TonyAccardo Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I was watching a documentary on the Concorde's last flight and was curious. ?..........has anyone on this forum ever been on a Concorde flight before it was taken out of service? What a great environment to have a plate of Lox, fruit, and a flute of Dom Perignon while looking out your window and seeing the curvature of the Earth with the illusion of the sun rising in the west because the speed of the plane is faster than the rotation of the Earth! The only thing that would put the cherry on top of the experience would have been a nice 'Splendido from 1977!
TonyAccardo Posted June 8, 2015 Author Posted June 8, 2015 Concorde%20Paris%20crash.jpg Ride on the Concorde? No thanks! After that, they outfitted the fuel tanks with Kevlar to prevent that from happening again. In the big picture, the Concorde was a much safer airplane than what they have in the air today. It just lost too much money but I think it would have been splendid experiencing a flight on one. Your immediate response of posting that picture is what happens with so many things.......the dissaisfied scream the loudest, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and then it has a bad reputation that it can't shake.
El Presidente Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 i am glad they corrected it! Good on those squeaky wheels! Have seen some great documentaries on the Concorde and it was a fascinating experiment destined to fail on commercial grounds but a great example of "pushing the envelope' Ken may have flown one as he is well over 60 but just a tad before my time.
CaptainQuintero Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I remember the last flight on the news, I think one still does fly by sessions with the red arrows and WW2 memorial flight (Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane) sometimes. Incredible tech, wasn't London to New York a 3 and a half hour flight or something daft?
PapaDisco Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 The problem with rubber tire chunks puncturing the fuel tanks was well known before the Paris crash, and the British Airways Concorde's had been retrofitted with fuel tank bladders to prevent this. It added weight and reduced fuel load, so the French elected to not do the retrofit. I used to ride on the Concorde for work back in the day, and it was a fabulous piece of machinery. Rather snug inside (2 and 2 seating) and a flight really felt like an adventure. The overhead space wouldn't even fit a briefcase so everyone just tossed their $1,000 cases all piggly wiggle in a center closet. I was aghast the first time I boarded and the moment came for me to add my Hartmann case to the haphazard pile (probably the cheapest briefcase of the bunch but a fortune to this second year investment banking associate!). Sitting next to the window was my favorite spot, a spectacular view, and the windows got uncomfortably hot to the touch. What really made it special for me, was that many years before, as a teenager, I was on the Air France Concorde food service team at Dulles Airport. Us lowly types never got to fly on the plane then of course, but just being near the technology was fabulous enough, and our rules required us to, after loading the plane, sit in our truck on the ramp until the plane actually took off and what a spectacular, rumbling, roaring takeoff it was. It was great fun to watch each takeoff, but the reason it was required was because there were so many system failures in the early days. If a takeoff was aborted we were required to unload all of the lobster and filet mignon and put fresh meals on. The ones we unloaded went straight to my college apartment freezer and me and the boys dined like kings! Ever get tired of truffles and filet mignon? Strange to say it can happen! Back in the early days, they would sometimes fly with just a single passenger. Towards the end the planes were booked full quite a lot. Air France used to run a New Year's special where you'd celebrate the New Year in Paris, zip out to the airport and take off in the Concorde and once airborne celebrate New Year's once again, then land in Dulles and get hustled off to the French Embassy for a third New Years! Quite a spectacular piece of equipment. It was sad to see it retired. 4
TonyAccardo Posted June 8, 2015 Author Posted June 8, 2015 i am glad they corrected it! Good on those squeaky wheels! Have seen some great documentaries on the Concorde and it was a fascinating experiment destined to fail on commercial grounds but a great example of "pushing the envelope' Ken may have flown one as he is well over 60 but just a tad before my time. I was thinking about you and Ken when I watched it as I can picture you guys having been up there toasting each others good fortune. It was cool learning how many famous people used to fly regularly on it like Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Kissinger, etc. So alot of people flew frequently on the Concorde. I don't know, I just thought it was really neat learning about it and it's worthwhile to note that alot of the pilots thought it was one of the safest airliners in the sky and most anyone involved with it in any way are still really angry and sad that it failed as it did.
TonyAccardo Posted June 8, 2015 Author Posted June 8, 2015 The problem with rubber tire chunks puncturing the fuel tanks was well known before the Paris crash, and the British Airways Concorde's had been retrofitted with fuel tank bladders to prevent this. It added weight and reduced fuel load, so the French elected to not do the retrofit. I used to ride on the Concorde for work back in the day, and it was a fabulous piece of machinery. Rather snug inside (2 and 2 seating) and a flight really felt like an adventure. The overhead space wouldn't even fit a briefcase so everyone just tossed their $1,000 cases all piggly wiggle in a center closet. I was aghast the first time I boarded and the moment came for me to add my Hartmann case to the haphazard pile (probably the cheapest briefcase of the bunch but a fortune to this second year investment banking associate!). Sitting next to the window was my favorite spot, a spectacular view, and the windows got uncomfortably hot to the touch. What really made it special for me, was that many years before, as a teenager, I was on the Air France Concorde food service team at Dulles Airport. Us lowly types never got to fly on the plane then of course, but just being near the technology was fabulous enough, and our rules required us to, after loading the plane, sit in our truck on the ramp until the plane actually took off and what a spectacular, rumbling, roaring takeoff it was. It was great fun to watch each takeoff, but the reason it was required was because there were so many system failures in the early days. If a takeoff was aborted we were required to unload all of the lobster and filet mignon and put fresh meals on. The ones we unloaded went straight to my college apartment freezer and me and the boys dined like kings! Ever get tired of truffles and filet mignon? Strange to say it can happen! Back in the early days, they would sometimes fly with just a single passenger. Towards the end the planes were booked full quite a lot. Air France used to run a New Year's special where you'd celebrate the New Year in Paris, zip out to the airport and take off in the Concorde and once airborne celebrate New Year's once again, then land in Dulles and get hustled off to the French Embassy for a third New Years! Quite a spectacular piece of equipment. It was sad to see it retired. Yes, they said the whole plane would expand like 8 inches because of the heat produced by the friction and the windows were cooled otherwise you'd burn your hands if you touched the windows. In museums where yhe Concorde rests, pilots had stuck their caps in cracks that expanded during flight and then contracted back down upon the cap so they're permanently stuck inside these cracks inside the cockpits. Thanks for sharing your experience. You're really lucky to have experienced such a cool piece of history.
