Flight of the Fast Bird

In the eyes of the British and the French, the Concorde supersonic jet that made its maiden flight last week is far more than the newest transport to take to the air. The plane is a gamble for enormous stakes; Paris and London together have invested more than $1.5 billion in the plane, nearly triple the original estimate, and have budgeted $600 million more for initial production. On the Concorde rides much of the future of the aeronautical industries of both France and Britain, as well as the possibility of further industrial partnerships between the two countries. Sales of the plane could bring in significant amounts of foreign exchange to lift already shaky currencies.

The bird that rolled out of the hangar at Toulouse, one year late for its first test flight, had the ungainly look of a pterodactyl. Its drooping snout reared four stories above the Tarmac; the delta wings that extended from its tubular 191-ft. body seemed barely big enough to support it. But when Test Pilot Andre Turcat gunned the cluster of four jet engines, the Concorde climbed swiftly and steeply. After 27 minutes of subsonic flight, it made an equally flawless, steep-pitched landing. After that, champagne corks popped around Blagnac Airport, and newspapers in Britain and France brought out big, bold headlines to celebrate.

Aptly Named. Everyone involved was doubly elated, since there were times during the past nine years when it seemed unlikely that the Concorde would ever be built, much less get off the ground. Incessant wrangling between France and Britain about entry into the Common Market threatened an embarrassing end to the project. But through all the bickering, technicians of France's Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation got along famously. For them, at least, the Concorde has more than lived up to its name, producing the kind of amity that De Gaulle seems determined to frustrate. Said Britain's Minister of Technology, Anthony Wedgwood Benn: "Engineers have great respect for each other. The sooner engineers start manning the diplomatic corps the better."

Engineering amity aside, though, many problems remain. The Concorde's passenger capacity comes to only 128, and the curving sides of its narrow fuselage make window seats rather cramped, even though the seats themselves are 34 in. wide, compared with 22 in. for a Boeing 747. Fully loaded, the Concorde will be able to cover about 4,000 miles, and Paris-New York is a 3,700-mile flight. That leaves no leeway for meeting international standards, which call for a 25% fuel-safety margin. Either the Concorde's range will have to be extended or the plane will have to be restricted to lighter loads.

Although a sonic boom can shatter windows miles below a jet, the Anglo-French partners maintain that tests have shown that their Concorde will not cause "danger to life, health or property." Even so, during the first two test hops last week, the roar of the plane's engines could be heard miles away. If its flights have to be rerouted to avoid populous areas or its engines throttled back to lower noise levels, Concorde's already precarious ability to fly the Atlantic will dwindle dangerously, and its attraction to airlines that travel mostly over land will be severely limited.

Premium Fares. When the Concorde goes into service in 1973 or earlier, its expected top cruising speed will be 1,450 m.p.h., and the plane will leap the Atlantic in three and a half hours, about twice as fast as a 707 or DC-8. Many passengers will probably be eager to hop aboard just to get there faster. But lines flying Concordes will have to charge a premium, perhaps 20% above regular jet fares, or make sure that each plane is more than 60% full. By contrast, existing jets can break even at 50% of capacity.

The partners talk hopefully about a potential market for 400 Concordes. Their break-even point is thought to be around 130 planes, and the manufacturers have in hand 74 options, all of which can be withdrawn by the airlines that placed them. Meanwhile, the Europeans have been anxiously watching as the U.S. designs and redesigns its own SST. When the U.S. plane finally flies, it will be much bigger than the Concorde and some 350 m.p.h. faster. Britons continue to fear that they will again be first--as they were in television broadcasting, jet engines and jet transports--only to run into difficulties and be overtaken by the Americans, who stand to learn from the mistakes of the pioneers.

-From left, front row: James L. Robertson, J. Dewey Daane, George W. Mitchell. Back row: Sherman J. Maisel, Andrew F. Brimmer, William W. Sherrill.

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