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Week 1 [19-25.03.2018] Concorde – an example of how a great idea can be killed by economy.

We could fly to the USA in just 3,5 hours, about 2 times shorter than we do now, and that was back in times when USSR was still in the place of Russian Federation. We could fly faster than the speed of sound, without the need of being in army. We could eat a decent meal instead of peanuts and coke (there was no division into premium and economy in Concorde anyway).
Taking all of the above into consideration, one might think- How could such a breakthrough and innovation in commercial aviation be taken down “for no other reason than money”? We know that even the crash of the Concorde wasn’t related to malfunction of any of its systems (It punctured the tire on a sharp object that fell off from the plane before it).

Well, the following video should give you some info on that topic- how a great idea can be killed if it doesn’t make ends meet:
Questions to discuss:
·         Do you think we will ever fly commercially with supersonic speeds, or will the world settle down with what is already achieved in that matter?
·         Would you fly a Concorde if it was reinstated to service, provided you had the money for the flight?
·         Or maybe you had a chance to fly this majestic plane?

Comments

Definitely our daily technologies are not the end of the progress. I believe that one day we will use "supersonic speed", but not today. The main reason is that old technologies can not disappear in a moment, because it is just a business. Same question is medical supplement - we can't buy a new, unordinary one until the old one was sold out.

Honestly, i'm afraid of flying. And if you are talking about plane with a super speed, i don't know how much time i need to adapt to make my first try.
Unknown said…
In my opinion, we won't see a new generation of supersonic commercial jets in 5-10 years because even if our technological progress allows us to built one still it is not profitable. Not every airline company can afford to buy such airplane, not even mentioning complex and expensive maintenance of supersonic jet like Concorde. Maybe soon engineers will come up with some alternative solution which can make producing of supersonic jets more cost-efficient thus making these types of planes more affordable. But for now, we should stick with traditional commercial jets.

Would I fly a Concorde? For safety reasons, I would say no.
Unknown said…
I think that we will fly commercially with supersonic speeds but I don't know when. Yes, I really would like to fly with Concorde. I have never flown this plane. I don't understand why they removed this kind of plane from the market. I think sound defects and hidden defects were lies for people and I think they were planes of the future and they were too good then and now. In our history we have lots of things which were too good and people made reasons to delete them from the market.
Jakub Nietupski said…
I am absolutely sure that we won't be satisfied with what we have now. Business trips can waste tons of time and therefore money - so definitely there is a demand for high-speed travel.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't be so sure that the next game-changer in travel industry will be the reintroduction of supersonic flights. There are other technologies, like Hyperloop super-fast trains, that seem very promising. Companies and organisations such as SpaceX or Hyper Poland are putting a lot of effort into developing a fully functional, cheap, business-ready solution in this branch of innovation.
When it comes to me, I think it would be an interesting experience to fly in a Concorde, but I wouldn't expect anything too extraordinary - after all there isn't much to see or do during a flight ;)
Marcin Mróz said…
I think we shouldn't exclude any possibility at the time of technology growing so fast. We can hear that Elon Musk plans to make trips on Mars, so why wouldn't we fly again with supersonic speed in the future? Maybe somone will develop technology that would make costs of usage and maintenance of this plane lower and thus make ticket prices more reachable for normal people. In this situation I would definately like to give it a try. It could be really interesting experience.
Foodocado said…
Not far ago, I watched a documentary film about the Concorde and TU-144. It is sad that such a great project as Concorde was, fell apart. For sure, it will be remembered by many people. I would love to have a chance to fly on this machine.

I am not sure if there will be the successor of Concorde. These type of planes are very loud and they are really expensive. They will have many supporters and opponents.

I heard Elon Musk proposed city-to-city travel by rocket. In my humble opinion, this is a great idea. Unfortunately, many people will not be able to afford it.
Filip Sawicki said…
Yes I think that we will fly supersonic speed planes in the near future. The demand for fast travel is growing exponentially with globalization process. Concorde was unfortunate accident and I have always been in support of it’s supersonic technology. Obviously it had it’s drawbacks but we have advanced in technology since then, so things such as loud noise coming from breaking sound barrier (sonic boom) can be mitigated. If I had an opportunity to fly Concorde I wouldn’t hesitate.
Unknown said…
I think we live in wonderful life when technologies develops fast and as the time flies we are more and more close to things we couldn't imagine, and perhaps we have a lot of interesting things ahead. I don't know what others think, but as for me it's hard for me to imagine that the world will stop on what has already been achieved, I think that sooner or later this flights will become more sophisticated and they will provide us with services we have never heard. However, it is hard to say when it will happen, because today it is a business that has already been mentioned several times.