Duxnutz Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 Great piece of kit the Concorde. I remember watching it come into land somewhere as a kid and being enthralled. Another seed was planted and I knew I'd grow up and fly planes for a living. While the Concorde was incredible, realistically it was 50s/60s technology that was probably a maintenance nightmare in its final years of service. I'd like to see a rebirthed SST but the chances of that are probably slim.
Ken Gargett Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 Ken may have flown one as he is well over 60 but just a tad before my time. seriously? 60? amusing yourself? back on the piss? do i have to keep sending D those emails reminding her you have buggered off to get pissed in the med with mates while she has to work. D, just reminding you rob has buggered off to the other side of the world to get pissed and enjoy himself. while you were dumped back home to work. he has probably promised to make it up to you. ha! as for the concorde, no, never flew on one. i do remember playing cricket on an oval in london and having one wheel around above us. spectacular. it was right at the time they finished. rob and i have a mate who flew on it very regularly back in the day, as his business took him back and forth between london and new york. i think he enjoyed it. a lot. i remember him telling a story about how he got up for a leak at one stage and the hostess asked him what it was like to sleep with julia roberts. he had no idea who that was (had no time to watch movies back then). the hostess said it was the woman who had been sound asleep on his shoulder for the last three hours. our mate, ever the gentleman, had stayed in place so as not to disturb her but had no idea who she was. 1
Ken Gargett Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 back in my legal days, i did have a first class BA flight brizzy to bangkok. endless dom on that. and some top flight '82 bordeaux. that really was heaven. i asked the stewardess to give the pilot a note and just ask him to fly around in circles for as long as possible. i did not want to land. 2
Shikar Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 I was a young resident doc in training and I gifted my dad a Washington DC to London trip on the Concorde. He still remembers it as an amazing, but cramped, experience. Regards.
Trevor2118 Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 I have been on a Concord plane, but not for a flight. Really cramped and no better than economy class conditions. And yes, I'm over 60.
brschoppe Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 I remember living in London in the Mid-90's while in University and I loved seeing the Concorde fly over our apartment every day at around 5:15pm. It was still pretty high above us so I never got a good photo of it (in the days before digital and optic zoom camera phones). I just remember how noisy it was. It was like a rocket engine. It was like a beautiful kite up there. I still kick myself for not spending the $660 to fly on it (non-supersonic) when it was at Oshkosh EAA in the late 90's.
JoeyGunz Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 You can still do it http://www.brooklandsconcorde.co.uk/images/uploads/documents/concorde-champagne-days.pdf and only 2 minutes away from my office! 1
wabashcr Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 Got to see the Concorde take off once as a kid, and I was in love. Had a really cool model version when I was younger. I have also seen the one on display at the aviation museum out by Dulles. I've watched some documentaries on the Concorde as well. I'm not a huge fan of flying myself, so I don't so much regret missing out on the chance to fly in one. But I've always been fascinated with the Concorde. I was very disappointed when they retired them.
Drguano Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 you can climb inside the Concordes parkd at the Air and Space museum at Orly.
TonyAccardo Posted June 9, 2015 Author Posted June 9, 2015 What's amazing about it is that it really was a late 1950's-1960's technology. It made its first flight in 1969 but didn't start carrying passengers regularly until I believe it was 1975. It's too bad that Airliner Corporations are so financially strapped these days that they don't put in any effort towards an airliner of the ability of the Concorde. It's almost like one of the few times where we've gone backwards in progress concerning air technology. Or at the very least stayed stagnant, but since the Concorde once was, we have gone backwards. 1
Scroats Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 To add to the places one can set foot on one today, the intrepid museum in NY also offers tours. I do plan on seeing it next time I get up there.
CanuckSARTech Posted June 27, 2015 Posted June 27, 2015 Amazing. Thanks all for sharing. Until I read some of the comments here, and saw these pictures, I honestly had no idea it was such a small aircraft really. I thought this thing was a giant, with loads of space in the seating, and lots of seats too. I didn't realize it was really such a small thing with giant wings (considering the ratio).
Coloniales Posted June 27, 2015 Posted June 27, 2015 You may need to correct the title to the thread, its called Concorde, not THE Concorde. Just being pedantic A great aircraft, called the dart by those who flew it. It was flown by short haul crews, as all flights were usually under 4 hours. The ;last time I saw it fly, I was stuck in traffic on the M25 (London orbital road) and just west of Heathrow. Something caught my attention to my right, it was 4 purple glowing lights coming rapidly at me, i then realised it was Concorde, and wound down my window and enjoyed the noise. Keith.
tomj Posted June 27, 2015 Posted June 27, 2015 I remember back in 1995 during the Ryder cup in Rochester, NY (golf) the European team flew in on one .They did a fly over the city and was quite a sight.
Chaki Posted July 11, 2015 Posted July 11, 2015 I flew it on BA from London to NYC for my honeymoon trip . Marriage going strong 20 years after. I loved every minute of it (the flight as well as the marriage) in spite of the cramped space and hot windows. Great aircraft, maybe too early for the times. Many of engineers who designed it went on to work on Airbus.
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