Supersonic transport: Concorde

The Concorde was the first supersonic aircraft used for regularly scheduled passenger service, built jointly by British and French aircraft manufacturers and later operated by two carriers, British Airways and Air France. The Concorde, which crosses the Atlantic in a scheduled time of three hours and fifty minutes, reduces both flight times and the effects of jet lag.

The laws of physics are absolute and mysterious, as aviators in the 1940’s discovered when their planes approached the speed of sound: about 760 miles per hour at sea level and about 660 miles per hour at 50, 000 to 60, 000 feet. As pilots accelerated toward these speeds, they found their planes shaking violently and running up against some sort of invisible wall, later referred to as the sound barrier.

When a vehicle achieves a speed exceeding the speed of sound, it is said to be traveling at Mach 1. At twice the speed of sound, it enters Mach 2. Mach numbers refer to the ratio of an aircraft’s speed to the speed of sound at the altitude of the vehicle. Speeds from Mach 1 to Mach 5 are designated supersonic; speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic. When a plane travels at exactly the speed of sound, its speed is described as transonic. Speeds below the speed of sound are considered subsonic.

During World War II (1939-1945), before U.S. Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager first achieved supersonic speeds in the Bell X-1 rocket plane in 1947, numerous pilots unwittingly achieved such speeds during dives. Under such conditions, they could not control their vehicles, because shock waves built up around the controls, locking them in place and rendering them useless. Some pilots ejected under such circumstances; others died when their planes plowed into the earth at supersonic speeds.

Following World War II, U.S. Air Force designers sought to develop supersonic aircraft for the military. Engineers had to cope with the effects of the shockwaves that occur as the sound barrier is being breached. They also needed to devise ways for aircraft to endure the extremely high temperatures generated by friction on the craft’s outer surface, as speeds of Mach 1 and higher are achieved. Such heat-resistant metals as titanium were employed to replace the aluminum that covered the exteriors of most subsonic aircraft.

The work of these engineers and designers had broad implications for the commercial aircraft industry. By the 1970’s, both the United States and the Soviet Union had planes, notably the Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor and the U.S. SR-71 spy plane, that could fly at speeds higher than Mach 3.

Supersonic and hypersonic aircraft create shock waves because of sudden changes in air pressure. Although people on the ground experience sonic booms when supersonic and hypersonic craft fly overhead, people within them do not, because the vehicles fly faster than the sound their planes create and remain well ahead of it. Because sonic booms are destructive and annoying, often shattering both windows and the nerves of people on Earth, most supersonic flights are routed over oceans. When supersonic commercial aircraft fly over land, they usually fly at subsonic speeds.

Exercises

1. Transcribe the words:

Occur; circumstance(s); outer; hypersonic; sudden; approach; Mach number; unwittingly; ratio; hypersonic; supersonic; subsonic

2. Match the words from the texts (1-10) with the definitions (A-J):

	heat-resistant	A	create, set up
	to cope with	B	describe or denote; have as a referent
	occur	C	to overcome; to withstand
	circumstance(s)	D	consequence(s), impact
	approach	E	the ratio of an aircraft’s speed to the speed of sound
	Mach number	F	air company
	refer to	G	to happen
	implication(s)	H	condition(s)
	air carrier	I	heatproof, fireproof
	build up	J	a way of dealing with a situation or problem

3. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions:

(1) в подобных обстоятельствах, (2) иметь далеко идущие последствия, (3) нарушения биоритмов в связи с перелётом через несколько часовых поясов, (4) на сверхзвуковых скоростях, (5) преодолеть эффект ударной волны, а также сверхвысоких температур (как…, так и…), (6) несгораемый, (7) соотношение скорости самолёта и скорости распространения звука, (8) катапультироваться, (9) вредное влияние звукового удара, (10) резкие колебания давления

 

4. Complete the text with the words from the box. The words may be chosen more than once.

hypersonic	dives	circumstances
ejected	transonic	the ratio
subsonic	built up	supersonic(s)

1. Mach numbers refer to … of an aircraft’s speed to the speed of sound at the altitude of the vehicle. Speeds from Mach 1 to Mach 5 are designated …; speeds above Mach 5 are …. When a plane travels at exactly the speed of sound, its speed is described as …. Speeds below the speed of sound are considered …. 2. U.S. Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager first achieved … speeds in the Bell X-1 rocket plane in 1947. 3. Numerous pilots unwittingly achieved such speeds during …. Under such …, they could not control their vehicles, because shock waves … around the controls, locking them in place and rendering them useless. Some pilots ejected under such circumstances; others died when their planes plowed into the earth at … speeds.

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