The story of Concorde began when Britain worked with France in order to develop a supersonic passenger jet. Both countries wanted to be the first to develop this type of aircraft so they signed the Anglo-French Supersonic Aircraft Agreement to build the Concorde. The Americans also tried to develop a similar jet. during the 1960s. However, people from environmental groups really didn't like the noise- pollution, damage to the atmosphere arid the costs of a project of this type., which were very high. The U.S. congress finally decided to stop giving money for an American supersonic passenger jet in 1971. By this time, the British and French had completed the Concorde but it was very disappointing. In the 1960s, people thought that supersonic flying was the future of commercial air-travel, nearly all the biggest airlines wanted to buy this plane. There were orders for more than 270 of the jets, but high petrol costs and problems with environmental groups reduced the number of orders. The Concorde was finally only bought by two airlines - Air France and British Airways. The production of the plane ended in 1979 and only 16 concordes were ever made. However, the Concorde was still a great achievement of design and engineering with a top speed of 1,490 mph (2,385 khp) and a normal flying speed of 1,354 mpii (2,165 kph). It flew at 60,000 feet (18,300m), it could fly a distance of 3,740 miles (nearly 6000 km) and it was powered by four very large engines. There were nine people working on it and it could carry 100 passengers. The plane was extremely powerful but first-time passengers were surprised by the smooth and comfortable ride. For nearly 25 years, the Concorde enjoyed lots of success and flew to such destinations as Japan, as well as offering a famous trip round the world in 1986, which cost $20,800 per person. It could cross the Atlantic Ocean in about three and a half hours, less than half the time of regular aeroplanes. The plane was very popular with celebrities, sports stars and rich people.
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Unfortunately, there was a terrible accident in which 113 people were killed. This completely changed the success of Concorde. On 25th July, 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed in Gonesse, outside Paris, shortly after take-off and it was discovered that this disaster was caused by technical problems. The Concorde jets were immediately taken out of service and their future looked uncertain. Concorde made its last flight on October 24th, 2004. This was the end of the world's most famous jet but maybe not the end of supersonic airlines. It seems incredible but the Americans are now working on a hypersonic project to design and build a jet that can fly at 4,800 mph (7680 kph)!
2 Are the sentences true or false?
Only two European countries were Involved in ihe project to build a supersonic jot, true
1 The USA has had a lot of success with supersonic passenger jet planes.
2 More than 200 Concorde jets were sold to several different airlines.
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3 Economic and environmental reasons made the number of sales go down.
4 It could fly for over 3.000 miles.
5 Nine people used to work on each Concorde jet.
6 Concorde lost a lot of money 0 v e r n e I t w e n t - v e years of service.
7 The accident: happened at the airport.
8 The world may see more supersonic passenger jets in the future.
8 points
3 Answer the questions.
In what two ways was the Concorde a fantastic invention?
design and engineering
1 Why did the British arid French deride to work together on the Concorde project?
2 What two things did environmental groups not like about the American supersonic jet?
3 How did first-time passengers feel about flying in such a powerful jet?
4 What kind of people enjoyed f i v in g w' (h n rd e?
5 What was the reason for the terrible plane crash in July, 2000?
6 What is the future for supersonic aii travel?
12 points j
Total; 20 points
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> Pearson Education Limited 2005 - Photocopiable
