JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Six months after the fiery crash, which grounded all Concordes, one of the supersonic jetliners will soon be taking off again. Air France will make a single round-trip flight from Paris to a military base near Marseilles for tests. British Airways, meanwhile, announced today it was fitting new Kevlar-lined fuel tanks to its Concordes. Both British and French officials are suggesting that Concorde could be back this year. This special design of the supersonic jetliner is the focus of today's "Ask CNN."</s>VALERIE STILWELL, EUGENE, OREGON: My name is Valerie Stilwell from Eugene, Oregon. I would like to know what designs were incorporated into the Concorde to allow for expansion during flight?</s>CARL ROCHELLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Valerie, the Concorde is a special issue. It has a special kind of aluminum in it, and it is an aluminum that can deal with the expansion by heat. Take into consideration a couple things. The airplane grows roughly seven inches when it's in flight. The nose of the aircraft is approaching 350 degrees in temperature. And consider that this is in a situation where the outside air temperature, outside of the aircraft -- you're comfortable inside, but outside, the temperatures are running between minus 120 and minus 135 degrees, And still, because of the friction of that airplane going through the air, the nose is up better than 350 degrees. And other parts, like the leading edges of the wings, which are facing that friction from passing through the air, also reach an incredibly high temperature. So, the aircraft's designed to withstand that. It swells up a little bit when it's up. When it slows back down, it gets down to normal speeds. It cools. It shrinks back down again, and all is safe in the end. They say it wears a little faster that way, but it's designed to take all of that into consideration.
Ask CNN: What Designs Were Incorporated Into the Concorde to Allow for Expansion During Flight?