46x06 - Flying Supersonic

[bunniefuu]

PILOT:
Three, two, one,

zero.
[engines roar]

♪♪

NARRATOR:
It's a legendary plane

that flew at twice the speed
of sound...

The Concorde.

♪

♪ KATIE JOHN:
You could go from France
or Britain

to America and back
in the same day.

NARRATOR:
An unprecedented partnership
between rival countries.

[applause]

Concorde was
our man-on-the-moon project

here in Europe.

NARRATOR:
A triumph of technology
and invention

that revolutionized
air travel...

MIKE BANNISTER:
It's amazing that an airplane
that was designed

and brought into production
in the '70s

can still outperform
pretty much everything,

including most Air Force jets.

NARRATOR:
The ultimate in luxury
for global jet setters...

JOHN HUTCHINSON:
I think the regular passengers
on the Concorde

thought that they were members

of a very expensive
and very exclusive club.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
And today, the inspiration

for a new generation
of supersonic planes.

If I think into the future,

I would really like
to be able to imagine

that I could walk out
and get on a sleek, new,

quiet supersonic airliner

and get to where I'm going
in half the time.

NARRATOR:
Right now on "NOVA"...

"Flying Supersonic."

♪♪

NASA WORKER:


PILOT:
Copy, 15 seconds.

NARRATOR:
Flying high and fast
is everyday business

at NASA's Armstrong
Flight Research Center.

Test pilot Nils Larson

routinely flies faster
than the speed of sound.

LARSON:
People always ask
when you're a test pilot,

they say,
"What's your favorite airplane?"

And the test-pilot answer is,
"Whatever I'm flying today."

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Fighter planes like these

are on the cutting edge
of aviation technology.

They can travel more than twice
as fast as a 747.

LARSON:
From here you drive to Vegas,

it's like a three-and-a-half,
four-hour drive.

When I go to do a Mach-two run,

it takes about 20, 25 minutes.

And then we turn around,
and we're back in about ten.

NARRATOR:
What if there were passenger
planes that could fly this fast?

What if you could go
from one continent to another

in half the time it takes now?

BLAKE SCHOLL:
Think today of the places
in the world

that are hard to access.

Think Singapore,

think Sydney,

that are, like,
eight to 16 hours away.

When those flights become
much shorter,

you can just decide
to pick up and go

and visit Tokyo

or Sydney or Paris
for the weekend.

NARRATOR:
There was a time

when flying faster than sound
in a passenger jet was possible.

PILOT:
Three, two, one, zero.

NARRATOR:
It was the Concorde...

A revolutionary plane

that crossed the Atlantic
from Europe to the United States

in under four hours.

In the average commercial jet,

it can take
almost twice that long.

Concorde was a triumph
of technology.

But what people
who traveled on it remember most

is its beauty and speed.

JOHN:
Flying Concorde was like
a fantasy for people.

It was partly the luxury,
but mostly it was the speed.

You could go from France
or Britain

to America and back
in the same day.

SALLY ARMSTRONG:
You could see the curvature
of the earth,

because we were 11 miles high.

We would see the sun going down
before we took off,

and then as we flew west,
it was like it was rising.

Quite an achievement to go
faster than the sun was setting.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Humans have long dreamed
of being able to fly.

But when Concorde took off
for the first time,

aviation itself was only
about 70 years old.

One of its legends is Air Force
test pilot Chuck Yeager.

In 1947,

he was determined to try to fly
faster than the speed of sound.

Like light, sound is a wave
that takes time to travel.

Depending on the altitude
and air temperature,

Yeager would have to fly
about 700 miles an hour

to surpass its speed.

It was daring and dangerous.

JAY DRYER:
Prior to that
there was even doubts,

can people even fly faster
than the speed of sound?

Because as you start
to get closer and closer,

the air compresses
in front of the aircraft,

and then it creates some
instabilities

and things that,
that led people to believe,

"Is this going to be something
that's too challenging

that we can even survive?"

[radio chatter]

NARRATOR:
Yeager took to the skies

in a test plane shaped like
a b*llet,

called the Bell X-1.
[engine fires]

DRYER:
After World w*r II,

that was just a great era
of trying to really open up

and explore the boundaries
of aerospace.

And so we were testing all types
of aircraft

to see how you could go higher
and faster.

♪♪

It was an experiment
that was flown

in a rocket-powered aircraft
dropped from a b*mber.

NARRATOR:
But just a few minutes
into Yeager's flight,

there was loud double bang.

[two loud booms
in rapid succession]

PETER COEN:
My guess is that
the local community

probably had heard a few crashes

over the years,

might have suspected
that an airplane had crashed.

NARRATOR:
In fact,

this was the first time
a plane created a sonic boom,

as Yeager became
the first pilot ever

to pass the speed of sound.

His pioneering feat
came to be known

as breaking the sound barrier

and it started decades
of research about sonic booms.

When a plane flies faster
than the speed of sound,

it compresses the air
in front of its nose,

which is then suddenly released
again

behind the tail.

This quick compression
and release

causes a shockwave.

And when that shockwave reaches
the ground,

it creates the noise
of a sonic boom.

[two loud booms
in rapid succession]

COEN:
If you think
about a thunderstorm,

when the storm is right on top
of you,

and you get that lightning flash

and the immediate crack
of thunder

that, you know, causes you
to jump out of your chair,

that's a sonic boom.

[jets roaring]

NARRATOR:
In the 1950s

only military aircraft
could fly faster than sound.

But civilian air travel was
a growing industry.

A passenger plane this fast

seemed like it could be
a fantastic asset

for airlines that would fly it

and the countries
that would produce it.

The governments of Britain
and France decided to fund work

on two competing
supersonic airliners.

♪♪

A French firm designed one
called the Super-Caravelle.

And a British company planned
the Bristol Type 223.

But very quickly,

the technical challenges
proved so enormous

that development costs soared.

Officials in Paris and London
had to face a hard reality...

There was only one way

to save the dream
of civilian supersonic flight.

JOHN:
Neither country could afford
to do it by themselves.

They had two very similar
designs.

But they didn't have the money
or the resources

to do it separately,
so they came together.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
In 1962
British and French officials

signed an unprecedented
agreement

merging their projects
into the Concorde...

A supersonic plane that could
carry around 100 passengers

at more than 1,300 miles
an hour.

The projected date
for its first commercial service

was eight years away, in 1970.

IAIN GRAY:
It was something that galvanized
the industry.

There were a lot
of political issues

about making the program happen,
bringing it to reality.

But from an engineering point
of view,

you know,
this, this was a dream.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Engineers spent years developing
the plane's new shape...

An elongated fuselage,
a pointed nose,

and distinctive wings.

GRAY:
Subsonic and supersonic
are very different

from an aerodynamic performance
point of view.

The shape of the aeroplane
is very, very different.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Getting any plane off the ground
involves four forces.

The engines provide
its horizontal forward motion,

or thrust.

But when the plane is flying,

the thrust is opposed
by air resistance...

This is called drag.

The plane is also pulled down
by its weight,

the force of gravity.

So a fourth force helps keep it
in the air...

This is lift.

And lift is a direct result
of the shape of the wings.

♪♪

Straight wings offer
good stability,

but don't allow optimal flying
at supersonic speed.

A triangular shape,
like the wings on fighter jets,

reduces drag and is better
for fast flying.

But neither wing shape could fly


at more than 1,300 miles
an hour.

So Concorde needed
something new.

The French and British engineers
analyzed air flows

and refined the shape
over and over again,

until they finally perfected
Concorde's unique delta wing.

BOB VAN DER LINDEN:
The techniques were familiar
with designers at the time;

they just never applied them
to an airliner before,

because no airliner was intended

to fly faster
than supersonic speeds.

The Concorde itself has
a modified delta.

There's this beautiful curve
to it.

A delta wing is probably
the best compromise

for high-speed cruising ability
for... at supersonics

and low-speed handling.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Supersonic travel was
an exciting new possibility

at the 1963 Paris Air Show.

One of the biggest attractions

was the first model
of the Concorde.

And its daring new shape was not
the only news.

American Juan Trippe,

president of the most powerful
airline of the time, Pan Am,

had placed an order
for six Concordes.

In Washington,
President Kennedy was furious

when he learned
about the order...

Because he had already decided

that the American
aviation industry

was not going to be left behind.

KENNEDY [on phone]:
Hello.

DOUGLAS DILLON [on phone]:
Yes, Mr. President.

KENNEDY:
Did you see
what Juan Trippe did?

DILLON:
No, I did not.

KENNEDY:
He put out an announcement
this afternoon

that he is going to buy
six planes

from the British and the French.

How could he do that when he
knew we were about to go ahead?

Well, now, will you give him
this message from me

and make it very clear that I
think he ought to retract that?

That he ought to wait now

and see what the United States
is going to do,

or otherwise it is going
to be very clear

that Pan Am is contributing
in a significant way

to the United States being in
a secondary position in the air

and also to
our balance-of-payment problem.

We'll give him
all the trouble he wants,

because there isn't going
to be anything

that's going to make me
more excited than doing that.

All right... thank you.

