When they retired the Concorde in 2003, I was sadly disappointed to see this great work of technological achievement killed off. I just watched an hour special PBS Nova program on the history of the Corcorde and it was absolutely fascinating.

One item that caught my attention was how the 9/11 attacks contributed to the Corcorde's fate. In 2000, the Concorde suffered it's first accident in flight, killing all 115 passengers onboard. The fleet was grounded for a year during which time they refitted the plane with more safety measures to strengthen the plane. To regain the public confidence, Corcorde decided to fly all of their staff members (100 +) on a return flight that would take them 1/2 way out to the Atlantic Ocean & back. On the very same morning, the World Trade Center was falling apart as terrorists made their attack on September 11. It would be 2 long months before the Corcorde returned to regular scheduled flights into New York City. Sadly, the Corcorde never regained its footing.

One Corcorde official interviewed on the show stated that many of their frequent flyers worked in the WTC. They were about 40 businessemn, CEOs, business owners that frequently traveled on the Corcorde who all died on September 11. Just another example of how the shockwave of the 9/11 aftermath drastically affected the shape of human history. Truly sad.