Anyone here flown on the Concorde?
 

Been watching videos about the Concorde...Prime has a few.
Very interesting about the years of research which led to it's 27 years of use. 1954 was when they started planning it....2003 was the last flight.

I wish I would have been able to fly it once.

Surprising how narrow the fuselage was. One aisle...two seats on each side.

One of it's first flights was from France to West Africa...a normal 6.5 hr flight.

The Concorde did it in 2.5 hrs. at Mach 2 in 1971

I saw the Concorde on display at Heathrow as we taxied past. It is TINY. Agreed. It would have been totally badass.

Sidenote. I was born in 1966. We had some sort of encyclopedia in my house when I was a kid. It showed super sonic air travel as being "normal" in the future. I think the book was published in 1973.

So, I have been disappointed in most all of my air travel as an adult, having my childhood expectations raised considerably.

It was still in service when I had my first chances at flying. (I was born in 53) I remember checking prices in hopes of booking a flight on one.....but the lowest prices were over $2500. I couldn't do that at that time.

$2500 was a lot of money then.

Johnny Carson described it as flying inside a cigarette. It did have a tiny fuselage.

It was much more expensive to fly in than a regular airline.

I was on a runway at Dulles in the late 80s in Jan or Dec. It was snowing and there was only one functional runway worth about 20 planes backed up waiting to take off. The Concord was one of them. That's as close as I've ever come to riding the Concord.

It only seated 100 or so.
The coolest feature was the mach-meter that showed the speed.

There is one on static display in Seattle.
I was at Boeing Field when it landed. Quite the experience seeing it on final approach with the nose down, then taxiing in.

They wanted to set a speed record from New York to Seattle, but US wouldn't allow supersonic flight.
So....
Subsonic north into Canada, throttle up and head west, then subsonic again to cross back into US airspace into Seattle.
Still set a record.

You can tour SSTs at the Technic Museum Sinsheim South of Frankfort. Great place to spend an afternoon.

https://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/

There is one on display near the USS Intrepid in New York. Unfortunately we were not able to get a look inside . . .

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1732945789.jpg

4 minutes. The final flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zeDsSJmcpM&ab_channel=SmithsonianChannelA viationNation

Supersonic travel hopefully coming back. Research has been going on with NASA on quiet sonic booms so there would be travel across the United States. The proposed aircraft is only slightly slower and American, United and Japan Airlines have put in orders.

Environmental concerns might kill it and the "Flygskam" movement in Europe could be difficult to overcome with legislators. The lack of an engine supplier may do them in before anything else. Boom Supersonic has already flown a demonstrator on several test flights...

Concept and test aircraft:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1732964733.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1732965315.jpg

I read a book on the crash a few years ago...I forget the name of it.
Along with the bad luck of hitting the debris on take-off, there were several other mistakes the pilot and crew made that led to it causing the fire....sad.


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My wife and I were sitting on the tarmc in 2000 waiting to leave France when she grabs my arm and points to the window, there was a Concord at full thrust taking off, quite the sight looking like a rocket blasting off

Been in one…

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1732971373.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1732971405.jpg

Watched a Concorde take off from Heathrow in March '03. Impressive climb out!
In the Annapolis Valley in western Nova Scotia, on quiet Sunday mornings, we used to hear a rumble that sounded like distant thunder. It always occurred at the same time, just before 10, if I recall correctly. Finally I checked the Concorde schedule and it coincided with the passage of the Speedbird 30 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia, which meant it was 90 miles away from where we were hearing the sound.

Best
Les

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I saw one at CDG in 2004 or so. It was sitting on the tarmac as we walked past as we got off our plane.

Jackie Stewart and Mario used to fly on it regularly when the competed in F1 and the Can-Am. They've written about it in their books. That must have been some ride.

That is one crammed cockpit!