Concorde

WexCan

After seeing the lovely video here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=54667132&postcount=14

Do you have any Concorde experiences? Did you ever fly on Concorde? Would you like to see Concorde fly again or should she rest in peace? Do you think we'll see another supersonic commercial aircraft in our lifetimes?

ian_m

Concorde take off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHe8R4tx_eU

Concorde aborts crosswind landing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79LE4ty_gkM

Concorde breaking the sound barrier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annkM6z1-FE

Id love to have had an opportunity to fly on it.

cp251

Walked through the prototype 001 in the musee at Le Bourget. Other than that my closest experience was at Dublin Airport when the Pepsi logo'd Air France Concorde came to visit. I was on the ramp that day and like everyone else abandoned my job to have a look. What struck me was the sheer size of it and the futuristic curves which made it look like a kind of spaceship more than an aeroplane. I was also taken by the curves of the model wearing mostly body paint, that was there too.

Run_to_da_hills

WexCan wrote: »

After seeing the lovely video here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=54667132&postcount=14

Do you have any Concorde experiences? Did you ever fly on Concorde? Would you like to see Concorde fly again or should she rest in peace? Do you think we'll see another supersonic commercial aircraft in our lifetimes?

If they can resurrect the Antanov 225 from the scrap heap there may be still some hope for the Concord. The Concord has the advantage that there is a lot more spares availible. I have seen the Concorde on training missions at Shannon, Awesome.

Owen

I only got to walk through a Prototype that was on display at the US Intrepid in NYC in 2006. Fantastic to be on board though, even if it was a smaller scale and had those wonderful engines removed.

Davidth88

Saw Concordes both AF and BA many times in LHR and CDG.

The noise as they took off was truly awesome ( in the true sense of the word ).

Ned , the aircraft in NYC is not a prototype , it is G-BOAD , this served BA for many years. Many people are surprised how small Concorde was/is.

There is a French one that is kept in ' nearly ' flying condition by a set of dedicated people , if one was to fly again it would be this one, however I don't think in all honesty this will ever happen .

My opinion for what it's worth, the thing that killed Concorde was the lack of 6 letters on the side .... B.O.E.I.N.G, they were so envious they helped to kill this off.

Run_to_da_hills

Davidth88 wrote: »

My opinion for what it's worth, the thing that killed Concorde was the lack of 6 letters on the side .... B.O.E.I.N.G, they were so envious they helped to kill this off.

It was the fuel crisis of the early 70ies and the desire for airline companies to carry large volumes rather than speed, so it was the wide bodied Jets that helped Killed it off.

jmayo

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If they can resurrect the Antanov 225 from the scrap heap there may be still some hope for the Concord. The Concord has the advantage that there is a lot more spares availible. I have seen the Concorde on training missions at Shannon, Awesome.

There is a big difference between Concorde and AN-225.
The Antonov never was in production, it was a design that was shelved mainly because of the break down of Soviet Union.
Concorde was actually in service but it was shelved becuase supposedly not economical. Also airframes getting old and accident didn't really help the cause either.

I will always remember working right beside one of the taxiways in Shannon and watching Air France carrying out training.
One of the guys at work lived near end of runway and was complaining that they started too early (8.00 am) in the morning.
Also it used to trigger a few car alarms when doing go arounds

Davidth88

Hi

Concorde had a number of shortcomings, range , noise and size being the obvious ones.

When it was announced the pre-orders ammounted to quite a number , now because of the fuel ' crisis ' ( which by todays standards seems laughable ) a lot of the Airlines got ' cold feet ' and pulled out.

I think in the US the fear of the sonic boom also had a lot to do with the US airlines pulling out, it meant that they couldn't fly from the East-West coast in supersonic mode, this meant that the aircraft had no market at all there. I don't know how much of the ' hype ' about the sonic boom was whipped up by Boeing , but I suspect quite a lot.

Also just about this time airport noise was becoming an issue, when Concorde started operations into Washington there were loads of protests etc, again if the aeroplane had Boeing / Lockheed/ Stars and stripes written on the side maybe these protests would not have been so vehament

I imagine that if Concorde had sold well , then there would have been a ' Mk2 ' that may have solved the range/noise/size issues, can you imagine if you could travel to Aus in 6-7 hrs or something !

To my mind British aircraft designs ( or joint French/British in this case ) nearly always had size limitations, the Trident was a perfect example of this. If they had built the Trident bigger ( ie like the Mk3/3b ) then it would have sold well, like the B727, but the original was so small and was built for a specific BEA requirement.

