DOUGALD CAMERON

CONCORDE: GREATEST DESIGN OF ALL TIME

Dougald Cameron is the former head of design at GSA and gave a talk on the Concorde, an aircraft he believes is the greatest design of all time. I always find it very interesting to hear someone talk about something they are truly passionate about. His love of aviation and engineering innovation in the field was obvious while listening to him talk.

He says that Concorde is the perfect design, more specifically the perfect blend of engineering and design. I think I would agree. Concorde was revolutionary in a way we haven’t come close too since. In an era where jet travel was focused on comfort and opulence with no concerns about sustainability, Concorde did the impossible. It is insane to me that you could travel 3 hours from London to New York 50 years ago, but the quickest I could do it now is 8. Obviously, Concorde wasn’t without its problems, as touched on by Dougald, with its heavy fuel usage and operating costs. The plane was plagued by its ‘Sonic Boom’ a noise the aircraft made when travelling at supersonic speeds. Eventually an unfortunate Air France accident in 2000 was the nail in the coffin for the struggling Jet, leading it to stopping operation in 2003.

In terms of future air travel Dougald Cameron made it clear he thinks there is a future for Supersonic Travel. “Engineers usually provide solutions to all problems”, and “The future is fast”, or something to that effect. He believes that one way or another in the future, supersonic travel will return through further engineering innovation, similarly to how the original Concorde came to fruition.

D&T RESEARCH

When talking about ‘Future Commercial Aviation’ in 1960, like I am trying to do today, people would have been talking about supersonic. The 50s was a time of quick innovation in air travel with the switch from prop planes to jet liners. This saw a change in speed from approximately Mach 0.11-0.46 to Mach 0.6-0.85. 1949 saw the first flight of a commercial jet liner, the de Havilland Comet, closely followed by aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 with great commercial success. In a space of 10 years prop planes were out and jet liners were in.

In the 1960s the idea of supersonic jet travel was now the future, the switch to jet travel was quick so what was next. Supersonic air travel had been achieved on a smaller scale, setting the stage for a passenger configuration. There was a desire for quicker travel and Concorde was the answer. Many aircraft manufacturers at the time were racing to be the first to develop this jet. In Europe, two main companies from Britain and France were developing separate jets, Bristol Aeroplane Company and Sud Aviation. The decision to combine forces saw the birth of the Concorde programme. Concorde was one of the most technologically advanced projects of the decade, probably second only to the Apollo Programme.

Concorde Innovations

This saw the massive jump in speeds from Mach 0.6-0.85 to Mach 2.04. To put it into perspective, Concorde could fly from London to New York and back before a traditional airliner could have made a one-way trip. With this increased speeds Concorde had to undergo some massive changes compared to a conventional plane. It had to be able to fly at both supersonic speeds but still be able to generate enough lift at lower speeds for take-off and landing, this saw the creation of the delta wing. This sweeped back wing design allowed for efficient travel at supersonic speeds. It had an ogival wing shape to allow for flying at lower speeds for take-off and landing. It had a very rear heavy centre of gravity, and the aircraft therefore had a droop nose system in the front that could be dropped to allow pilots to see while flying at lower speeds. More powerful engines were obviously required, with 4 Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets under the wings. These were incredibly fuel hungry engines, leading to the increased fuel consumption compared to tradional airliners.

Now to look at whether supersonic is the answer for the future now we need to look at what went wrong with Concorde. Initially, the aircraft had 70 orders placed from airlines around the world. In the end only 20 were ever delivered to British Airways and Air France, the flag carriers of the very countries that developed it. So, what led to these cancelled orders?

Any aircraft travelling at supersonic speeds, from small jets to large airliners, will create a sonic boom that can be heard from the ground along the entire route it flies. It produces an extremely loud boom on the ground and can even cause tremors. This led to the US leading the way in banning supersonic travel across the country in 1973 closely followed by Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany. To this day it is illegal to fly supersonic aircraft above many places around the world.

