What happened to the world’s fastest commercial jet—and why there’s a long runway ahead for its successors.
Fred Finn is , harmonize to the Guinness Book of World Records , theworld ’s most traveled air rider . The 83 - class - old has accumulated more than 15 million mile , and documented each of his many flights in a logarithm book , accompanied by a reception . While that number could someday be toppled by anotherfrequent flier , Finn also holds another title that can never be taken out : He ’s wreck up a humongous 718 supersonic flight .
give that no commercial aircraft is currently capable ofbreaking the level-headed roadblock , Finn will almost surely retain that claim for the rest of his life sentence .
" People begin to question who this guy was take flight Concorde , " says Finn , who has a book calledSonic Boomcoming out by and by this year . " He was n’t a film star , he was n’t a rock maven , he was n’t the owner of AT&T. " Far from it — he used to fly almost biweekly on the earth ’s most notable commercial aircraft through his otherwise unglamorous job in outside licensing .
Once the fastest passenger jet in the air, Concorde’s future might be just as rocky as its past.|John Selway/Shutterstock
With familiarity came certain fringe benefit . While seat 9A became have it off as " his " can , Finn was also allowed to fly in the cockpit , since he knewthe crewso well . " you’re able to see a forget me drug of about 700 miles , " Finn say . " Just above you , it ’s all very , very disconsolate pitch-dark - blue . "
For 27 years , Concorde shuttled rider around the cosmos as tight as 1,354 miles per hour — or Mach 2.04 — cutting stock commercial flight times in one-half . But when the iconic aircraft was retired in 2003 , there was no heir ready to take its place . That ’s still the example more than two decade later . With the exception of belligerent pilot and astronauts , humanity has returned to a subsonic domain .
It ’s the rarefied type in which engineering seems to be moving backward .
American test pilot Chuck Yeager poses in front of the pioneering Bell X-1 ‘Glamorous Glennis.’ He was the first supersonic passenger.|U.S. Air Force/wikimedia
Breaking the sound barrier
Miles above the Mojave Desert , a B-29 drops its freight . Released from its paunch is not a bomb calorimeter , but a modest airplane , shaped just like a bullet and painted a jarring orange that contrast with the blue sky . Its sole occupier is American test pilot Chuck Yeager , aWorld War II fly acewho is nursing two broken ribs sustained from falling off his horse cavalry a mates of dark back . But what ’s a little pain when you ’re about to become the fastest man in the cosmos ?
On October 14 , 1947 , Yeager fired the Bell X-1 ’s rocket engine , propel the small orangish aeroplane to 700 mph and surpass the speed of sound for the first time . The experimental aircraft Yeager was vanish could n’t stay supersonic for very farseeing , though several nations ensure the potential in developing a commercial version that could . Engineers in the United States , the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom , and France all clamor to create the first ultrasonic exaltation , or SST .
The Soviet Union technically make headway that subspecies . Its Tu-144 flew supersonic on June 5 , 1969 , though that plane ’s time in the air was abbreviated . An uncomfortable passenger experience — and two major crash — end the aircraft ’s commercial campaign after just 102 flights , only 55 of which carried passengers . Meanwhile , the Anglo - French Concorde , which debuted only a few months afterward that year , began its passenger flight on January 21 , 1976.British Airwaysflew between London and Bahrain , while Air France flew between Paris andRio de Janeiro .
Even the British royal family, represented here by licensed pilot and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, got in on the Concorde action.|PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images
Concorde ended up have much more longevity that its Soviet opposite number . People eff vaporize on it , and air expert still address reverently of what they liken to " first classon steroid hormone . " It was the kind of inflight experience that attracted not only well - off line commuter train , but also renown clientele .
For his part , Finn says he meet Bruce Springsteen , Paul McCartney , Muhammad Ali , and Richard Branson on his travels . He remember Buddy Rich inquire to sit next to him once on a flight of steps to London — the famous idle words drummer was evidently nervous . The two chit - shoot the breeze , and it turned out that Rich was only headed to the city for one night and was staying far aside from the drome . " So I said , ' Well , that ’s gon na take you 40 minutes to get into London , ' " says Finn . " ' I ’ve receive a cortege at the hotel right at the airport , because I ’m flying out as well . It ’s got two bedrooms , so you may have one . ' "
Rich accepted the offer — it was apparently too commodious to pass up .
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A time-saving—but troubled—mode of transport
There was another thing that was undeniable about Concorde : It salvage citizenry a ton of clock time .
“ You could lead London in the morning , fly to New York , wait on a meeting , and still catch some Z’s in your bottom at night , ” enunciate Gregory Grage , a former British Airways executive and regular Concorde passenger .
That said , problem plagued Concorde from the start . For one , it created anear - splitting sonic boomevery time it exceeded the speed of audio . That thundering noise was not welcome by those on the solid ground , who found it not only disruptive , but also potentially hazardous as it could dampen deoxyephedrine . Very quickly , Concorde was banned from ultrasonic flight across land in many area , limiting it to pelagic path .
