search the wreckage for clues but first the fire-fighters had to put out the catastrophic fire. The problem was the intense heat at the crash site which made it impossible for the rescue workers to recover the flight recorders.
Knowing the eyes of the world are watching, the investigators pushed ahead with the investigation. They spoke to as many witnesses as possible. All they knew that Concorde caught fire when it was still on the ground. Investigators became interested on the runway as the event occurred before takeoff.
Concorde had left the trail of burned and blackened jet fuel along the runway. They also found some scattered debris, vital clue that fell from the plane at the very start of the accident. They collected all parts for further investigation. Meanwhile in a hanger near the Airport, investigators sorted through scorched wreckage from the crash site. The plane’s black box was recovered from the burned and twisted debris.
But it’s too soon to say that the data in the recorder had survived the intense fire. There was a huge amount of fuel onboard so the boxes were exposed to intense flames. Concorde’s black boxes were designed to witness only 30 minutes of intense heat. Investigators rushed to the lab and hope for the best. The runway search has turned up a baffling assailment of debris including a twisted metal strip that no one can identify.
They were dealing with a very complicated plane which had been completely destroyed by fire. Among many parts recovered, one was quickly identified as a part from the fuel tank. Concorde has 13 fuel tanks. It covered almost entire delta wing. Finding a fragment of a fuel tank in the runway was an important clue. It meant one of the 13 fuel tanks ruptured during takeoff.
The long plume of flame conformed a large leak from the fuel tank as the mighty source of the fire. But they had no idea what caused such a massive leak. Fortunately technicians have managed to salvage the cockpits voice recordings.
Everything seemed normal as the pilots prepared for takeoff. But just before lift-off, there was a loud noise which sounded like some kind of explosion. They now knew the precise moment when the deadly fire began but still the caused was unidentified.
Concorde included parts that were made in America. It was actually unique that French airplane on French soil would have a United States representative but the aircraft was equipped with United States designed and manufactured tires. Among the debris found on the runway, there were large tall pieces of aircraft tires, some weighing more than nine pounds.
To support the huge weight of the plane and withstand the heat generated during takeoff, Concorde’s tires were reinforced with a strong rubber belt and filled with high pressure nitrogen. When
Concorde’s tires ruptured, they in fact could acted like small bombs. A look at Concorde’s history turns up six incidents on tires rupturing and damaging the fuel tanks. The most serious incident was in 1979 when a ruptured tire damaged the fuel tanks so severely that the crew was forced to land shortly after takeoff.
Investigators took a closer look at the metal derby found on the runway. They suspected that maybe something cut into the tire. The shape of the metal strip that they found earlier was exactly the same shape as the tire debris.
News of the downed Concorde, stunned travellers and aviation enthusiasts around the world. The French transportation grounded the nation’s entire fleet, so did the British Airways. Whether the pride of British and French aviation will ever fly again, depended completely on the investigation. Meanwhile the media pressure was building up. It was the only supersonic aircraft and it was the Concorde’s first fatal accident. Facing enormous pressure, they focused on the mysterious strip of metal that was found near the top of the runway. They were wondering that perhaps it had fallen off a runway sweeper or a construction truck, a baggage cart that was being towed around the Airport someplace.
But evidence soon pointed them in different direction. Metallurgical tests reveal that the strip is made from light weight titanium, the metal frequently used in aircraft parts. It also had a number of rivets on its surface which meant that thing was used in airplane. Somehow a piece of metal from an aircraft became a deadly hazard on the runway. There the investigators to bet to the bottom of from where that piece of metal came from.
It was pretty clear that the metal was not from the Concorde. Painstaking investigation ruled out the possibility that the metal strip fell from the Concorde, but there were dozen other possibilities to consider. They wanted to find out the list of all the planes that made flight before the Concorde on the very runway.
International Airports handle hundreds of flights arriving and departing every day. Metal parts are often found on the runway. Planes can lose small parts that are in need of repair and sometimes inspection doors are not closed properly and they break away from the plane and fall on the runway.
They started searching by elimination of the planes that flew before concords flight. They knew that the metal part was not from the Concorde and it didn’t belong to any ground vehicles. Knowing the time of the last runway inspection allowed them to narrow the search to two types of planes. Conclusion was that the part was either from a 747 or a DC- 10. Investigators searched for the making of the two planes looking for the suspicious part.
Finally they spot something. They found that the metal could be from the engine of the DC-10 something called a ware strip. Then the investigators caught a lucky break. An investigator noticed something odd on an engine of a DC-10 that flies regularly between Paris and the US. Flights record reveal that the very DC-10 took the runway 26 right before the doomed Concorde. That could be the plane that they have been hunting for.
