The history of the 2 supersonic passenger planes: the Tupolev Tu-144 aka Concordski and the last flight of Air France Concorde flight 4590.
The Tupolev Tu-144 (Russian: Tyполев Ту-144; NATO reporting name: Charger) is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999.
The Tu-144 was the world’s first commercial supersonic transport aircraft with its prototype’s maiden flight from Zhukovsky Airport on 31 December 1968, two months before the British-French Concorde. The Tu-144 was a product of the Tupolev Design Bureau, an OKB headed by aeronautics pioneer Aleksey Tupolev, and 16 aircraft were manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh. The Tu-144 conducted 102 commercial flights, of which only 55 carried passengers, at an average service altitude of 16,000 metres (52,000 ft) and cruised at a speed of around 2,200 kilometres per hour (1,400 mph) (Mach 2). The Tu-144 first went supersonic on 5 June 1969, four months before Concorde, and on 26 May 1970 became the world’s first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
Reliability and developmental issues, together with repercussions of the 1973 Paris Air Show Tu-144 crash and rising fuel prices, restricted the viability of the Tu-144 for regular use. The Tu-144 was introduced into passenger service with Aeroflot between Moscow and Almaty on 26 December 1975, but withdrawn less than three years later after a second Tu-144 crashed on 23 May 1978. The Tu-144 remained in commercial service as a cargo aircraft until cancellation of the Tu-144 program in 1983. The Tu-144 was later used by the Soviet space program to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research until 1999. The Tu-144 made its final flight on 26 June 1999 and surviving aircraft were put on display across the world or into storage.
Air France Flight 4590 was an international charter flight, from Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, flown by an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde. On the afternoon of Tuesday, 25 July 2000, at 16:44:31 local time (UTC 14:44:31), the aircraft serving the flight (registration F-BTSC) ran over debris on the runway during takeoff, blowing a tyre, which threw chunks of tyre into the underside of the left wing and into the landing gear bay with great force.
The fuel tank built inside the left wing was full, with almost no ullage. When the tyre fragments struck the wing, the tank ruptured and fuel gushed out. Tyre fragments severed wiring in the landing gear bay, preventing retraction of the landing gear. Fuel from the ruptured tank ignited, causing a loss of thrust in engines 1 and 2. Lack of thrust, high drag from the extended landing gear, and fire damage to the flight controls made it impossible to control the aircraft, which crashed into a hotel in nearby Gonesse two minutes after takeoff. All 109 people on board were killed, alongside four in the hotel. Six other people in the hotel were critically injured.
The flight was chartered by German company Peter Deilmann Cruises. The passengers were on their way to board the cruise ship MS Deutschland in New York City for a 16-day cruise to Manta, Ecuador. It was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history.
Specifications (Tu-144D)
Crew: 3
Capacity: 150 passengers (11 first class & 139 tourist class)
Length: 65.7 m (215 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 28.8 m (94 ft 6 in)
Height: 12.55 m (41 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 506.35 m2 (5,450.3 sq ft)
Empty weight: 99,200 kg (218,699 lb)
Gross weight: 125,000 kg (275,578 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 207,000 kg (456,357 lb)
Fuel capacity: 93,000 kg (205,000 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Kolesov RD-36-51 turbojet or Kuznetsov NK-144 turbofan afterburning engines, 240 kN (54,000 lbf) thrust each
Performance
Maximum speed: 2,500 km/h (1,600 mph, 1,300 kn)
Maximum speed: Mach 2.15
Cruise speed: 2,125 km/h (1,320 mph, 1,147 kn)
Cruise Mach number: M2
Range: 6,500 km (4,000 mi, 3,500 nmi)
Service ceiling: 20,000 m (66,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 50 m/s (9,800 ft/min)
Wing loading: 410.96 kg/m2 (84.17 lb/sq ft)
Thrust/weight: 0.44
Specifications Concorde G-BOAC
Crew: 3 (2 pilots and 1 flight engineer)
Capacity: 92–120 passengers
(128 in high-density layout)[N 9]
Length: 202 ft 4 in (61.66 m)
Wingspan: 84 ft 0 in (25.6 m)
Height: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m)
Wing area: 3,856.2 sq ft (358.25 m2)
Empty weight: 173,504 lb (78,700 kg)
Gross weight: 245,000 lb (111,130 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 408,010 lb (185,070 kg)
Fuel capacity: 210,940 lb (95,680 kg)
Fuselage internal length: 129 ft 0 in (39.32 m)
Fuselage width: maximum of 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) external, 8 ft 7 in (2.62 m) internal
Fuselage height: maximum of 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) external, 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) internal
Maximum taxiing weight: 412,000 lb (187,000 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Mk 610 turbojets with reheat, 31,000 lbf (140 kN) thrust each dry, 38,050 lbf (169.3 kN) with afterburner