B747/Tristar/DC10/A300 all had a huge role bringing flying to the masses, but I seriously think that supersonic, or even now hypersonic ramjets , have a market

WexCan

Davidth88 wrote: »

To my mind British aircraft designs ( or joint French/British in this case ) nearly always had size limitations, the Trident was a perfect example of this. If they had built the Trident bigger ( ie like the Mk3/3b ) then it would have sold well, like the B727, but the original was so small and was built for a specific BEA requirement.

The 146/RJ has done quite well for itself. Beautiful little aircraft too

Davidth88

Sorry I should have put the ' original ' model.

The Bae146/HS146/Avro whatever the original was tiny. They were actually saved by London City if you ask me, LCY originally only allowed Dash7-8 type aeroplanes , then got that changed and there was an instant market for the 146

I actually ( as a passenger ) don't like it, no room in the overhead bins , feels cramped etc.

el tel

I've been in all the BA Concordes and have flown on G-BOAF & G-BOAD.

WexCan

Overhead bins are noticeably smaller under the wings, other than that I've always found them adequate. Do agree about LCY though.

robinph

Went on one of the prototype Concorde's many many years ago on a school trip I guess it must have been. Then earlier this year had a look around the last one to fly that is now in Filton, Bristol. Seen them taking off from both Heathrow and JFK whilst sat on another taxiing plane as well a few times.

Used to be able to see it flying over London and heading into Heathrow whenever we were visitng my grandad in London when I was a wee lad and so we took him along to Filton to have a look at that one on his 96th birthday this year, and they let him climb into the captains seat for a few photos as well.

*Kol*

robinph wrote: »

Then earlier this year had a look around the last one to fly that is now in Filton, Bristol.

I believe the one in Filton is the last one ever built too.

Oilrig

Have a pic of mise walking around a wooden mock up in the 70's.

Oilrig's old man was an engineer on the Concord project in the late 60's and early 70's.

Many interesting stories... and an interesting photograph of Oilrig senior meeting The Queen... with folded arms...

WexCan

Oilrig wrote: »

Many interesting stories... and an interesting photograph of Oilrig senior meeting The Queen... with folded arms...

Sounds like an engineer all right.

durandal01

An Air France Concorde turned up at and did two fly pasts over a Kerry Airport airshow many years ago. I think they were enroute to Shannon at the time.

el tel

Does anyone remember the Concorde which made what I believe was an uscheduled landing in Dublin in around 1997/1998? I remember having an excellent view from the flight deck as I taxied by but didn't have my camera with me unfortunately.

(It wasn't the Pepsi liveried Air France aircraft, pictured at Dublin below)

WexCan

el tel wrote: »

Does anyone remember the Concorde which made what I believe was an uscheduled landing in Dublin in around 1997/1998? I remember having an excellent view from the flight deck as I taxied by but didn't have my camera with me unfortunately.

(It wasn't the Pepsi liveried Air France aircraft, pictured at Dublin below)

Much as I hate to say it, would have been quite cool to be in that Ryanair 732 at the time

Fabio

I'd love to see the Tupolev Tu-144 back....it was quicker and could carry more than Concorde could.

Not that Concorde was a bad aircraft (understatement of the century!).

Fascinating bird though...

Foggy43

Can anyone confirm if Concorde flew people with plenty of cash from LHR to SNN to bring in the Ney Year in Bunratty Castle then back to SNN. Then it was off BGI to and bring in the New Year all over again. I have worked in BA for 18 years now and I am sure it happened on one occcasion but cannot remember the year.

Concorde engineering was totally seperate from the rest of BA engineering. Most of those guys retired with it. BA had to stop flying Concorde after Air France decided to do so. The reason we got was no spares. Spares would have to be made to order. This would ground the aircraft for some considerable time. When the aircraft is on the ground it is costing the airline money.

ian_m

el tel wrote: »

Does anyone remember the Concorde which made what I believe was an uscheduled landing in Dublin in around 1997/1998? I remember having an excellent view from the flight deck as I taxied by but didn't have my camera with me unfortunately.

Are you talking about the winners of an international golf championship? They were flown home to Dublin in a Concorde around 97. Some famous tournament I can't remember, only the fact it was Concorde.

View Profile

Bit pointless using Concorde to fly between the UK and Ireland.

pclancy

Was just a bit of fun im sure, economicaly it would have been terrible

Foggy43

I will look this LHR SNN BFI up further.

Remember Concorde was used a lot as a charter. People who hired it earned in a day more than you and me in a life time. Concorde was used as a regular flying restraunt over the Bay of Biscay