Blast from the Past: Concorde Supersonic Jet Soars into the Night Sky
Few commercial aircraft captured people's attention like the Concorde. Introduced in the 1970s, the planes flew several routes around the world, most notably from New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR) and to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). They were incredibly fast — traveling at twice the speed of sound, passengers could complete a transatlantic trip in an average time of just 3.5 hours. Unfortunately, both British Airways and Air France decided to retire the aircraft in 2003 after a high-profile crash a few years earlier, along with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and the inability to profit on the existing routes.
This week's crazy aviation video was shot in 2003, the last year the Concorde flew commercial routes. The video was captured at dusk, the perfect time to catch a glimpse of the aircraft's brightly glowing afterburners of turbojet engines, which propelled the aircraft to supersonic speeds. While today's aircraft have made great leaps in terms of efficiency and comfort, none have come close to the Concorde in speed, or noise — they were loud as hell.