The working theory
The investigators have finally a working theory that may explain one of the socking aviation disasters the world has ever seen. Incredibly it all came down to a thin strip of metal that may have fallen from a DC-10 on to runway 26 where it ruptured a massive concord tire that fatally bursts a fuel tank. It was time to test the theory.
The theory Demonstration
The first thing that they needed to do was to reproduce a tire rupture to try to explain found and to see if it was possible for that particular metal strip to cause the type of damage caused.
They created an exact replica of the metal strip that was found on the runway and placed it under a brand new Concorde’s tire. A two wheel trailer was stacked with heavy blocks to recreate the load on Concorde’s tires i.e. 25tones. They needed to know if driving upon a narrow strip of metal is enough to rip open a rugged Concorde tire.
The tire ruptured as they expected and that was very solid proof to prove the Concorde’s fatal accident. The investigators were convinced that now they have cracked the case.
Hoping to confirm their theory, the investigators studied the fragments of the Concorde’s fuel tank but there was a problem. If a piece of flying debris ruptures the tank, the tank should bend from the outside in. But the tank fragments from the runway were bent on the opposite way. It looked like the investigators theory was falling apart.
The entire investigation was back to the start. They had trouble making the connection between the tire fragments, the strip of metal and the pieces of the fuel tank. All those remained isolated elements and they could not find the way to link them together. They were facing an unprecedented mystery. What punctured the Concorde’s fuel tank from inside? If they fail to solve the mystery, the loss of 113 lives may never be explained.
The baffling evidence from the Concorde’s ruptured fuel tank remained a puzzling dilemma, one that threatened to derail the entire investigation. On the day of the crash all fuel tanks inside Concorde’s enormous delta wind had been completely filled.
The heavy fuel load suggested an unconventional theory. When high speed projectile hit a tank filled with liquid, it can set up a tsunami like wave powerful enough to rupture the container at the different point to where it was struck. The liquid would push around and move evenly on every parts of the tank and it’s the weakest part of the tank that would tend to rupture. They hoped that a computer simulation would show if that’s what exactly happened with Concorde?
The scenario that they had in mind was only possible if the tank was full. There was no record that an aircraft fuel tank has ruptured in this way before. They created a computer simulation by hitting a ruptured tire to the fuel tank. Conditions had to be just right and when the results came, firing a projectile to the tank could make it burst from the inside out. They were convinced that it was the cause of the accident.
Finding the source of the metal strip was more important than ever. They inspected the DC-10 airplane. Upon inspection they were convinced that the metal was from the DC-10 that took-off just before the Concorde’s fatal crash in France. They checked the DC-10’s report and found that the same strip was replaced just a couple of weeks before the accident. Lab tests confirmed that the adhesive used in the DC-10 was identical to that found on the debris on the runway at Saudegol Airport.
The piece stayed in place for just sixteen days before dropping onto the Paris runway five minutes before Concorde took off. Now the investigators had a final question.
Why didn’t the pilots abort the takeoff and saved the lives of everyone onboard? Technicians have managed to piece together the data from the burnt and damaged flight recorder. Together with the cockpits voice recorder, it painted a vivid picture of a sudden emergency that escalated rapidly. The plane was rocketing down the runway at nearly 200 miles per hour.
When the fuel ignited, the massive plane needed more than a mile to stop but there was only a thousand yard of runway left. The pilots must put the burning plane in the air. Aborting in that speed would also have led to the total destruction of the aircraft.
Two of four Concorde’s engines were on fire. The crew had found themselves with a plane that had lost half of its thrust. With only two engine climbing, the plane won’t climb. The crew tried to raise the landing gear to reduce drag but already damaged landing gear did not retract. When the tire busted, it damaged the sensors of the landing gear. Till the very end the crew tried to find a solution. The investigators estimate that the raging inferno had the temperature of about 2000 C, hot enough to melt the wing.
There was nothing they could do. They were convinced that the moment the metal strip struck the plane, the catastrophe was inevitable. The accident report made a number of recommendations to make Concorde safer. Engineers designed stronger tires that could better withstand the planes high speed and immense weight. Fuel tanks were reinforced with Kevlar to prevent leaks. Airport authorities also implemented better systems to monitor runways and monitoring debris.
A year after the crash that took 113 lives, an official memorial was held. 15 month after the crash, the Concorde’s fleet was finally backed, up in the air. The return of the plane did not last longer. Two years later with rising fuel costs and falling profits, Air France and British Airways decide to retire Concorde forever. It made its last flight on November, the 26th 2003. For the first time in aviation history, it was a setback. We had a commercial supersonic transportation airplane and we don’t have it anymore. We will always miss you, Queen Concorde.
