concorde
 

i thought i would ask here because someone is bound to know which terminal does concorde fly into at heathrow

i have looked on BA's website and i cant find it anywhere i would love to see comcorde in the air before it stops flying but i dont really know where to go

cheers if anyone one can help me

vikki

Terminal 4

For another few months... :sad:

Providing there's a stand available! ;)

If you actually want to see it land/takeoff go to the Queens Building around terminals 1/2/3 (anyone know which is closest?) where you pay a small fee (?) and then can see both runways reasonably clearly. Obviously getting there around departure or arrival time will help ;)

I don't believe there's a fee to pay nowadays (amazingly). The last two occasions I've been there over the last 12 months, I've not had to pay. :ok:

If you get a chance VIKKI, the 31L departure from JFK looks more impressive. I've not seen it first hand but try here if you have broadband :p

Many thanks to NineEighteen for the link to the AF departure JFK! Wow, very fine.

Whilst we are on the subject of the beautiful bird ... I was browsing the BA Celebrating Concorde website and noticed this about the reheat: "This adds fuel to the final stage of the engine to produce the extra power required for take-off and the transition to supersonic flight."

Dredging what I recall from many moons ago, I thought that re-heat was required to sustain supersonic flight? This statement indicates that, once at her cruise, the reheat is no longer needed?

I'm just getting my facts right as my own trip is only 18 days away. Yikes!

Supercruise
 

PAXBoy... Probably the single most remarkable think about the design of the Concorde is the ability to supercruise (ie. maintain supersonic cruise/climb without reheat). There have been some excited rumblings recently about some military aircraft just built which can achieve this, but Concorde has been doing it without fuss or drama since 1970. Those guys got it right first time.

The reheats are used for the takeoff until the start of noise abatement. Next they are re-applied only for the transonic acceleration at M0.93 until M1.7. From M1.3 the intakes are doing their magic and at M1.7 the reheats are switched off - this halves the fuel flow at a stroke and makes transatlantic range at 20+ miles a minute possible. The engines are now the most efficient internal combustion engines yet built and complete the acceleration & climb to M2.0 without the need for reheat. At M2.0, only 50% of the total thrust comes from the engine - the other 50% comes from the intake system and exhaust nozzle assembly.

Good, eh?

Does that therefore mean that should Concorde suffer a quadruple engine failure, whilst cruising at M2.0, it would still have 50% thrust available from the 'intake system and exhaust nozzle assembly' ? ;)

No - just in case you were serious - the shockwave patterns through the intake and subsequent airflow patterns through the engine / primary & secondary nozzles are critical. When running, the whole system is finely tuning itself to engine thrust settings and ambient air conditions (first use of a digital computer in an aircraft, they tell me) - the thrust force vector added by the intake and exhaust controls makes it possible to dispense with reheat above M1.7. Chop the engine, the spill doors open and the whole unit is shut down, intake and exhaust included.

Thanks. As I'm sure you knew, I was only teasing, but your further explanation is both interesting and appreciated.

Unfortunately the public viewing platform above Terminal 2 has been closed for some considerable time due to security issues

Is that one handed typing ATCO TWO?!

P7:p

The official figures for the engines at mach2 are:

At take off and during subsonic flight, 82% of the thrust is developed by the engine alone with 6% from the nozzles and 21% from the intakes

During the Supersonic cruse only 8% of the power is derived by the engine with the other 29% being from Nozzles and an impressive 63% from the intakes.

As for viewing don't go anywhere near T1,2,3 the viewing areas are closed.

have a look at this page

http://www.concordesst.com/retire/viewconcorde_r.html

Remember Concorde currnetly only uses the north runway for depts, and for the next 5 saturdays there is no evening JFK dept as the summer and final BGI season is underway with a 09:30 dept (from t4)

> At take off and during subsonic flight, 82% of the thrust is developed by the engine alone with 6% from the nozzles and 21% from the intakes

I know that the Concorde engines are powerful but 109%??! ;)


VIKKI - I am fortunate enough to live under the flightpath so see the bird at least once a day! Unless you specifically want to see the take off or landing, try going a bit further West of LHR at about 7:00 and looking up. It goes over Bracknell at about 7:05pm.

Hi
If the 27s are in use then the best place to see her (and any other plane) is the visitors centre car park on the north perimeter road. Just remember your earplugs:ok:

Pedant2


Not trying to be smart, but I did forget to do the adding up, which does come to 109%.

I went and looked it up in the engine manual, and it is correct; the additional 9% is negative thrust (drag) caused by the intakes.

So the actual thrust from the intakes is 12%, but in real terms they generate 21%.

Many, many thanks folks.

I have now recalled a conversation from 20 years ago with a man who worked at Filton on the intakes/exhausts. He was in another (unrelated) job then and I did not ask him all the questions that I should have done!

He said, "Concorde 'sucks' her way across the Atlantic." From what you have said, this sounds like a good way to describe it!

Seriously .... can someone explain how the engine intakes and exhausts develop this thrust ?

I have the "Concorde, the Inside Story" by Trubshaw and the description of the intakes mainly concentrates on how they are designed to prevent engine surging...

KABZ

Try this page for starters

http://www.concordesst.com/powerplant.html

Please say if you want any more info.

Concorde at Mach 2 was and is still the most efficient aircaft ever built...and don't let the media tell you anything otherwise.

Saying that.....getting to Mach2 and subsonic cruise it not pretty.

The way the intakes perform, the engine is on the verge of becoming a ramjet. No need for turbines/compressors at all by that stage..
:D

Trouble is, the accelerating part from take-off to cruise...
:ooh: