story (http://www.msnbc.com/news/984560.asp)

The end of Supersonic flight for a while, maybe. The last few issues of Popular Science has had some great articles on the future of flight. Give it 10-15 years and SSTs will be back in force, but cheaper, quieter and more environmentally friendly.

What gets me is we should already have the replacements ready. As Jeremy Clarkson (on the last flight) said its a giant leap back for mankind (to give up civilian SSTs). Can you imagine if Intel said "sorry the PIII is not cost effective so we are pulling it off the market - everyone go back to using a PII". Of course not, they would replace it with the P4 whilst the P3 is still going strong.

Simple supply and demand. The airlines can supply SST, but the consumers don't have an overwhelming demand for it at its current price. Find a way to make it more affordable and it may be a success.

The main draw back of SST is the sonic boom. This boom prevented the Concord or any other supersonic airliner from flying over land thus limiting it to only flying over the oceans. This limited market kept the Concord from ever being profitable and keeping ticket prices at an almost unattainable level.

Any new jet that wants to make any money would have to be able to greatly reduce this sonic boom. There are many promising new technologies in development at this time though.

Whether there will ever be civilian SST again is still up in the air, but I sure would like to see it again. Like it has been said before, not having it is step backward for humanity.

Erm, no I'd say the biggest drawback is the cost. Absolutely enormous amounts of fuel are required to fly at those speeds. The fuel capacity of Concorde is something like 100 tonnes (!), or one tonne per passenger. A 747 Jumbo carries approx. one and a half times as much fuel, but can carry four times as many passengers and has twice the range.

I have to agree with Aviation Week & Space Technology and their take on the "end of the era" -- that the unfortunate part of "great expreriment" was that there was nothing further, no follow on...

Fair thee well, Concorde...

I'm really sad to see the Concorde go too. I've been fortunate enough to have flown trans-atlantic on the Concorde twice. The first time was on BA using AA miles, the second was on Air France as part of a cruise package. It spoils you rotten. Even first class on AA's 777 seems like a Greyhoud bus compared to the Concorde. It's a shame no one could make an affordable SST.

-Dave

Originally posted by pelucidor

Can you imagine if Intel said "sorry the PIII is not cost effective so we are pulling it off the market - everyone go back to using a PII". Of course not, they would replace it with the P4 whilst the P3 is still going strong. [/B]

If Intel was giving away their PIII and the people that used them were losing money, I do think that they would stop. Actually, I think they never would have started!!

The Concords were sold to BA for 1 pound. Lots of tax money went into them. They flew because of this. All airlines that wanted to make a profit said NO to the plane.

that sucks
and i saw that plane take off
________
French cooking (http://www.cooking-chef.com/french/)

Lot's of tax money goes into all airlines because they pay no tax whatsoever on fuel... :)