What I think personally about flights by Concorde? I would not do it from the first flight of Concorde after they are back to market, but after they took their own place in the market, yes I will join the flight with the pleasure.
Unknown said…
Definitely technological progress will never stay in place in my opinion. So I think that in the future we will fly at supersonic speed. I think that the soonest will be the new generation of supersonic airplane for 15 years. I think that the main reason is that now we still have the old technology for flying so fast.

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to fly as fast a plane as Concorde.
If I had the opportunity to fly this plane and I have money for the flight, I would definitely do it. I would be afraid of such speed, but I would like to try.
Peter Clemenza said…
Well Concorde didn't failed purely due to
their reputation after the crash. In reality it is a lot more complicated than that.
The company that maintained the Concorde fleets,
decided to stop making replacement parts.
These planes were simply too old (~40 years).
After every flight with supersonic speed,
Concorde often needed some parts replaced.

Planes that are beeing produced right now
are going to serve for nearest 30 years.
Hovewer we can see some interest from
private companies like spacex, that
can lower the price of high speed flights.
Another arms race (in aeronautics) is something
that we all need.

Champagne and high class service while looking at
the curviture of the Earth its definetly
worth to take a chance for me.
Maciej Główka said…
I feel sorry that I missed the opportunity to fly in concorde. That's why I hope, that one day casual aeroplanes will reach supersonic speed and traveling in that speed will be something normal for us. If concorde was reinstated to service, without a doubt I would like to fly in it, even if I had to buy a ticket with my own money.
In my estimation the technological progress will never stop despite laws of science.People are constantly expanding their boundaries thus we may assume that one day the new ‚Concorde‘ will arise.However there is no guarantee that it isn’t already created but marked as ‚top secret‘.In spite of cost of maintenance and price of the tickets there was a bunch of people that wanted to travel by this jet.That’s why it’s hard to tell that such kind of planes would be unprofitable.

I think that I wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to fly a Concorde.
Vladlen Kyselov said…
I am absolutely sure that technology process will never stop and human eager to learn unknown. I will fly on supersonic speed once it will be proved that it is save enough, I definitely won`t be the first person to test it. Also I guess that such type of plains will take part in our life not soon. To my opinion reaching supersonic speed will be the next step to human evolution, because it is possible that flying with the speed of light which is close to supersonic speed will open 4th dimension called by scientist "time dimension".
1st one for sure. Travel time is i think one of the biggest issues that we are trying to solve right now, faster and more efficient traveling.
Absolutely not, im afraid of flying really bad.
Nope, never. And as i said even if i had... NOPE
Unknown said…
It’s hard to determine whether we will ever fly commercially with supersonic speeds in great machines. As it was mentioned I think it’s expensive and won’t be available for many people because I think that actual time needed to get from EU to USA is ok and people won’t be willing to pay much more to shorten this time. Of course there are particular cases and there will be always someone ready to pay that amount to get to USA in 4 hours instead of 11 but I think that those services won’t be put into commercial in next few years.
I think that I’d like to fly a Concorde because I’ve never did.
The fact that we need everything to be faster and faster jut to squeeze more thing in our to-do list is really sad. Instead of enjoing the sights of skies in "slow" airplanes people think about how fast they can fly from place to place to put themselves back to routine and work. Technology is cool but like with every modern invention it needs to meet the financial demands, or noone will use it. So i am sure some day we will fly comercially with hypersonic speeds, when it becomes cheap and available for everyone.
Unknown said…
1. It’s an indisputable fact that people will never give up on progressing with technical development, however, I am not really sure if we are going to fly with supersonic speeds soon again. While it is absolutely feasible from a technical point of view, it is not economically justified from plane manufacturers and airlines’ perspectives. As always, it is a question of money and it seems that costs of designing, manufacturing and maintaining commercial fleet of supersonic airplanes are just too high.

2. I would consider flying a Concorde, but I have doubts if it would be a much different experience than flying an ordinary jet.

