The pilots of the plane try to level it. They switch off some engines, and it was found that the plane couldn’t reach high speeds, people on the highway near the airport spot the plane from their cars. The scene was truly shocking. Within minutes, the pilots lose all control over the plane. And then the plane crashed into a hotel 15 km from Paris. In this crash, all 100 passengers of the plane, all 9 crew members, passed away. This plane crash shocked the world.
How could this be? This was the most prestigious airplane. The top-class airplane in the world, The Concorde Supersonic airplane. How could this crash? In the history of the Supersonic Concordes, this was the first and only plane crash. Neither did any Concorde aircraft crash before it, nor did any after this. But this one plane crash altered the history of Supersonic aircraft forever.
The word ‘supersonic’ is related to sound. To the speed of sound. Normally, the speed of sound at sea level is approximately 1,236 km/hr. It’s approximate because the speed depends on the temperature of the wind as well. If the temperature is fluctuating, the speed of sound will also fluctuate a bit but more or less, it is around this number. The speed at which an aircraft travels can be divided into four categories.
- Subsonic
- Transonic
- Supersonic
- Hypersonic