HALABY: Yes, sir.
[phone hangs up]

["Hail to the Chief" playing,
crowd applauding]

NARRATOR:
The very next day,

at graduation ceremonies
at the Air Force Academy,

Kennedy threw the United States
into the race.

[song continues, applause]

KENNEDY:
I am announcing today that the
United States will commit itself

to an important new program
in civilian aviation.

It is my judgment
that this government

should immediately commence
a new program,

in partnership
with private industry,

to develop
at the earliest practical date

the prototype of a commercially
successful supersonic transport

superior to that being built in
any other country of the world.

[applause]

NARRATOR:
On the other side
of the Iron Curtain,

the Soviet Union
was also jumping

into the supersonic plane race.

♪♪

Two years earlier,

Premier Nikita Khrushchev
watched a demonstration

of Russia's first supersonic
military b*mber,

the TU-22.

Standing behind Khrushchev
was the plane's designer,

Andrei Tupolev.

He became one of the leaders
of the Soviet effort

to build
a supersonic passenger plane,

and the KGB was put into action

gathering information
on Concorde.

[man speaking Russian]

[translated]:
When we heard the news
of the creation

of such a fascinating airplane
as Concorde,

Andrei Tupolev was tasked
with investigating this subject.

All in all, our goal was
to design a similar plane

and perhaps do it even faster,
if possible.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
It was now a three-way race...

And the engineers on each team

faced unprecedented
technological challenges

at a time when computerization
was in its infancy.

GRAY:
It is remarkable,

the development and design
of this airplane

was long before the advent of
high-performance supercomputing.

There were many hundreds,
thousands of engineers

working across the supply chain,

trying to optimize and
get the right design solutions,

the right aerodynamics.

People joined the industry,

because they wanted to be part
of this remarkable project.

NARRATOR:
Concorde was the first time

that British and French
aerospace designers...

Former competitors...
Built a plane together.

And that meant overcoming
some very basic differences.

DOMINIQUE BERGER [translated]:
The British measured the plane's
weight in pounds.

We measured in kilos.

I remember a session
when we said,

"It's a pity, because
the take-off mass of 90 tons,

it's not far
from 180,000 pounds,"

to which an Englishman replied,

"But in pounds,
it's more precise."

♪♪

[man speaking French]

[translated]:
The British would build
their prototype,

and the French, their prototype.

Everybody talked to each other,
exchanged views.

But there still were two
assembly lines,

one in France
and one in Great Britain.

NARRATOR:
Each team was responsible

for building specific parts
of the plane,

and each had
a full-scale prototype

and assembly line.

And without the internet
to quickly share information,

the project required not only
high-precision craftsmanship,

but high-stakes logistics.

All through its development,

sections of Concorde
were shipped back and forth

between Britain and France.

[Berger speaking French]

[translated]:
The British would send
to Toulouse

a full-scale model

of the end section
of their part,

and Toulouse would check whether
its section would fit that part.

Conversely,

the French would send
their end sections

to the British to check.

You had to interface parts
with precision

down to a hundredth
of a millimeter.

GRAY:
It was a remarkable bit
of technology achievement,

with the brains and the
intellect and the enthusiasm

of young engineers at the time.

It just shows what can be done

when people want to achieve
something.

NARRATOR:
But the double production lines
came at an enormous cost.

The two governments spent an
estimated three billion dollars

developing Concorde...

More than ten times
the original estimate,

and the equivalent
of almost $20 billion today.

[airplane droning overhead]

The high development costs

didn't curb the enthusiasm
of pilots,

who were eager to learn
a new way to fly.

BANNISTER:
Starting to reduce speed,
we're all the way back to 220.

[turning knob]

NARRATOR:
Before Concorde was ready
for passengers,

they had intensive training
in simulators like this one.

BANNISTER:
As you can see,
this airplane is more complex,

there are far more instruments,
far more systems.

It's like four airplanes in one:

it's a high airplane,
a low airplane,

a fast airplane
and a slow airplane.

So, consequently, we have
so many more systems to manage,

and the crew are doing twice
as much work in half the time.

There's a lot to learn,

and it takes a pilot
who's very experienced,

maybe been with British Airways
for 25 years,

six months to learn to fly
Concorde

as opposed to just two months

to learn to fly
a conventional airplane

like an A380 or a 747.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
One of the most important
new features to master

was Concorde's unique nose.

In addition
to the distinctive shape,

the nose actually moved
into different positions.

In the air at supersonic speed,
the nose was up,

and a visor reinforced

the plane's streamlined
aerodynamics.

But it had to land
at a very steep angle,

and this created a problem.

The long nose blocked
the pilot's sight line

to the runway.