3. Unfortunately I had never had a chance to fly Concorde, probably because I was too young when it was in service.
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Well, the supersonic transport will be possible, but God knows if it will be the plane, Hyperloop or other strange technological miracle. Probably the ground transport will be first to be cheap and widely available. Creating nearly vacuum like tube with only one-way road is easier than trying to compensate sonic boom effect (that could be used as a weapon too).
And I'd like to fly Concorde if I had a chance, but there are many other, much more fun vessels for me, to try them. For instance all the F-family fighters or AH-64 Apache helicopter.
Unknown said…
As far as I'am concerned, this is more than possible - just look at project of Elon Musk - HyperLoop. Our civilisation is growing so fast, we didn't even notice. The only problem is that most of the ideas comes from necessity. Now, when planes works just fine, people don't feel like they need more, they need to get from point A to point B with safety so the idea of supersonic speed plane with lower safeness can be difficult to "sell". But as I mentioned, Elon Musk doing great job with his project - innovation&safety - that what we desire the most.
2)Sure, why not? - I'm feeling fine during flights, but I doubt if it would be a much different experience than traveling by an ordinary jet - qucker, thats for sure.
3)Never, I'm too young I guess, and on top of that I don't fly often - I enjoy the travel with the company, I like the expirience and journey by itself - it's the best way to have a good trip, destination doesn't matter that much if You enjoy Your trip from the beggining ;)
~s13816
Unknown said…
I have heard about the Concorde but I didn't know any specifics about this plane. I think that in the nearest future we will be able to travel much faster than these days.

I don't have a lot of experience with flights because I was on plane only twice but I think that if I had a opportunity to flight the Concorde I would try. It could be very breathtaking experience but I feel that it would be worth it to overcome fear.

I am waiting with my fingers crossed that we will be traveling by planes similar to the Concorde and I really feel that it a next step in a technological progress.
Unknown said…
1. Do you think we will ever fly commercially with supersonic speeds, or will the world settle down with what is already achieved in that matter?
I think we could sometimes return to supersonic speeds or even more. It will depend on technology, and business behind that technology.
2. Would you fly a Concorde if it was reinstated to service, provided you had the money for the flight?
Why not, that would be great adventure.
3. Or maybe you had a chance to fly this majestic plane?
Unfortunately, I do not.
Jakub Lisicki said…
One thing worth noting is that human race never settles. That's why I hope for supersonic flights or some other, even methods of public transportation to be introduced for good in the future. Just because we've already invented supersonic flights, doesn't mean that it's either the best or the most comfortable way of commuting.
I wouldn't really care which plane I would took, as long as the conditions would be relatively good and the cost just wouldn't be too high. It's true that I like to explore and try the new things, but this topic is just out of my real interests - I wouldn't really care. Maybe it would be fun, maybe not. Most certainly, I just wouldn't want to waste my time looking for an occasion.
Like most of you reading this comment have already guessed - I've never had a chance to fly this plane, even though I used to fly a lot all across the globe. It was a really nice experience, but even after a large number of flights, I can't name even one of the plane models that I've been inside of.
Unknown said…
The temptation of earning more, natural curiosity and many people for whom there is no such phrase "strange idea", I think we definitely will archive supersonic speeds with commercial flights -it's just a matter of time. We live in perfect time for new technological innovations. All great and successful companies that were found in the past few years shows that there is always a place in business for a new player if he can be better than others regarding price, technology or advertising.

Sure I would! Every new experience extends our borders, so why not!

Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to have a chance to fly this plane, but I wish I would have it in the future.
Anna Koca said…
I think it is a very interesting topic to discuss. Answering your first question, it is not very precise, since the technology is already there. The question then should be whether it will be economically viable to reinstate Concorde to service. One thing worth noticing is that the economic priorities nowadays are different than during the 70s. Back then (with the Cold War in the background), there was ongoing massive arms and technology race, while today the world is very much focused on sustainability, up to the point where it can give up on a groundbreaking idea if it is not in line with safety requirements. Hence, I believe that Concorde will be brought back to the market whenever it becomes sustainable - which means marginal accident rate and marginal impact on the environment. Another aspect mentioned in the video was that Concorde idea could not scale up. However, I do not entirely agree with that argument. Concorde was supposed to be a luxury for the rich and a token of status. Tokens of status should not scale up, as they cease to be them.
When it comes to your second and third question, the answer is: of course, but I think that money is the main issue here. Unless someone is afraid of flights, I don't see a reason why wouldn't they want to embark on a supersonic journey.
Unknown said…
It is obvious that we will fly commercially with supersonic speeds in the future. The technology is growing faster and faster and now many companies are focused on public transport more than ever. Autonomic cars, city-to-city traveling by rocket announced some time ago by SpeceX are just beginning of the revolution. I think the question should be when, not if ever.
Of course, I would fly a Concorde if I had an opportunity. Flying at 2 Mach and 60 000 ft above the ground is for sure great experience, that sadly I have never had a chance to have.
Unknown said…
Once I saw a very interesting document about fast airplanes and one of them was Concorde. There was compared momentum of the fastest car in the world and this plane. A very interesting experience

In my opinion we will fly in that way. We need only a little more time to improve it. It's because it's really comfortable and it will change a lot in the context of travel.