There’s no denying Concorde’s unparalleled speed.|Mario Tama/Staff/Getty Images News
Then there was the price of fuel , an way out exacerbated by the1973 oil crisis . " Concorde was a massive fuel gulper , " says Grage . " To put it in linear perspective , Concorde would broadly use 70 oodles of fuel to fly 100 passenger from New York to London at supersonic speeds . A747also necessitate 70 tons of fuel , or a bit more , to fly 350 - ish passenger , depending upon cabin configuration . " in the end , Concorde was profitable for both British Airways and Air France , but it was still highly expensive to operate on — and clean bad for the environment , responsible for anywhere from two - and - a - half to seven times the emission of subsonic aircraft , perAerospace America .
Still , Grage is nostalgic for a time when air travel was a scrap more glamourous .
" The Concorde experience was special , " he says . " Picture yourself dine in anultra - high - end gastronome eating place on the edge of space , traveling faster than the muzzle velocity of a rifle slug , and tearing up $ 100 bills as fast as you may . Now that was fly . "
Supermodel Christie Brinkley indulges in some bubbly aboard British Airway’s last-ever Concorde flight in 2003.|PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images
evidently , too few people shared his ebullience . By the turn of the twenty-first one C , need for Concorde was waning and costs were crawl too high . The situation was made even bad by thefatal crash of Air France Flight 4590 , a Concorde , in 2000 , as well as the events of 9/11 , which abbreviate demand even further . And thus , Concorde flew its last flight on October 24 , 2003 .
Catching supersonic flight up to speed
On January 12 , 2024 , engineers fromNASAand Lockheed Martin pull back the curtain to reveal their shiny raw X-59 to an eager crowd . tv camera flashed as people applauded and praise the team who developed the revolutionary , farsighted - nosed carpenter’s plane that was nearly ready for flight .
When Concorde down for the final time more than two decades back , no heir were ready to take the aircraft ’s lieu . But the quest to build a substitution started almost straight off . It would n’t be an easy process ; Concorde , for case , cost the UK and France nearly $ 3 billion to develop , and the aircraft fly exam flights for seven years before carrying any passengers . " The cost of developing , certifying , and manufacturing new aircraft is still a very high — almost insuperable — bar , " articulate business airmanship expert David Rimmer , who flew on Concorde eight prison term .
First there ’s the issue of the transonic thunder . In 1973 , the United States Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) banned all civilian supersonic flight over land due to the boom ’s disturbance to communities on the ground . This essentially signify that any new ultrasonic aircraft would have to slow down before approaching land , thus severely limiting its possible trajectory route . As a event , NASA and Lockheed are currently attempting to muffle their aircraft ’s sonic microphone boom so that it sound like someone shutting a car door — then the plan is to convince the FAA to amend its rules .
Boom Supersonic’s Overture, shown here in a promotional image, aims to disrupt the aviation industry by breathing new life into supersonic flight.|Photo courtesy of Boom Supersonic
That sound stifling technology would benefit individual aerospace companies likeBoom Supersonic . The Centennial , Colorado - based company is hard at body of work develop a commercial aircraft calledOverture , designed to vanish at a cruising speed of Mach 1.7 , endure on 100 % sustainable aviation fuel , and seat up to 80 rider .
But even if the noise job is solved — and NASA passes along its technical uncovering — Boom would still face a question of demand . If an SST were to get off the undercoat , would there be enough willing client to make it profitable for airlines ? As Rimmer puts it : " It ’s not as if Spirit orSouthwestor Ryanair will ever be in the ultrasonic securities industry . " It would be as if if Aston Martin start marketing to rebate car lots .
Despite all this , not to advert the fact that they ’ve yet to even uprise the locomotive engine mean to power Overture , Boom ’s likely Concorde resurrection has handle to get up up quite a bit of involvement . American Airlines , United Airlines , and Japan Airlines have all placed ordering . ( Though it ’s deserving noting that 18 airlines target orders for the original Concorde , yet only two — British Airways and Air France — ever vaporize the plane . ) But given that air giant Boeing ’s broth economic value is doss down after several highly publicizedincidents onboard its 737 Max woodworking plane , it ’s strong to omen what the financial term of the airway manufacture will be when a supersonic tape transport is in the end ready for delivery .
Still , Rimmer hop that a plane like Concorde will once again decorate the friendly skies . He predicts that the speedy trajectory between London and New York would still strike big with business traveler , and envisions the potential drop for Modern routes to parts of Asia and the Middle East . In his mind , it ’s up to commercial airlines to lead the charge , before fundamentally subsidise pocket-size aviation companies through their order .
For now , Finn will take what he can get . He ’s not getting any untested , and remain eager to see if NASA can literally hush up one of the swelled hurdles for SSTs . And while the aircraft they ’re developing would n’t technically provide to rider , Finn hopes the storied government activity entity might make an exception for his 719th ultrasonic flight . " If I ’m around , I would really jolly up to have a flight with NASA , " he says .