You're coming into land
at quite a high angle of attack,

and sitting in the pilot's seat

with the nose up,

you simply would not be able
to see the runway at all.

♪♪

The ingenious solution
was a mechanism

that tipped the nose down

so the pilot had a clear view.

Start turning towards London,

down comes the nose.



looking at the runway
all the time.

Take the auto-throttles out.





and now start
to bring Concorde to a halt

using brakes
that are underneath my feet.

And she's such a delight to fly.

The six months
that you take to learn

is worth every single moment
of it.

♪♪

NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Toulouse: the giant hangar
at Sud Aviation's headquarters

was the focal point
of the world.

For inside was the most exciting
new thing

in the world of aviation:
Concorde number 001.

[marching band playing]

NARRATOR:
In 1967, after five years
of intense effort,

the very first
Concorde prototype was unveiled

to an eager audience.

[applause]

Despite the fanfare,
it was not yet ready to fly

and the three-way race for
a supersonic transport plane,

or SST, was heating up.

VAN DER LINDEN:
There was a technological race

between the West
and the former Soviet Union.

There was competition

between Europe
and the United States as well.

And Great Britain and France got
the leg up on the United States,

and many in the United States
wanted to build an SST

just to compete.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The American entry into the race
came from Boeing...

A supersonic passenger plane
called the 2707.

♪♪

Like Concorde,

the project was financed
by government money.

But the design was
even more ambitious...

Over a hundred feet longer,

carrying more than twice
as many passengers,

and flying about 500 miles
an hour faster.

♪♪

But it would ultimately be
the Soviet Union

that became Concorde's
biggest competitor.

Today, a museum east of Moscow

features the plane that gave
Concorde a run for its money...

The Tupolev 144.

[man speaking Russian]

YURI VALKIN MARKOVICH
[translated]:

Here is a legendary
flying machine.

The name of that legend
is Tupolev 144.

It's the first supersonic
airliner in the world.

♪♪

The first flight of a supersonic
airliner in the world

took place in the U.S.S.R.

We were the ones to win
the first stage

of the supersonic race.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
In the throes of the Cold w*r,

the TU-144 was not only

a technological challenge
for the Soviets,

but a political one as well.

The Kremlin issued a mandate:

"Get the TU-144 off the ground

by the end of 1968...
Before Concorde."

At the last possible moment
to reach that goal,

the TU-144 took off
on December 31, 1968.

[engine roaring]

♪♪


at an airfield near Moscow,

and its pilots were given
a hero's welcome.

The plane had not broken
the sound barrier.

But in the three-way
supersonic flight race,

the Soviets could claim
the first victory.

[Markovich speaking Russian]

MARKOVICH [translated]:
It's an enormous success
for our country,

comparable in scope to launching
a space rocket

or to Yuri Gagarin's
space flight.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
When Western journalists saw
the first photos of the TU-144,

they were stuck by its
remarkable resemblance

to Concorde.

The similarities were so obvious

that the Russian plane was
instantly nicknamed

"Concordski."

HUTCHINSON:
I have no doubt

that there was
industrial espionage

on the part of the Russians;

and probably there was
industrial espionage

on the part of the French
and the British as well.

[speaking Russian]

[translated]:
Let's just say

that the intelligence services
had specific goals

that made development
somewhat easier.

The West and our country met
with similar technical problems.

So we did try to obtain

some information
on the Concorde.

That is to say,
when certain issues arose,

they were passed on
to the intelligence services.

Then these services completed
the tasks.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The KGB had a dedicated network
of spies around Concorde.

Russian agents even managed
to smuggle microfilm

containing blueprints
and other documents

out of France
in toothpaste tubes.

French security forces
eventually caught up

with the Kremlin's spies,

some of whom were tried
and expelled from France.

[Rigmant speaking Russian]

RIGMANT [translated]:
If I remember well,

some of our diplomats were
thrown out of France

at the time.

It's just work, not espionage.
[chuckles]

Like any other work!

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Whatever the Russians wanted
to call their efforts,

it soon became clear

that the TU-144 was not just
a simple copy of Concorde.

Its wings were a modification
of the delta shape.

It had different landing gear,

and its fuselage was longer
and wider.

It had the same number
of engines... four...

And a tipping nose.

But there was one
distinctive feature:

whisker-like front winglets.

HUTCHINSON:
The Concordski had
these little winglets

that came out
for take-off and landing.

Those winglets modified
the air flow over the wing

in such a way
that you could come in

at a lower angle of attack,

which meant less engine power
required

and therefore less noise.

So it was a very,
very good feature,

that of the Concordski design,

and I think as I say,

if there'd been a second-
generation Concorde built,

they would have incorporated
winglets into it.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Ten months
after the Concordski's debut,

Concorde was ready
for the ultimate challenge...