I love traveling and every new experience in that way is valuable for me. Unfortunatelly I didn't have the possibilyty to try fligtht by Concorde. I really like traveling by plane and I'm interested in everything that moves with a large speed, which I think would be a great experience for me.
Wojtek Protasik said…
It depends on economics and technology we develop. Concorde main issue was fuel, among other of course, but still the fuel. The plane was quite unlucky to be introduced to the World along with fuel crisis.

No I wouldn't fly it. I would prefer something much safer and more advanced. Concorde was also noticed not to prevent any kind of radiation and heat coming in. It was flying quite high (ozone layer) but not all factors were properly measured and considered I guess.

Nope. I doubt anyone in this group have.
I belive that in nearest future about 5 years. We would have an oppurtinity to travell between cities and countries in less than one hour. There are already plans to create "supersonic speed" tube which would be authorised as public transport. To be honest I can't wait to use that!
Yes if I would be given an opportunity to fly a Concorde i would definitely use it. I like advantures and honestly I love adrenaline so I wouldn't mind to fly:)
Unknown said…
I think that there is a possibility, that one day we will use these supersonic speeds. Even though the technology is growing rapidly, I don’t think that it’ll happen in the nearest future, but still - I believe that’s there is an opportunity.
I don’t think that I would like to fly a Concorde. First of all, I’m not really into flying and secondly - I would say no, just for safety reasons.
Unknown said…
I am absolutely sure, that this is not the end of the progress. And guys like Elon Musk will keep on surprising us with something that seems to be fantastical. I love planes and would definitely try to fly a Concorde if I had a chance. There was also soviet TU-144, it's last flight was in 1999. As far as I remember it was used by NASA when they worked on developing the passenger plane with the supersonic speed. I have no idea, what has happened with that project.. Anyway, it would be cool one day to fly fast and comfortably.
Unknown said…
Reffering to your topic it reminds me of the Mercedes-Benz W123. This model was produced from 1975 to 1986 and is considered the most reliable and durable car ever made. The car that will never die is the dream for all of the car owners, but it’s the worst nightmare for car concers. In short, because the biggest profit for them is from service, not from sale. That’s why we don’t aim for perfection and technological development, but for the cheap and quicly made electronic devices.

Regarding to Concorde i would love to fly this one, because i'm fascinated by the shape of it and i hate wasting my time travelling(escpecially in public transport), so the speed of it would be perfect for me.
I hope we will see a fast, comfortable and safe mean of transport in near future and i believe it will be the air transportation.
Patryk Górski said…
Personally, I think that of course it is quite sad, that this idea was shut down, but I also think that new idea for faster flights will arrive soon - just think about it. Everything goes so fast around us, the technological progress is so big right now. I think that it is a matter of time, when we will fly so much faster.

I would try flying in a seat of a Concorde plane, for a testing purposes, even without taking any money for it - it could be a great journey and experience.

Sadly I did not had any chance to fly with it
Iman Masjedi said…
I think that human progress in the field of aeronautical technology is related to two major factors:
1- minimum risk-cost- time
2-Available for everyone

-the biggest challenges facing supersonic airplane like Concorde was the sonic boom. The noise made by an aircraft breaking the sound barrier was onerous enough that it was prohibited over a lot of countries, severely limiting the number of viable commercial routes.in other hand there are solutions for that , for example airbus have consept of airplane name Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport can fly above the atmosphere, so the boom would not reach the surface. It would even tackle the issue of pollution.

-if they develop Concord with new aerodynamic anlasysis and new starndards of check up that can be approved by ICAO ,my answer is yes.
Unknown said…
I hope that we all can have chance to fly a Concorde in the future.
Nowadays there are so many business meetings around the world that each hour saved has a huge value, that's why I think supersonic airplanes are going to be available within few years.
Unfortunately I did not have opportunity to travel in Concorde,
Cecylia said…
As it was said in the video the supersonic speed was a problem for people houses because the windows could break. also the ozone . maybe if in the future they will find a good plane "formula" to reduce the strong sound of the plane and to reduce the emitation of gaz . I hope that one day I could fly a half less time to a place far away from me like the USA. I was once in the USA and the flight was like a whole day sitting in a small chair but then you land and its the same time you left your home country , time traveling . If i had the oportunity I would definetely try the Concorde It seems exciting and luxurious.

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