9/11 and the concorde

I watched the "Supersonic Dreams" episode of NOVA last night which recounted the history of the Concorde. I can’t say that the episode was among the best episodes of NOVA or even the best thing I’ve seen on the Concorde, but what struck me was that the Concorde was cancelled not so much because of the July 25, 2000 crash but rather because of 9/11. Apparently the loss of forty of its most reliable customers was enough to kill the SST. In a certain sense, this after-effect meant the end of real glamour in air travel and, to some degree, the end of supermodernism as an architectural strategy. 

This got me to thinking, what other very direct effects did 9/11 have? Obviously, there was personal tragedy, something I think of as I pass the 9/11 memorial on my way back home from the train at Watchung Plaza. But this had very real economic consequences. What other strange historical effects might it have had?    

 

I watched the "Supersonic Dreams" episode of NOVA last night which recounted the history of the Concorde. I can’t say that the episode was among the best episodes of NOVA or even the best thing I’ve seen on the Concorde, but what struck me was that the Concorde was cancelled not so much because of the July 25, 2000 crash but rather because of 9/11. Apparently the loss of forty of its most reliable customers was enough to kill the SST. In a certain sense, this after-effect meant the end of real glamour in air travel and, to some degree, the end of supermodernism as an architectural strategy. 

This got me to thinking, what other very direct effects did 9/11 have? Obviously, there was personal tragedy, something I think of as I pass the 9/11 memorial on my way back home from the train at Watchung Plaza. But this had very real economic consequences. What other strange historical effects might it have had?    

 

2 thoughts on “9/11 and the concorde”

  1. Diaspora
    I don’t know how “historical” it might be, but I would estimate conservatively that something the 2.5 x 10^5 people left lower Manhattan as a residence because it was basically unlivable South of Canal street for weeks after the towers fell (bad air, unwelcome soldiers demanding identification to cross Canal Street). A sizable potion, like me, left the country altogether. Every day of the resulting national nightmare has validated my decision.

  2. Meteorology

    Believe me, I’ve thought about it too. If I had been in New York, I might be long gone. The outcome of the 2004 election nearly drove me to that point too. 

    I thought of another real result, a short-term change in weather patterns over the country. Without passenger jets flying in the upper atmosphere, there were far fewer contrails and scientists could study their impact.  

     

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