Flying supersonic
for the first time.

♪♪

In the c*ck was André Turcat,

the first European to break
the sound barrier,

and test pilot Jean Pinet.

[radio chatter]

Neither of them knew

how a plane this big
would react at supersonic speed.

[Pinet speaking French]

PINET [translated]:
The hour-long flight was about
the gradual increase of speed

from Mach 0.9 to Mach 1.05.

So at each step,

I would test whether everything
was working well,

and it was going so well

that at one point
I asked Turcat,

"Okay, can we keep going?"

And he said, "Certainly not!

We stop right there."

♪♪

When we landed,

I was surprised to see
so many journalists,

and the mechanics who hung a
sign on the nose of the plane:

"They made it!"

♪♪

GRAY:
Concorde was
our man-on-the-moon project

here in Europe.

Getting Concorde,
that first flight,

that was our space race.

We did it.

We built Concorde,
we flew it successfully,

and it's an icon.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
In the U.S.

President Nixon was
in the White House.

In 1971,

with the cost
of the Vietnam w*r escalating,

Congress decided the Boeing SST
was too expensive

and canceled it.

VAN DER LINDEN:
The country wasn't completely
behind the idea

of building an SST,

certainly not
with taxpayer dollars.

So the aircraft was defeated
in Congress.

By a very narrow vote,
but it was defeated.

And so the U.S. SST program
failed.

[crowd murmuring]

NARRATOR:
In an ironic twist,

at the end of that same year,
at a meeting in the Azores,

Nixon met French President
Georges Pompidou,

who flew in
on the first Concorde prototype.

NIXON:
When I arrived at the airport,

on the Spirit of '76,
a Boeing 707,

I saw parked in front of me
a Concorde,

which had carried
the president of France.

And our ambassador to France,
Mr. Watson,

pointed out that he had come
from France

at a speed three times as fast

as we had come
from the United States.

[Pinet speaking French]

PINET [translated]:
At the end of the conference,

each president was walking back
to his own plane,

and then I suddenly see
Nixon stop,

so his delegation stops too.

He turns around
and comes toward the Concorde.

President Nixon walks up
the stepladder

and greets us.

We explained the Concorde
to him.

He stayed in the cabin
for a few minutes,

and then he said,

"Well, in the end,
it's you who were right,"

and he left.

NARRATOR:
Even though Concorde

was not yet certified
for commercial flight,

Queen Elizabeth
and President Pompidou

were already posing onboard
to promote the new plane.

But there were
significant concerns

about its profitability.

Fuel prices were rising sharply,

and the potential
for Concorde to ever make money

was questionable.

Still, by 1972

the excitement about
supersonic passenger travel

led 16 airlines around the world

to place sales options
on Concorde.

VAN DER LINDEN:
In the airline business,
when there's a new airplane,

especially one that promises,
you know, great new performance,

many airlines are interested
to get onboard

and they place options
on the aircraft.

Not orders, they're options.

And quite a few aircraft placed
options, including Pan Am.

But when Pan Am
and every other airline

actually looked at the numbers
after the test flights,

and they realized this aircraft
could not make money,

they canceled their options.

NARRATOR:
In the end, the only sales were

to the French and British
government-owned airlines.

They bought 14 Concordes
in all...

Seven for Air France

and seven for B.O.A.C.,
which later became British Air.

♪♪

The 1973 Paris Air Show

was the first time the Russian
TU-144 and the Concorde

were presented together

for fly-by demonstrations
at subsonic speed.

Concorde went first,

taking off and landing smoothly.

Then the Soviet plane
roared down the runway.

[jet engines rumbling]

[expl*si*n]

A few minutes later,

to the shock of everyone
watching,

it broke up in flight
and crashed.

Everyone onboard

and eight people on the ground
were k*lled.

[Turcat speaking French]

[translated]:
We clearly saw pieces come off
the plane before it crashed,

hitting the ground
in two different places.

[translated]:
It's a big setback
for the Soviets.

Yes, and for us.

We share...

Do you think that it

will compromise
their supersonic program?

I don't think so.

I think they have more guts
than that.

Just as we would
if such a situation occurred.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The cause of the crash
was never officially determined.

The TU-144 was put into service
in 1977,

but it was plagued
by mechanical problems

and another crash.

It stopped flying passengers
after only 55 flights

and was retired for good
a few years later.

♪♪

But in Paris and London,
the long wait was over at last.

After more than 13 years
of joint effort,

the dream plane
was finally taking off.

On January 21, 1976,

for the first time,

passengers arrived
at their boarding gates

with tickets stamped
"Concorde."

