Could Concorde fly again?

[englisharcher]

OK not exactly Concorde, we all know lots of high up people never want her to fly again.

But is there anything stopping a super rich aircraft fan from having an exact copy built, or even another aircraft company building a very close copy for commercial purposes?

I know about the Russian copy, but believe it never worked very well.

[Victor McDade]

I recall that the development cost of the project was over £1 billion. In todays money that is well in excess of £10 billion. Not many folks, even the 'super rich' have that kind of cash to throw at such a project.

[davepoth]

Victor McDade said:

I recall that the development cost of the project was over £1 billion. In todays money that is well in excess of £10 billion. Not many folks, even the 'super rich' have that kind of cash to throw at such a project.

If it was done on a commercial basis it'd be much cheaper - witness how much less it is for businesses to get into space than it is for governments. Concorde ended up being really rather similar to a military procurement project in style, even though it was a commercial aircraft.

If a Richard Branson, or Elon Musk really wanted to do it, they would; they both have the technology to build things capable of withstanding high altitudes and speeds, and I guess engines would be little problem.

[englisharcher]

Most of the development has already been done, as you would just be building a replica.

That would save a lot of money.

[silverfoxcc]

In Theory, One of the craft could fly again, BUT you are up against a lot of problems in the paperwork dept.
After all its 60's technology rather like the Vulcan, and on the ground a new steam loco has been built from scratch, so nothing is impossible
So if everyone said yes go for it, and there was a bottomless pot to fund it, the pilots are still here....... but IMHO it aint gonna happen, but it is a nice thought

[Eric Mc]

No need or desire to do this.

The next civilian supersonic aircraft will be a biz jet. There are quite a few designs for SSBJs awaiting funding and go ahead. I reckon we will have an SSBJ within ten years.

[fatboy69]

Sadly it will never happen. Shouldn't have been grounded in the first place however the politics saw that it happened. The subject has been done to death & in light of the problems with XH558 Concorde would never be given the ok to fly again.

[kooky guy]

I thought there was a well funded French group planning to fly one..?

[daz3210]

I'm surprised that they didn't manage to keep one airworthy for display purposes tbh.

But, thinking about the comment regarding pilots, what procedures are there to train pilots in any new supersonic aircraft? After all, someone has to be the first...

[davepoth]

kooky guy said:

I thought there was a well funded French group planning to fly one..?

Unless Airbus (the design authority) agree, it's never going to happen.

[Eric Mc]

daz3210 said:

I'm surprised that they didn't manage to keep one airworthy for display purposes tbh.

But, thinking about the comment regarding pilots, what procedures are there to train pilots in any new supersonic aircraft? After all, someone has to be the first...

Who would "they" be?

[daz3210]

Eric Mc said:

daz3210 said:

I'm surprised that they didn't manage to keep one airworthy for display purposes tbh.

But, thinking about the comment regarding pilots, what procedures are there to train pilots in any new supersonic aircraft? After all, someone has to be the first...

Who would "they" be?

Either BA, or some consortium formed for the purpose.

[Eric Mc]

daz3210 said:

Eric Mc said:

daz3210 said:

I'm surprised that they didn't manage to keep one airworthy for display purposes tbh.

But, thinking about the comment regarding pilots, what procedures are there to train pilots in any new supersonic aircraft? After all, someone has to be the first...

Who would "they" be?

Either BA, or some consortium formed for the purpose.

Forget it.

BA won't do anything that isn't revenue earning.

There is no consortium in the world that would have the resources to run a Concorde as a display aircraft.

And finally, the thing has no legal permission to fly anyway.

[Victor McDade]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/25/son-of-...

[Eric Mc]

Victor McDade said:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/25/son-of-...

Exactly as I said above.

The future of civilian supersonic flight lies with the business jet sector.

When Concorde was first proposed (1958) the business jet had barely been invented. All air travel was a luxury affordable only by the few. Now, that same "demographic" fly in business jets, not airliners. If you want to target a supersonic transport at that demographic, it has to be a biz jet - not an airliner.

[magpie215]

Eric Mc said:

Forget it.

BA won't do anything that isn't revenue earning.

look at the way they allowed the Cosford collection to be disposed of.

[Eric Mc]

Precisely. Absolutely disgraceful.

[MitchT]

I guess I'm in a minority then, being someone who'd sooner travel on a faster plane than a larger one.

[davepoth]

Eric Mc said:

Exactly as I said above.

The future of civilian supersonic flight lies with the business jet sector.

When Concorde was first proposed (1958) the business jet had barely been invented. All air travel was a luxury affordable only by the few. Now, that same "demographic" fly in business jets, not airliners. If you want to target a supersonic transport at that demographic, it has to be a biz jet - not an airliner.

Likely to be trans- rather than properly supersonic though, I should think; somewhere around Mach 1.25 would be within the capability of the engines on current business jets if the airframes were OK for it - and that would cut two hours off London-NY.

[magpie215]

davepoth said:

Likely to be trans- rather than properly supersonic though, I should think; somewhere around Mach 1.25

most airliners are already transonic around .97 mach......1.25 mach is very much supersonic