Concorde: all info please?!!

Arequipa

Good afternoon!
I was watching a programme on Discovery about concorde....this really ignited my interest again in this amazing aircraft. I remember seeing one take off from Heathrow & another firing up her engines @ JFK;unbelievable noise!
So I was just wondering what info, videos, records, pictures you have on Concorde?
Also info about its standard route to JFK... Where did it go supersonic, what route did it take into JFK ? Did it fly in with other slower aircraft?

I think what happened to Concorde in Paris was tragic, but hopefully we see another supersonic aircraft in our lifetimes,

Arequipa.

mickdw

Love concorde myself. Went to visit Concorde AF in Bristol last year. Great to see. Very complete aircraft and full access to cockpit etc. Would love to see one fly again in a heritage capacity. Look up concordeprojectflagship and heritageconcorde if interested in Concorde condition today and latest works being undertaken on Concorde AC at Manchester. Heritage Concorde site also goes into the politics behind the grounding of Concorde and will also have lots of history re routes etc.

Arequipa

Thank u: will check them out!

Maybe someone like Richard Branson could launch another supersonic commercial jet?!

Tenger

Arequipa wrote: »

Maybe someone like Richard Branson could launch another supersonic commercial jet?!

To be frank Branson is big on PR and the facade but I do not see him launching a new supersonic airliner.

Both Airbus and Boeing have shelved plans for a design like this so I don't see any other manufacturer commiting to such a risky design.

Look at the flop that was Boeing's Sonic Cruiser, look at the problems caused to both companies by the most recent designs (A380, B787, A350)


To answer one of your questions, Concorde I believe fly south west over Cornwall before going supersonic south of Ireland. It fly higher and faster than other aircraft so it did not follow the normal tracks over the Atlantic whcih were used by other airliners.
.

mickdw

Arequipa wrote: »

Thank u: will check them out!

Maybe someone like Richard Branson could launch another supersonic commercial jet?!

Nobody will launch another supersonic airliner unless all of the problems that dogged concorde can be addressed. These problems IMO were capacity, range and the sonic boom issues. I believe that there has been some research carried out into reduction of sonic boom which suggested that it would be possible by design of aircraft to reduce the boom effect at ground level. This larger long range aircraft which could fly supersonic over land would be a great commercial prospect. I fear it is many years away though. Its just a shame that the french forced Concorde to be grounded as it was a successful aircraft for BA for many years.

Priority Right

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html

A great thread from ex pilots, designers, and engineers of concorde. Hope it answers some of your questions.

Andrew33

mickdw wrote: »

Nobody will launch another supersonic airliner unless all of the problems that dogged concorde can be addressed. These problems IMO were capacity, range and the sonic boom issues. I believe that there has been some research carried out into reduction of sonic boom which suggested that it would be possible by design of aircraft to reduce the boom effect at ground level. This larger long range aircraft which could fly supersonic over land would be a great commercial prospect. I fear it is many years away though. Its just a shame that the french forced Concorde to be grounded as it was a successful aircraft for BA for many years.

I think it was commercially sucessful only after BA realised that international companies/corporations were paying for 99% of the seats and that gave BA cart blanche to charge whatever they wanted for each seat!
It's a very very different world we live in now so I don't think we'll ever see supersonic travel for the great unwashed public unless they come up with a free, limitless, portable power source for aircraft.
Boeing's Sonic Cruiser was meant to cruise at mach .98 but with the global downturn the proposed airliner morphed into the 787 with a lower cruise speed and much greater fuel efficiency.

Overature

Did a report on Concorde there for college (engineering) and i found

http://www.concordesst.com/

to be very helpful, other than that wikipedia

Feidhlim

I'll see if my Dad has anymore pictures... I'm sure he does. Get him to put them up tonight

Try these two for starters

Arequipa

Thank u for your replies: what a beautiful looking aircraft!

newcavanman

I remember heading out on the M50 one sunday night , april 1999. As we drove on from the M1 junction i saw concorde parked at the airport . I believe it was the lad who owns glen dimplex, charterd it for the weekend to bring his firends to Nice and back for the weekend . So we spun off at the Ballymun junction . The road along side the spotting area from the old irish helicopters site was jammed on both sides . I had no camera with me, but she took off on 10 just coming into dusk. Ill never forget that magnificent sight as she rose in to the darkening sky , 4 afterburners in full flow . Absolutely fantastic !!! Also a few years before there was a pepsi coloured AF concorde in dublin. I didnt see it land, but i saw it leaving, on a very gloomy day as i drove down the old M1

IrishB.ie

Arequipa wrote: »

Also info about its standard route to JFK... Where did it go supersonic, what route did it take into JFK ? Did it fly in with other slower aircraft?

Here's a route map to / from CDG.

