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  Concorde's last flight Friday 24th

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Author Topic:   Concorde's last flight Friday 24th
gliderpilotuk
Member

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-19-2003 10:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Friday 24th sees Concorde's last commercial flight. After this there will only be positioning flights to shift the planes to museums, with the vague possibility of one being kept airworthy for the centenary of flight.
There's a great website showing the final schedules and where to see Concorde in the UK this coming week. http://www.concordesst.com/retire/viewconcorde_r.html
or for the full Concorde background: http://www.concordesst.com

There are expected to be THREE Concorde's landing one after another on Friday afternoon at Heathrow. I'll be there, but DO NOT take your car. They are expecting up to 250,000 people to visit LHR and the motorway gantries are already warning of traffic chaos on Friday.
It will be a sad day.

Paul Bramley


BLACKARROW
unregistered
posted 10-19-2003 12:03 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Paul,
It will indeed be a sad day when Concorde flies for the last time. I'm sure we will see future supersonic airliners, but there will never be another Concorde!

I'm hoping to see one of the Concordes next week when it pays a "flying visit" to Belfast, and I'm sure we can reminisce in Dublin on 17th November. Our celebrated guest may also have something to say on the subject......

spaceuk
Member

Posts: 2113
From: Staffs, UK
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 10-20-2003 08:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaceuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I will take a intense interest in events this week and - like many others - will be saddened to see the demise of this fine aircraft.

More so, since in the mid 60's , had a small hand in its production. Bae used to forward wing data to the computer bureau where I worked. As a Data Controller I used to have to get the data punched onto 80 col cards and assemble the data and program tapes (paper and mag tapes) and op instructions during the day - which were then processed overnight on what was then one of the largest second generation computers in Europe (!!). Reams of paper were output by the box full. The whole bundle (data,output) would then be packaged and couriered back to BAe the following day.A number of wing plots were done for BAe as well and the ogilvy wing was plain to see when completed.
At the time it was just another bureau production job in several dozens per day though it was stressed that it had 'government importance' and,as such ,should receive detailed attention !
A couple of times several BAe engineers came along with their data and only they were allowed to view the output as it was being produced on the plotter. we could press teh buttons but had to 'back off' once the plots staretd printing :-)

A similar function was done for RR who bought computer time to do some work for the Olympus engines.


Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-20-2003 08:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The TODAY Show on NBC is auctioning a pair of tickets on the final flight:

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/britishairwaysconcorde/

Bidding closes today, with the current winner at $31,300.00.

gliderpilotuk
Member

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-20-2003 06:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Went to LHR today to do a recce. Saw 2 Concordes landing within 5 mins of each other - superb.
On radio this morning BA'S head of marketing said that the aim was to keep as many as possible of the Concordes in the UK and that plans to keep one flyable for shows etc were still under discussion. Given the number of people I know who would pay $1k for a flight anywhere on her, BA would be mad to put her to sleep.

Paul

andrewcarson
Member

Posts: 349
From: Liverpool UK
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 10-20-2003 07:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for andrewcarson   Click Here to Email andrewcarson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Paul,

I have to agree with you...BA should keep the bird flying.....

We are all off to Manchester on Wednesday to see Concorde off...it will be a sad day.

I remember going to see Concorde visit Liverpool as a child...the Concorde we saw land at Liverpool was the aircraft lost in Paris a couple of years ago.

I hope BA do the right thing and keep one flying.

Andrew

[This message has been edited by andrewcarson (edited October 20, 2003).]

BLACKARROW
unregistered
posted 10-21-2003 08:01 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was at Belfast International Airport this morning to see Concorde swoop out of the sky to land right in front of the main viewing gallery. She was then parked right beside the terminal building to give observers a good close-up view. It was a bitter-sweet experience, viewing the world's most beautiful aircraft one last time. We ought to reflect on the fact that the same generation of designers, engineers and pilots who produced Apollo also produced Concorde. (The first Concorde flight was a few weeks before the launch of Apollo 9) Now, Apollo is history and Concorde has gone. Sadly, my generation has not followed in the innovative footsteps of my father's generation, and that's why we are Earth-bound at sub-sonic speed.

Ben
Member

Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-24-2003 01:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ben   Click Here to Email Ben     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Three Concordes have touched down in London in a spectacular finale to the era of supersonic travel.

To tears and cheers from thousands of enthusiasts on board and on the ground, the needle-nosed jets landed at Heathrow Airport, west of the British capital, in a carefully choreographed curtain-call on Friday.

The flights -- from Edinburgh, around the Bay of Biscay and finally from New York -- touched down at two-minute intervals, signaling the end to one of commercial aviation's most exciting -- and expensive -- experiments.

www.cnn.com third story.

------------------
-Ben

http://www.geocities.com/ovcolumbia/

[This message has been edited by Ben (edited October 24, 2003).]

andrewcarson
Member

Posts: 349
From: Liverpool UK
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 10-24-2003 03:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for andrewcarson   Click Here to Email andrewcarson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have to agree with Blackarrow....
gone are the days when we set forth to visit other celestial bodies...when I was six, man visited the moon every six months or so.

Our brilliant engineers built the remarkable Concorde it was upsetting to see this aircraft take its last commercial flight today....I can remember its first test flight,- like I remember the Apollo astronauts setting off for the moon.
I wonder where our sense of adventure has gone.

I think and feel that we are moving backwards...instead of forth.
I have trouble understanding how we could afford these monumental feats in the sixties and seventies....where have we gone wrong ???

Andrew

gliderpilotuk
Member

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-24-2003 03:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just got back from an afternoon at HEATHROW airport seeing the last
flight of the Concorde. What an atmosphere! Loads of people from every nation and good to see our French cousins out in force to celebrate this joint venture marvel.
We had THREE land consecutively
within 90 secs of each other. Despite police and security's best
efforts to keep thousands of people back from the perimeter fence I
managed to get within 250yds of the end of the runway and videoed
two of them. I posted a still of one of them on short finals on Yahoo groups Astronauts under the "Photos" section. If you can't access that site and would like to see the snap send me an email.
Enjoy this great memory.
Paul Bramley

Ben
Member

Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-24-2003 04:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ben   Click Here to Email Ben     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

Wish I could have seen the last flight pass over my house. My dad got up to see it this morning and watched it head off to the horizon.

I did get to see the last Air France flight May 31...and maybe one will fly to NY for display one day on the Intrepid.

Here are my photos from May again,

http://www.geocities.com/ovatlantis/ConcordeAF.html

A Reuters photographer was at that same spot this morning:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/031024/ids_photos_wl/r361901450.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/031024/ids_photos_wl/r1936444653.jpg

[This message has been edited by Ben (edited October 24, 2003).]

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