Concorde at Dublin Airport

shamwari

How many times did Concorde land at Dublin Airport. I know two Air France ones landed in October 1983 & 1984 to bring the government to the Prix de l'Arc du Triomphe, and again in April 1999 we had a BA one pay us a visit.

Were there any other landings apart from these?

Run_to_da_hills

There was a lot more Concord activity in Shannon that there ever was in Dublin, even up until the late 90ies with test flights, now never again.

Fratton Fred

They used to use Concorde for short flights if they were training in a crew or captain. If you knew people in the know, you could book a flight and end up on concorde.

My old boss flew from Heathrow to Teeside (I think, somewhere up there with a long runway) because that's what they were doing. Apparantly most people on the return flight were only there because it was a relatively cheap flight on concorde.

Danbo!

Not sure when this was, but here ya go...
EDIT:April '96
INFO


Also, the '88 Visit


.

shinobi

I remember going up to see it in 1995 when it landed at Dublin with the European Ryder cup team.
Don't have any pics but theres a record of it here.

irishflyingkid

Dose anybody know any vids??

bluecode

I worked airside in Dublin airport in '96. When the Pepsi Concorde came everyone went out on the ramp to see it up close. I'd toured the prototype in Paris but this was something else. Even then it looked incredibly futuristic, ironic considering the fact that here in the future it's long gone. The Pepsi colours suited it. Also on the ramp that day was a girl who had been bodypainted in Pepsi colours. She definitely caught my eye too although I felt that she seemed incredibly vulnerable out there. But even she was outshadowed by the real star.

EchoIndia

Some photos of Concordes at DUB here:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=concorde+dub&w=24101413%40N03&z=e

Mac 3

Here are some photos I took in SNN back in 1999

Immelman

Slightly off thread but I came across this article on the investigation on the Paris accident, which make for some very interesting reading.
http://www.askthepilot.com/untold-concorde-story/

mickdw

It visited shannon (G-BOAF) in 2001 and did many landings, touch and goes etc for crew training purposes prior to it return to service after the french crash. This aircraft was the first to be modified following the crash with the kevlar lined tanks, new tyres, wiring changes etc together with new interior and as such was a test aircraft at that stage.

emo72

i remember seeing it in the 80s, it flew right over my house, its etched in my mind, fabulous memory.

de biz

The November 2003 edition of the The Irish Air Letter featured an article entitled"Concorde in Dublin".
The article advises that a total of seven individual Concordes visited Dublin,five AF two BA.The final visit was in May 1999,G-BOAC.Credit Irish Air Letter.
That final trip was in fact a day return charter which brought an Irish Industrialist and his guests,to celebrate his birthday in Nice(60th i think).

bernsy

Yes I believe the industrialist "Glenn Dimplex was the person involved

Tenger

de biz wrote: »

The November 2003 edition of the The Irish Air Letter featured an article entitled"Concorde in Dublin".
The article advises that a total of seven individual Concordes visited Dublin,five AF two BA.The final visit was in May 1999,G-BOAC.Credit Irish Air Letter.
That final trip was in fact a day return charter which brought an Irish Industrialist and his guests,to celebrate his birthday in Nice(60th i think).

I remember that day....saw it and nearly tripped when I realised what it was. No-one at work would believe me at the time.

I always loved taxiing alongside it, or lining up behind it as it took off from LHR, our entire aircraft would shudder..... passengers would be warned beforehand to save the nerves of some.

L1011

bernsy wrote: »

Yes I believe the industrialist "Glenn Dimplex was the person involved

Glen Dimplex isn't a person's name... Martin Naughton I think is the name of the owner.

bernsy

yeah that was him

oceanfroggie

I was airside in 1984 when Air France Concorde was on the ramp. I had just landed in a light aircraft, ground directed me from the former intersection of then rwy 23 and 35 to the old stand 11, which meant taxing behind the AF, however I noticed from heat haze the AF engines were running at idle and questioned the wisdom of taxing only meters behind four Olympus engines. Irritated ground controller ordered me to expedite as there was a 737 stuck behind our anemic little stick insect.

I hesitated at my holding point again querying the ground controller on the safety of taxing such a small aircraft behind the running AF engines. Controller growled 'expedite' - pause - then different voice on COM told me I was quite correct not to taxi behind the running AF and advised the situation would change shortly. The heat haze behind the 4 Olympus engines increased the mirage effect as they spooled up for taxi, the majestic AF was preparing to depart on a publicity flight full of journos to mark the opening of new AF route to Dublin. She turned 90 degrees and then stopped on the ramp.

