The Concorde Behind Velvet Ropes
By Ed Smits, CEO, Cradle of Aviation, Garden City

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The paradox is stunning.

Against a backdrop of high tech 21st century aircraft overwhelming Iraqi air defenses, leaving Baghdad open to ground assault, the supersonic, Mach 2 plus, Concorde is being retired. To add to the irony, the decision to ground this pioneering passenger plane comes during the centennial of aviation when we are pausing to look back just how far we have come in 100 years and where we should be going.

Long Island has been connected to the Concorde since its first flight to the New World in November of 1977. With Kennedy Airport its destination, the aircraft continues to slow traffic every time its dramatic delta wing and drooped nose swoops over the Island on its way to landing. Its initial arrival however sparked a typical Long Island response to virtually anything new - NIMBY (Not in My Backyard). Or more accurately, "not at my airport." At the time a handful of Nassau County politicians sought to galvanize opposition to the Concorde on environmental grounds. It came to naught and Concorde was Long Island bound.

What is ultimately grounding our supersonic trans-Atlantic visitor is economics. Built far too small for genuine cost effective service it was reserved for the wealthy or those on generous expense accounts. Throughout its operational life its airline operators could never get the cost of a ticket below $9,000. A far larger, and much more economical version built by Boeing, never got beyond a wooden mockup. Congress wasn't prepared to pay the price for development at a time when the Vietnam War was consuming our society. So the Concorde became the solo state-of-the-art example of commercial passenger flight at its zenith, arriving on Long Island with all the majesty of an ocean liner during the Golden Era of steam ships.

In the beginning no one thought Concorde to be the end of the line of supersonic transportation. Planners thought nearby Kennedy would host a family of SST's by the 21st Century putting travelers scant hours from anywhere on the globe. But as the Columbia shuttle tragedy proved, and the fuel tank fire that claimed an earlier Concorde, technology ages out with dangerous results. Bits of rudder continue to shed from Concordes on a regular basis and upgrades were putting the SST operators deeper in debt at a time when airline revenue is declining.

The retirement of Concorde and the Columbia catastrophe remain in stark technological contrast to the prowess of American military technology exhibited in Iraqi. The difference begs the question. We have used our extraordinary skill in technology development to reinvent warfare. Never before in the history of mankind has such care been exercised to avoid the deaths of non-combatants through the use of precise munitions. Stealth aircraft, remote controlled aircraft and a squadron of other aviation advances will punctuate the history of this conflict.

As we observe the centennial milestone of the Wright's first flight is this the sole direction of our advances in aviation? Do we as a nation no longer have any interest in creating advances in commercial aviation, pioneering space flight and lunar exploration? Does Concorde and the shuttle reflect the high water mark of aviation's peaceful application? Are these amazing vehicles to be left to museums as symbols of not what we can achieve but where humanity decided to stop?

The Cradle of Aviation has in its collection a two-thirds scale model of the Concorde. It was taken down from Times Square and donated to the institution by British Airways. The original intent was to erect it for the purpose of inspiring a new generation of Long Island aviation pioneers to move mankind beyond the limits of Concorde. For the sake of our society's future we must use our skills, intellect, energy and treasure we need to make good on that pledge and to return to the skies with an aircraft that will not only break the sound barrier but make the world a true global village.