♪♪

Just before noon,

a British Airways Concorde left
the gate at Heathrow Airport.

Its destination: Bahrain.

At the very same second,

an Air France Concorde
to Rio de Janeiro

rolled down the runway in Paris.

The double takeoff
was broadcast live.



were the first commercial
passengers in the world

to fly over 1,300 miles an hour.

JOHN:
They did something that nobody
else in history has ever done.

You had this aeroplane that
operated like a fighter plane

but carried people in comfort.

You weren't wearing
an oxygen mask.

You were sipping champagne
and enjoying fine food.

[speaking French]

[man speaking French
in voiceover]

ALAIN VERSCHUÈRE [translated]:
Passengers loved
that party feeling,

when you toasted with champagne
glasses on a magic plane,

and ideally it was when

the Machmeter indicated the
breaking of the sound barrier,

and then at Mach 2.2.

Those were the moments

when passengers liked to be
photographed

in front of the Machmeter.

While passengers were enjoying
the ride,

many amazing innovations were
at work in flying Concorde.

♪♪

When it went from subsonic
to supersonic speed,

the shockwave pushed
its center of lift backwards,

increasing drag.

In order to keep the cabin
horizontal and stable,

engineers came up
with an ingenious system.

HUTCHINSON:
So what did the designers

come up with as a solution?

They said,
"Okay, if the shockwave

"why don't we change
the position

of the center of gravity
as well?"

NARRATOR:
The only weight that could be
moved around in flight

to change Concorde's center
of gravity was the fuel...

More than 31,000 gallons
in 13 separate tanks.

VAN DER LINDEN:
One of the most technologically
significant features

of the Concorde you can't see

was the ability to transfer fuel

from fuel tanks at the front
and fuel tanks in the back

as the aircraft transitioned

to supersonic speed
and back to subsonic speed.

They had very high-speed pumps

that were able to transfer
the fuel fore and aft,

depending on what was required.

And that helped balance
the aircraft out

and change the center
of gravity.

NARRATOR:
Supersonic speed also meant
that the exterior of the plane,

made of aluminum,

got so hot that it actually
stretched during flight.

VAN DER LINDEN:
The Concorde was designed

to expand almost nine inches
in flight.

The floor itself sits
on rollers,

and the aircraft expands
and contracts underneath it,

but you never notice it
when you're in flight.

The only thing you notice
after about three hours,

it's getting kind of warm
in the airplane,

and the window, which
is no larger than your hand,

is actually hot to the touch.

NARRATOR:
But while Concorde was
a technological success,

concerns continued to grow

about whether it would ever be
a financial one.

Its biggest potential market,
New York, was off limits.

Because of the sonic boom

and the noise
from takeoff and landing,

the Port Authority
would not allow it

to fly into the city.

[cars honking]

VAN DER LINDEN:
In the United States,

there was a great deal
of pushback in New York,

because of
environmental reasons,

particularly sound.

The Concorde on takeoff
is extremely loud.

I mean, it's got
four b*mber engines on it

with afterburners.

And when those engines are lit,

it's very, very loud.

It shakes the windows.

[jet engines roaring]

You're flying
a very loud airplane

over one of the largest
metropolitan areas in the world.

So there's going to be a lot
of unhappy people on the ground.

NARRATOR:
Without New York routes,

there was no guarantee
that Concorde could survive.

The noise from supersonic flight
was a bigger problem

than just landing in New York.

In fact, any supersonic flight
over land by civilian planes

was banned in 1973

and is still against U.S. law.

That's because the sonic boom
is heard on the ground

under the entire flight path
of a supersonic plane.

COEN:
We call it the carpet,

it's essentially right directly
under the flight path

of the airplane,

up to 25 miles on either side,

is exposed
to the sonic boom sound.

If you do fly over land
supersonic,

there is a lot of people that
could be disturbed by the sound.

NARRATOR:
But there are almost five times
as many people

flying on U.S. airlines today
as there were in the '70s...

So any breakthrough
that could speed up travel

would be a huge advantage.

NASA PILOT [on radio]:
NASA ground,
cover zero seven control.

NASA GROUND:
NASA Ground, copy, 12,000,

and we are ready for you
on the ground.

NARRATOR:
For decades, scientists at NASA

have been trying to answer
a key question:

could they design
a quieter supersonic plane?

The solution might lie

in changing the shape
of the shockwaves

that produce sonic booms
in the air.

COEN:
We call the sonic boom
the N-wave,

and that's because
if you plot it on paper,

you have a large spike,
a gradual decrease in pressure,

and then another large spike.

So you hear the bang-bang.

