This will get ugly

[TacitBlue]

this may sound kinda' dumb, but I know your hearing isnt effected when traveling that fast. But I could never understand why. It seems to me that if you are going faster than sound, then you should pass whatever sounds are around you and not be able to hear them.
Again, I know it isnt true, but I dont understand it.

[forfun]

This was many years ago but I can remember it as if it were yesterday. We started the dive at 43,000 feet & pulled out at 20,000. Then we climbed back up & did it again. Magic.

I had a better illustration of the sonic boom but I've lost it. If I find it I'll post it here.

PS. I found it. Play the applet at the bottom of this page. http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/airplane/airplane.html

Cool

[Hagar]

this may sound kinda' dumb, but I know your hearing isnt effected when traveling that fast. But I could never understand why. It seems to me that if you are going faster than sound, then you should pass whatever sounds are around you and not be able to hear them.
Again, I know it isnt true, but I dont understand it.

If the aircraft is travelling faster than sound so is everything inside it, including the occupants & the air in the cabin or cockpit. This is relative to the world outside & in straight & level flight at a constant speed you would have no sensation of motion at all. Your environment is not affected by speed but acceleration. In just the same way you could get out of your seat & walk around the cabin of Concorde travelling at Mach 2. It's highly unlikely you would hear anything outside the aircraft even at subsonic speeds.

PS. In the original TV ads for Concorde they showed a glass of water (maybe it was something stronger) & a coin standing on edge on one of the passenger tables. This was filmed in flight with the machmeter in the cabin in shot. There was no sign of a ripple on the liquid in the glass & the coin remained stationary & upright even when the magic figure was reached on the machmeter. At the normal operating altitude of Concorde there would far less chance of turbulence than on an ordinary subsonic passenger jet.

I found this photo which is the way I prefer to remember this wonderful aircraft.

[TacitBlue]

Thanks for the explaination. I understand now.

[Woodlouse2002]

I saw a great way of explaining how you hear Concorde when its supersonic the other day. Basically imagine a cone, with the point being at Concordes nose with the cone going off behind, getting wider and wider. Outside of this cone you'll hear nothing, inside the cone you'll hear the aircraft/sonic boom.

[Hagar]

I saw a great way of explaining how you hear Concorde when its supersonic the other day. Basically imagine a cone, with the point being at Concordes nose with the cone going off behind, getting wider and wider. Outside of this cone you'll hear nothing, inside the cone you'll hear the aircraft/sonic boom.

Except inside the aircraft itself. I'm not sure how accurate that cone analogy would be anyway. The sound waves spread out like the wake of a boat. In all the photos & illustrations I've seen the main area of disturbance originates further back towards the tail. In most cases a listener on the gound would hear a distinct double boom.

[Woodlouse2002]

You have to remember that with the wake of a boat you have two sets of waves, one coming off the bow, where the water is being parted, and one off the stern. The same will apply to Concorde. With the wake of a boat almost all the disturbance in the water is directly behind and within the waves given off by the stern of the vessel. With Concorde going through the sound barrier the nose is the part actually breaking the barrier, and so parting the air, you'll have another wave further down the aircraft and after that you'll have the sound disturbance.

[krylite]

There seems to be the need to blame someone otherwise it could be said "Damien" did it and caused the strip to fall off in the path of the Concorde's tire i.e. a totally unpredictable accident or an act of God.

Though I have a question. Is anything or anyone responsible for checking the runway clear of obstructions before the next plane takes off, or was that titanium piece just too small to be obvious?

[Craig.]

kry, they have runway inspections throughout the day, a car will drive down the runway checking, but they only do a couple