ROFLcopter

A classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annkM6z1-FE&sns=em

ednwireland

you can go round one in manchester

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/Content/ConcordeconferenceTours

Doirtybirdy

I've my boarding pass and the menu from flying on this little lady nearly ten years ago.
Fantastic flight with BA,an hour in or so I seem to recall[very soon anyway] they were talking to shannon.
There were two cabins but all the same class.
The best place to sit was down the back.Both cabins had the mach clock at the divider.
The loo was very very small,even I had to crouch in there:D

Arequipa

Thats cool!!
Could you see the curvature of the Earth from 50,000 feet?
I would say the ticket was expensive?!

Arequipa

Tea 1000

Arequipa wrote: »

Thats cool!!
Could you see the curvature of the Earth from 50,000 feet?
I would say the ticket was expensive?!

Arequipa

I priced tickets a few months before they finished up. £4,000 each way from London to New York. I was tempted, but hadn't any money. I'd have had to sell my car to afford the one-way ticket, and would have had to walk to work when I came home, so decided against it. Still wonder if I should have just done it!

mickdw

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Arequipa wrote: »

Thats cool!!
Could you see the curvature of the Earth from 50,000 feet?
I would say the ticket was expensive?!

Arequipa

I priced tickets a few months before they finished up. £4,000 each way from London to New York. I was tempted, but hadn't any money. I'd have had to sell my car to afford the one-way ticket, and would have had to walk to work when I came home, so decided against it. Still wonder if I should have just done it!

Mad demand I believe once it was announced flights were finishing but in the years before retirement, I believe there were alot of discounted tickets sold. In an interview I've seen with john Hutchinson, Concorde pilot, he said that the discounting didn't go down too well with the normal fair paying passengers.
Didn't like mixing with the ordinary people I guess.

Arequipa

The wealthy not wanting to sit next to the great unwashed!

BA now operate a A318 from LCY to JFK via Shannon ( where they do Immigration Pre-Clearance)
Then they fly direct to JFk & direct home with help of jetstream. Is all 1st Class! Think it was Willie Walsh's idea after Concorde was shelved!

Doirtybirdy

Arequipa wrote: »

Thats cool!!
Could you see the curvature of the Earth from 50,000 feet?
I would say the ticket was expensive?!

Arequipa

I was aware of the darker texture of the sky as we were so high up but couldn't really make out curvature as such.
The ticket wasn't as expensive as you would think.
At the time BA were running a promotion whereby if you booked a club world fare in the d class fare bucket or higher,you could upgrade one way to either first or Concorde.
we jumped at the chance of Concorde.
An ebookers agent found us a contract d bucket fare for €1800 each that had to be sold with accomadation.
Best money I ever spent on an experience.

@Arequipa, I've flown the a318 BA service Lcy,it's not first class,it's business class.
But it's fantastic.They now give you ipads for the ife system.
When we did it we usedour BA miles to do a miles for upgrade,you can't do that any more though.
That flight cost about 800 each return plus the miles.

Doing things like this for a lot less than you'd think is easier than you'd think money wise ( although gaining plenty frequent flyer miles through your job does help!)
Have a read of the BA forum on flyer talk for tips.

Fishtits

fishtits senior was an engineer on the Concorde project from the mid sixties to the mid seventies. Our house once seemed a shrine given the pictures on the walls.

I can remember being brought around BAC (as it was then) in Filton as a lollypop sucking short trousered kid, looking at a wooden version, the Queen also visited, as one does...

The old man (sadly deceased) always said the yanks sank the project, Boeing came up with their fantasy version that stalled orders, then factor in the oil crisis and it was always going to be a vanity project.

It was always a beautiful sight, a one off in avaiation history.

My only regret is that I was unable to organise a flight for himself before it was canned.

Davidth88

I first saw a Concorde in I think 1976 taking off from LHR . I was spotting on the Queens Building at the time.

Always loved the aircraft.

Later I worked for a time across the Bath Rd from LHR ( not far from where the aircraft started their take off run on 27 R) . Loved it when a Concorde took off the whole office shook.

I clearly remember being on an upper deck of a bus that was on the perimeter rd when a Concorde came past , it was dusk , the afterburners lit up the runway and the bus shook . My wife was sitting next to me and nearly jumped out of her skin.

I knew a flight attendant who works for BA, she was on the short haul , but because of the length of the flight Concorde actually counted as short haul !
She got her wedding dress made in NY, but then the crash happened and the Concorde flights were pulled , so she had to pay for a flight ( staff rates of course ) to NY to get the dress !

Interestingly , BA had ( have ??? ) a strong policy that cabin crew holidays had to be honoured , so for example if you booked a certain day off you HAD to be home for that day. I know of at least one example where because of technical problems a crew member was stuck in NY and was due to go on leave , they ended up being sent home on Concorde.

It was interesting in 1984 ( I think ) I was spotting in Paris , even then AF had I think 3 Concordes mothballed .

BA used to do charters around the Bay of Biscay and to Lapland etc , I think there was a seperate travel company ( The Concorde Club ?? ) , this brought the prices down to where ' normal ' people could experience the aircraft . Its one of my regrets that I never went of the aircraft.

lord lucan

There's loads of Concorde documentaries on YouTube. Never get tired of watching them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHTJc1V5AQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MQsSpgkh8