Concorde

[Steve Kish]

I've seen this take off at least 1,000 times, as I live just south-west of Heathrow. Best time was at night when you could see all four Rolls Royce Olympus engine with their concentric rings as it flew over our house. They switched off the afterburners when it was in the distance.

You knew it was coming as there was a gap in the 'one plane every few seconds' schedule and a silence before it came. You could hear it start up from Hatton Cross, about 3 miles away!

When I used to cycle to London, there was usually one in BA Technical Block B, visible from the A30 between Parkway and Hatton Cross. Most I ever saw there at one time were four of them - a surprisingly small aircraft!

 

[IDB1]

Small indeed. . remember walking around the one the had on the tarmac at Duxford. .

My Sister done the 'edge of space' flight in Concorde. . . been trying to get a copy of the pic she took for a while. . .

 

[orange71]

Even as a child I thought that the stress a plane tyre is under going from zero to lots instantly when it touches the ground could not be good. I actually drew something in a school book that would use the slipstream to 'spin' the wheels up to speed on the approach.

I was at the museum at Yeovilton where they keep Concorde 001 one time when I was about 10 and was looking at the front wheel wondering how many landings it could take before needing a new tyre. I asked a middle aged man who happened to be peering at it as well. He said, well I can tell you as I helped design the undercarriage for Concorde :shock:

 

[grahame]

One hell of an afterburner :shock:

<Pedant mode>
Only the yanks have afterburners. Aircraft from the free world have "reheat"
</Pedant mode>

 

[cornholio's RC200]

Strange that it was discontinued after only one accident.The planes we common folk use drop from the sky in regular intervals,No sign of them being discontinued :?

Was eventually grounded because of finance and timing. Parts cost megabucks (some were even taken from sacrificial retired aircraft), people didn't want to fly after 9/11 and BA were losing money on every flight undertaken. It was a prestige thing really in the end.

I do however recall an international summit where Dubya turned up in Air Force 1 only for Tony Blair to turn up in Concorde (Blair Force 1).... That's upstaging

 

[velomaniac]

Near the end of its service it came to Edinburgh and flew over our house on the final approach. We heard this distant rumble unlike anything we'd ever heard and so went out the front south facing side of the house. In the distance this tiny triangular spec producing one hell of a racket eventually passing right over head.

Absolutely Awsome, a memory I'll always treasure

 

[paininthe]

Was eventually grounded because of finance and timing. Parts cost megabucks (some were even taken from sacrificial retired aircraft),

I was lucky enough to go on a tour round the Concorde aircraft and hanger, sat in the pilots seat with my arm out the opening cockpit side window. We where all excited like children.

There was a plane ready to go into service, one on a minor exam and one on a major and one stopped waiting for exam. They would pinch bits from one aircraft to fit to another in a planned cycle. The olympus engines where lined up with labels hanging off where parts had been robbed.

 

[makster]

Strange that it was discontinued after only one accident.The planes we common folk use drop from the sky in regular intervals,No sign of them being discontinued :?

And we dont know tha half of it!
Was reading a good article last year about a suspected problem with the a type of wire coating (Kapton??) used within the fly-by-wire systems of older passenger aircraft.
Basicaly the coating breaks down over time and the wires short against each other. This causes rouge signals to actuators which in turn wrestle control of the aircraft away from the pilots! This is one explaination for the Air France (again :roll: ) crash in the Atlantic last year.
Can fully believe that Boeing/Airbus etc wouldn't admit to a problem like that as grounding half of you fleet for a re-wire may cost a few quid!

Anyway, just off to book a flight for work next week :shock:

 

[KeepItSteel]

incredible plane.

I live under the flight path near Kish by the sounds of it.
I think it was twice weekly over my school when I was a kid?

i loved the fact it was so loud that the teachers had to stop teaching for at least 60 seconds....

Remarkable acheivement which due to monatary costs is now grounded, a crying shame. Money makes the world go round, unitl we live in a 'Star Trek' like soceity in which money doesnt exist, then our progress will be stunted to say the least.

Ever since I was tiny I wanted to see man back on the moon, let alone Mars, im starting to wonder if I will ever get to see that - which is remarkable seeing as they were last on the moon nearly 10 years before I was born.
If I were as rich as Bill Gates/Abramovich et al... I would invest (spend) billions getting Concorde back in the sky and man back on the moon.

I like da monies!

 

[Steve Kish]

I live under the flight path near Kish by the sounds of it

I'm in Stanwell Moor, very close to jct 14 of the M25.