[two loud booms
in quick succession]

What we're trying to do is

we're trying to change
those spikes

into a more gradual
pressure rise.

So instead of an N,

you've got more like
an S lying on its side.

And you don't get
a bang anymore.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Test pilots like Nils Larson
already know

that certain flight maneuvers
make a lot less noise.

And he helps the researchers
make recordings

with a daring dive.

LARSON:
We start up
at about 49,500 feet, roughly.

[engine roaring]

And then they give us a point
based on winds

and where they have
the microphones

and that kind of stuff.

And so you point the nose
at the ground, 53 degrees.

It feels just like
you're going straight down.

It can get pretty exciting
pretty quickly.

And that produces a shaped boom.

And it sounds a little bit more
like distant rolling thunder

instead of the typical N-wave

that kind of gives you
that crack-crack sound.

NARRATOR:
A passenger plane would never
be able to fly like this.

But Peter Coen
and David Richwine lead a team

that's designed a model
of an experimental plane

they hope will produce
this kind of softer boom.

It starts with a nose that's
even longer than Concorde's,

to help dissipate the shockwave
in front of the plane.

COEN:
So normally what would happen
with a conventional nose

is you'd have
a fairly strong shockwave

on the nose of the airplane.

So, by giving it
this long, slender shape,

we're replacing that shockwave

with a more gradual compression,

which essentially makes
for less noise

up when the whole signature
actually reaches the ground.

NARRATOR:
Another new feature is putting
the engine on top of the wings,

instead of underneath them.

This will send part
of the shockwave

at the back of the plane up,
into the atmosphere,

instead of down to the ground.

RICHWINE:
So you're not going to hear
that startling boom.

You're going to hear
more like a, a thump

that you might hear, like,
in an apartment next door

if someone was closing
their door

or something like that.

[jet engine rumbling]

[faint boom]

NARRATOR:
The recordings
from Larson's test flights

and computer models of the sound
a new design might make

are used to test how people
on the ground react.

ALEXANDRA LOUBEAU:
We bring in people
from the general public.

They basically rated
their annoyance on a scale

of "Not at all annoying"
to "Extremely annoying."

And then in yet other studies,

we added a vibration component,

so they were sitting

on chairs that were shaking.

And so you don't necessarily
hear that,

but you feel the vibration,

and so that changed
the overall experience.

NARRATOR:
When they find sound levels

that people think
are acceptable,

with a full-scale,
operational plane

based on the model.

It will fly over
communities across the country

to see how the sound plays out
in different altitudes,

different seasons,
and different weather.

No one is sure of the outcome,

but the data will be presented
to the F.A.A.

If regulations about supersonic
flight over land change,

that could open up the market

for a new generation
of passenger planes

almost as fast as Concorde,
but much quieter.

So really we would like to take
the boom out of the boom.

If I think into the future,

I would really like
to be able to imagine

that I could get on a sleek,
new, quiet supersonic airliner

and get to where I'm going
in half the time.

NARRATOR:
Ultimately,
it was a court decision

that allowed Concorde to land
in New York.

But the pilots changed
their approach,

slowing down to subsonic speed

while they were still
over the Atlantic,

so that people on the ground
would not hear the sonic boom

on landing.

[speaking French]

[translated]: So British and
French engineers and pilots

had to come up with incredibly
complicated flight maneuvers,

ingenious maneuvers,

to prevent Concorde
from making too much noise

over residential areas.

As a result,
New York takeoffs and landings

were no picnic for the pilot.

It was tough.
[chuckles]

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Despite the tricky
landing procedures,

in November 1977,
two Concordes...

One French and one British...

Finally arrived in New York.

And the opening
of the first supersonic routes

between Europe and New York

kicked off what came to be
called "Concorde-mania."

[Verschuère speaking French]

VERSCHUÈRE [translated]:
All the fashion models took
the Concorde,

show business people, actors,

and politicians, of course.

When there were U.N.
general assemblies in New York,

in the front cabin, you'd have
five or six prime ministers,

two presidents.

It was the world's
rich and powerful

who traveled on Concorde.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Flying on Concorde was also
the ultimate assignment

for the cabin crews.

ARMSTRONG:
It was such a privilege,

because you were flying
the flagship of the airline.

And, you know,
we were so nervous,

even though we had

years of experience flying.

It was,
it was a whole different game.

[Verschuère speaking French]

[translated]: Michael Jackson
was a frequent Concorde flyer,

and his little indulgence
was to get a Big Mac.

Not a big deal, but not so easy
to make on a plane.

So we'd get the Big Mac
at the airport

and reheat it onboard
to please him.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
But the speed and glamor came
with a very high price tag.