Ultimately expensive operation and fuel costs was the real killer of the Concorde jets that made it to commercial use. Concorde burned a massive 25,629 litres of fuel per hour, compared to roughly 12,500 litres burned by the Boeing 747. Concorde could only seat 100 passengers compared to the 747s 480. When you look at the numbers its clear to see why Concorde could almost never be financially or environmentally viable. Transporting a quarter of the passengers for double the cost doesn’t sound overly inviting.

Boom Overture Promotional Imagery

Despite these problems there are supersonic programmes currently being developed with the hopes of bringing back this quick and convenient travel. Boom Supersonic leads the way with the development of the Boom Overture which aims to take flight in 2026. It has a whopping 130 orders already showing that at least the industry believes in the concept, or maybe they just don’t want to get left behind. Some of the biggest orders are from American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines. So, what is different this time around?

Boom Overture Promotional Figures

In terms of sustainability, Overture is designed to run on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), according to promotional material. The long-term plan is for every aircraft to run on SAFs so is it still sustainable to pursue a jet that will likely still consume something like four times the fuel of the average jet while carrying a third of the passengers. The company are committed to net-zero by 2025, which is essentially just a corporate buzz word. Boom seem to be taking the approach that they will still fly sub-sonic over land saying the jet will go just 20% faster. Then when over the water, the jet will apparently be able to fly twice as fast. Notably not as fast as Concorde though.

This still leaves the issue of supersonic booms. Dougald believes we will engineer a solution to this, and he might just be right. NASA and Lockheed Martin have recently revealed a ‘Quiet’ supersonic aircraft that they have been developing, the X-59. This was developed with a focus of providing data to regulators to try and convince them to overturn the prohibition of supersonic flights over land. The X-59 is expected to fly at Mach 1.4 but claim this can be done at quieter speeds. It also isn’t a prototype; it is an experimental aircraft designed to inform future development so this is likely a long way off for commercial use.

X-59 Promotional Imagery

The X-59 aims to reduce sounds by drastically altering the shape of the aircraft. At 99.7 feet long and 29.5 feet wide, the aircraft features a long and thin tapered nose that accounts for almost a third of the total length. The cockpit now sits almost halfway down the aircraft. This is designed to help breakup the shock waves that generate in these areas. The engines are also mounted on the top of the aircraft to prevent shockwaves from merging behind the aircraft. Tests keep being delayed but are expected at some point this year. As cool as this is, I don’t see how this would ever be able to be adapted to a commercial configuration without reducing capacity to something even lower than it already is.

Looking at all this information of new developments it seems reasonable that Supersonic will play a role in commercial air travel. By simply compromising the routes they can fly, there is likely still a market for these kinds of flights. With a US government funded NASA project in the works in collaboration with Lockheed Martin it seems conceivable that they figure out a solution to the sonic boom issue. There’s nothing the Americans like more than funding military equipment, and I’m sure they could find a use for this technology somewhere in their arsenal. So yes, supersonic looks like it will be in our near future, but it is definitely not sustainable. Saying you will use SAFs but still actively developing a jet that carries less passengers and uses significantly more fuel is a step entirely in the wrong direction. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Will the Boom Overture ever make it to market? And even if it does, will it stand the test of time? As society switches to a sustainability focus of less fuel consumption, why are they even thinking about this. I guess I kind of get it. I would absolutely have loved to have flown on Concorde. Although it essentially became a tool only for the rich and I fear this will likely be the same. Another case of rich people causing more emissions just because they can.

USEFUL LINKS

INTERESTING SUMMARY VIDEO ON THE CONCORDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBvPue70l8&t=293s

BOOM WEBSITE AND INFORMATION ON THE OVERTURE
https://boomsupersonic.com/overture

NASA WEBSITE AND INFORMATION ON THE X-59 QUESST
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/quesst/