A very French accent on COM using our callsign said "Chaarlie Zulu es zat OK for youx now, yes!" after which ground cleared us to stand 11. After parking up we stood on the ramp to watch AF Concord taxi and take off on former RWY 23. The sound was something I will never forget. 100s of engineers from nearby hangers walked onto the ramp edge to watch the great white eagle roar thunderously into the west Dublin sky, before she did a tear drop 180 and beat back up the runway on a reciprocal heading before climbing out at an incredible angle four afterburners briefly lit. Awesome memory. Glad I stuck to my guns with GND though or we'd have been blown off the ground by the AF even at flight idle.

pclancy

Great story You saved Charlie Zulu from being barbecued, good for you for sticking up for your own judgements.

bernsy

I was outside the fence at the 23 threshold where they took off, I'll never forget the AF pilot asking " can we do a flyby - zere are zo many people watching" . It was fantastic-the good ole days at the 23 treshold

Elmar Fudd

I took this in October '84, I think it landed in Dublin in '83, '84, maybe '85.

madalig12

I was in New York the other week and visited the Air,Sea and Space Muesum, it was brilliant I paid the wee bit extra for the Concorde tour and it was well worth it. The guy giving the tour knew next to anything you could think to ask. He mentioned that there is one in Manchester which you can tour aswell. It was news to me! Just in case people here didn't know.

mickdw

Yes G -BOAC is in manchester. Its in good condition in a dedicated hanger. I went to see G-BOAF at filton before they closed it. Must have a look at the manchester one.

foxcoverteddy

Did any of the concorde get scrapped or are they dotted around the world's museums?
When I lived in south London we used to get Concorde come over the house on it's run in to HRW.
My very best recollection of Concord was in a village not too far from the factory at Filton when Concord prior to going into service, came over at a very lo0w altitude, the noise was incredible but at thge same time beautiful

mickdw

Of the british fleet, there were 7 production concorde that were in commercial service. Only five were in service following return to flight after the air france crash.

G boaa - used as a parts plane early on. Had wings chopped off and transported to museum in scotland and is on display there.

G boab - this is the other one that didnt fly following paris crash. Is parked outside at heathrow since it landed following paris crash.

G boac - at Manchester on display. Pretty much intact.

G boaf - at filton, bristol. Was on display but closed and aircraft had some repairs carried out.

The other 3, d, e, and g are located at new york, seattle and barbados although im not sure which ones are where.

MugMugs

They've all been completely decomissioned though, I'd imagine?

Never able to take flight again?

madalig12

I would not say they are not able. The guide said it was the cost of fuel that was the reason they stopped flying. He said that a delay from the passenger loading area to the runway would burn up two tons of fuel:eek:

mickdw

In relation why they stopped and any future flight, Airbus are the main players there.
Firstly british airways ran concorde in profit wheress the air frsnce operation was a shambles by comparison. The aircraft had life left in them and british airways wanted to continue although im not sure how strong the will of the management was at that time. The decision was taken in france to stop the concorde division as it was a liability on air france balance sheet. Airbus who were providing technical back up then decides they could not continue to service british airways alone unless they doubled the yearly cost. This pushed BA over the edge as it would not then be financially viable with the increased costs. Airbus are the only technical partner deemed competent on concorde and without them the aircraft cannot get off the ground.
A future flight possibility for passenger travel - no hope.
Possibility of one aircraft being airworthy as display aircraft - very unlikely. It would require alot of things to come together. Off the top of my head. BA would need to have the will to put one back in the air. This is not currently the case. A technical partner other than Airbus would need to be on board. This would be difficult as airbus are holding all the cards here really. This might be easier to achieve if only being used as a display aircraft.
Additionally, BA had various stocks of parts at the time of retirement. These were sold off and as such are no longer certified for use. There are also specialist fluids that are no longer produced although I think there is a large supply in storage at producer. Then you have rollsroyce engines who would need to be invloved.
Overall, if for example the uk prime minister wanted one in the air, it could be done by pulling all sides together and throwing a couple of hundred million at it. A few volunteers are never going to get one off the ground.
As they stand, the aircraft have been decommissioned to varying degrees.
One had wings chopped.
Some reports suggest that concrete was poured into fuel tanks on some aircraft but I dobt know how true that is.
Most have had all fluids drained meaning all systems would require a full rebuild if being used again. Regardless, even for a display flight role, a full rebuild of such systems would be happening anyway.

rainbowdash

One of the first concordes is on display in Duxford airfield, just north of Stansted.

Anybody ever have a few hours to kill before a flight home from Stansted could pop up there in their hire car.

It was grounded long before the crash, it was a prototype and it did a lot of the testing.

Mac 3

Pic of concorde in Shannon..

kona

The Concorde in New York is in bad shape, brake servos missings, nothing's blanked up, there's a good bit of corrosion on it too, IMO would take an awful lot to get it flying, years and millions id guess, I saw it last week.

Isn't there one of the af with a c of a? Something to do with the investigation? One thing is for sure, if one is to fly again, it would need to be soon before the experience of the mechs n engineers n pilots is lost.