In 1978 a round-trip ticket
from New York to London or Paris

cost about $1,500,

which would be
almost $6,000 today.

Over its time in service,

the round-trip price went up

to the equivalent
of more than $14,000.

As oil prices skyrocketed
through the '70s and early '80s,

Concorde's huge fuel consumption
also became a problem.

It burned at least twice as much
fuel per passenger as a 747,

and that meant that longer

transcontinental flights
were impossible.

And pollution from the plane's
high-altitude exhaust emissions

was becoming
a serious environmental concern.

So even as it kept flying,

there was more and more doubt
about a supersonic future.

VAN DER LINDEN:
It was just not affordable.

And you have to understand,
it's an airliner.

It's a tool
for airlines to make money.

This is a case of the economics
trumping everything else.

If it doesn't pay its way,
it won't survive.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
On the afternoon
of July 25, 2000,

an Air France Concorde
to New York

left the gate in Paris.

Onboard were 100 passengers
and nine crew.

Just as it was taking off,

an air traffic controller
told the pilot

he saw flames
at the rear of the aircraft.

HUTCHINSON:
My mobile phone rang.

And I picked it up, answered it,
I said "Hello?"

And the voice said,
"Is that Captain Hutchinson?"

I said, "Yes, it is."

And they said,
"It's the BBC here.

We want to interview you
about the Concorde crash."

[alarms blaring]

NARRATOR:
A cascade of events
had gone wrong.

The plane was overweight.

There was a sudden change
in wind direction

but no change in runway.

And then a small piece of metal

on the tarmac
caused a tire to explode.

The debris hit a gas tank.

Fuel escaped,
instantly caught fire,

and caused a catastrophic loss
of two of the engines.

♪♪

The death toll was 113,

including four people
on the ground.

ARMSTRONG:
I was at home,
and somebody phoned me up.

And I put on the TV.

And it was the same impact as,
almost as the Twin Towers,

where you couldn't believe
your eyes.

♪♪

[translated]:
Everybody thought I was onboard.

But I was home,
and it was very distressing.

The irony for the Concorde is,

until that loss,

it was statistically
the safest airplane in the sky.

After the loss,

it was statistically
one of the least safe.

That's only
because it flew so seldomly.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
After the crash,

all Concordes were
temporarily grounded.

But even when flights resumed,

the supersonic plane's days
were numbered.

Concorde would only be
in service

for two more years.

♪♪

The dream
of flying faster than sound

still makes headlines today.

Boeing is working on a plane
the company hopes

will fly almost three times
as fast as Concorde.

And Airbus has a concept
for a plane

that could go from New York
to London in an hour.

This research
will likely take decades

before it's known
if flying that fast...

At hypersonic speed...
Is really possible.

But start-up companies
like Boom Technology in Denver

are already working
on new planes

that build on the legacy
of Concorde...

Despite the continued existence

of regulations against
supersonic flight over land.

SCHOLL:
It's not just New York
to London;

it's San Francisco to Tokyo,
L.A. to Sydney.

There are about 500 routes
on the planet

that have enough traffic

for a supersonic flight to exist
with our airplane

without flying supersonic
over land.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Using computer simulations,

newer composite materials,

and different engine technology,

today's pioneers want to build
supersonic jets

that will be more
environmentally friendly

and more affordable.

SCHOLL:
The way we've approached it
at Boom

is to say,
"Hey, let's start with Concorde.

"There's a design
that we know worked.

"And what we have to do
is improve upon it.

"Let's do something

"that's going to make
economic sense for airlines,

that's going to make
economic sense for passengers."

And, as a result,
this is going to be sustainable.

This isn't going to be,
you know,

a couple routes on the planet
for some very wealthy people.

Ultimately, this is something
that's going to go mainstream

and change the way all of us
get around the planet.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The very last flights
of Concorde were in 2003.

BANNISTER:
Watching millions of people
around the airport

waving and cheering...

It was a very emotional moment,

and something I shall remember
for the rest of my life.

[translated]: This was the time
when I realized

that I had participated
in something exceptional.

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The remarkable breakthroughs
of Concorde

will always be a milestone
in aviation history.

And if a quieter,

more cost-effective version
of the legendary plane

can be built,

another new chapter will begin.

COEN:
The U.S. was the first country
to break the sound barrier

with Chuck Yeager in the '40s.

I like to think what we're doing

is going to break the sound
barrier for the rest of us,

so that's pretty cool.

♪♪

[Verschuère speaking French]

VERSCHUÈRE [translated]:
Even now,

on all the flights I worked,

there is someone on the crew
who tells me,

"My regret is that I never flew
on the Concorde."

♪♪