The fantastic idea that was flawed

About 100 Germans were headed to a Caribbean cruise.

They were on a chartered plane. The world’s fastest passenger plane — the Concorde.

The plane belonged to Air France. Air France and British Airways were the only companies with Concorde planes.

On 25 July 2000, the plane took off around 4:43 pm from an airport near Paris. As it sped on the runway, ground staff noticed a fire under the left wing. The plane started veering towards the left.

By the time the plane took off, one of the engines seemed to have failed.

Drivers on a road nearby saw the plane at a low height with a trail of fire behind it. Some recorded the video.

The plane left the ground but could not climb beyond 200 feet. Its engines were losing power.

It was not long before all engines lost power. The plane fell and crashed into a small hotel.

All 100 passengers and 9 staff died.

Both Air France and British Airways grounded their planes after this accident.

The planes did return back to service. But they were discontinued again – forever.

The accident marked the end of the Concorde. With that ended Concorde’s 25-year journey. It was a plane that allowed regular passengers to fly at speeds higher than the speed of sound.

Even today, non-military people or civilians do not have the option of flying faster than the speed of sound.

Aviation Development

Planes have advanced incredibly fast.

The world’s first plane took off in 1903. Its top speed was about 50 kmph.

50 years later (1952), the world’s first passenger jet plane took off. Its top speed was about 850 kmph.

70 years later (~2020), the fastest planes are still flying roughly in the same speed range.

Aviation enthusiasts argue that development has stalled in the aviation industry.

Concorde was supposed to break that trend – it flew at around 2,200 kmph.

But the Concorde has not flown in 20 years.

What happened?

Concorde History

The first plane in the world to cross the speed of sound was the Bell X-1. 1127 kmph.

This was in 1947.

And this set off a race among the militaries of the world. Back then, the US and the USSR (Russia) were the biggest competitors.

The world saw planes that were unthinkable only a few years ago.

In those post-World War years, it was believed that technology used by the military would find its way to civilian life.

Jet engines are a good example of this.

So when the first supersonic plane flew in 1947, some minds wondered when the first supersonic passenger plane would fly.

In 1956, a committee was set up to explore the possibility of a supersonic passenger plane.

By 1961, French and British representatives met in Paris. They developed a supersonic flight together.

On 21st Jan 1976, two Concordes took off as fully operational commercial planes.

In less than 30 years after the world’s first supersonic plane, regular passengers had access to a supersonic plane.

Paris to New York in under 3 hours.

(It takes about 8 hours in a normal plane today).

Concorde Discontinued

Right from the start, the Concorde had challenges.

A plane that crosses the speed of sound? That plane’s body is going to undergo severe stress. Much more stress than a plane that goes even slightly slower than the speed of sound. It required regular inspection and even replacements.

Another challenge simply arose from the plane’s age.

These planes cost so much money, airlines had to keep the planes functional for a long time. And that brings with it issues related to age. Many parts start failing and need replacement. Many parts require routine maintenance.

To top this, the Concorde required specialized engineers to take care of it. It was around 4 times more expensive per hour to service than a Boeing 747.

And to top that, every part was more expensive than parts of regular planes.

Of course, the plane’s fuel efficiency was extremely low. It needed lots of fuel to do its thing.

Expensive plane to run and maintain.

As fuel got more expensive, tickets got more expensive. Passengers seemed to be more comfortable spending 8 hours on a plane and paying less for tickets.

The airlines were losing money.

To make matters worse, the Concorde was not allowed by regulation to fly at supersonic speeds above land. It was just too loud and produced higher amounts of emissions. So it could operate fast only over the oceans.

This made it impossible to use the plane over most routes. Why would you fly a plane this expensive to run over land at regular plane speeds?

Troubles kept mounting.

Finale

And then, in July 2000, a plane took off from an airport near Paris.

A metallic part from the plane fell on the tarmac.

A few minutes later, the ill-fated Concorde took off from the same runway.

The metal part burst the tires of the Concorde. A big piece of rubber from the tire hit the fuel tank and set off a fire.

That’s how the accident took place.

It is often said that people feared flying in the Concorde after this accident.

But many will tell you that the problem had started much before – it was expensive for passengers, and complicated for airlines to maintain.

The truth was, that it was a plane that was not even designed to be commercially viable. It was a competitive act between nations.

The engineering was excellent. The idea was excellent.

But it proved too complicated to keep running.

They just did not have enough passengers, repair persons, and revenue to keep it running.

Just because an idea is good does not mean it is viable.

This story does hold a good lesson for us investors too.

Many investors have ‘ideas’ for investments. Some of them require constant monitoring. Intense research. Time and effort.

But will they be able to stick to their plan?

Will they be able to execute what they thought of?

This is often why many great investment ideas fail to deliver.

Not because the idea is bad. But because it is not feasible.