Concorde Tributes from ATC

[paulo]

I'm beginning to struggle to read this kind of thing without choking. :(

http://pub13.ezboard.com/fconcordesstfrm2.showMessage?topicID=1122.topic

[from Gordon Roxburgh's excellent concorde site - www.concordesst.com]

[055166k]

I say chaps.....you're permitted seven characters on the flight plan. If you file BA9020C in yesteryear fashion it won't fit in the computer......we put in BAW9020......that's why "C" disappeared yesterday. B Watch on Tue /Wed afternoons at Swanwick, we can't shed a tear on the new vertical radar display but I'm sure the old horizontal radar would have been flooded by now. See you at UPGAS.

[paulo]

More fun with penultimate Speedbird One tonight...

Lined up, they are asked to hang on whilst the Tower Supervisor (?) gets onto the runway to take a photo!

Then, immediately before the off (approx transcript)

"To those watching from the ground tonight, thank you for your support"

then more chat on the climb out

Heathrow (Tower?): "Speedbird One...I'm sure they enjoyed that very much"

It's getting more emotional now. :(

[BRL]

Hi Paul. Check you PM's........ :)

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Wednesday 22nd

Anybody here going along this evening ?

[paulo]

I'm along tomorrow... (like quite a few I guess)

Interesting to read about the parallel landing tonight. You ATC chaps are just soooooo disorganised you end up having to use two runways for arrivals. For the same ac type. Just the once. Bring em on? BRING 'EM IN. :-)

A bit of cross posting here from www.concordesst.com


Thanks to "Paulie" (no relation) on that board, and "surfingatco" who appears to be have been running Director...



9021C: "Director hello, its Speedbird concorde 9021C FL90 maintaining towards ockham information delta"

134.97:"Speedbird 9021 roger, if not called before enter the hold at ockham, we've got a few traffic downwind at the moment"

9021C:"If it can work out we'd like a sequential approach please with the 002 one after the other"

134.97:"Yep, its not a problem, we are arranging, one on 9L, one on 9R?"

9021C:"Yeah, please"

134.97:"Yep, its in hand, we'll let you know when its all set up"

002:"Heathrow good evening, Speedbird 2 a concorde with foxtrot, level 110 to ockham"

134.97:"Speedbird 2 roger, continue towards ockham to hold, be less than 5 minutes"

002:"Roger, towards ockham, expecting the hold, Speedbird Concorde 2"

134.97:"Speedbird 9021, your landing runway will be 09L"

9021C:"We're on 9L, thank you speedbird concorde 9021C"

134.97:"Speedbird 2 speed of 250 knots, landing runway 09R"

134.97:"Speedbird 2 if you can manage it and we've got good visibility, we'll do a parallel landing with the 9021"

002:"Speedbird Concorde 2, thank you very much indeed sir"

Appr:9021C left heading 180 degrees

9021C: "Left 180"

Approach: "Speedbird 2 right heading 360 degrees"

002 with obvious big smile on face:"right 360 degrees speedbird concorde 2"

002:"whos going to call chicken first?!" :D

Appr: Speedbird 9021C it'll just help us if you can go down to 4000ft fairly quickly"

9021C:"down to 4 quickly for you 9021C"

Appr:"Speedbird 2, right heading 020 degrees"

002:"right head 020 degrees Speedbird concorde 2"

Appr:Speedbird 9021C a left turn now heading 130 degrees to report established 9L"

9021C:"130, we're 4000ft maintaining, we'll call you established 9L Speedbird 9021C"

Appr:"Speedbird 2 right heading 075 degrees, report localiser established 9R"

002:"right 075 report established 9R, speedbird concorde 2 well done."

Appr:"Speedbird 2 your company traffic then is slightly right of your 12 O'Clock range 4 miles a thousand feet beneath you"

002:"We got him, thanks very much"

Appr: "Speedbird 2 thank you, in that case, own visual seperation"

002:"Our seperation visual, Speedbird Concorde 2

9021C: "We're coming back to 190 knots"

Appr: "Thank you, 190 approved"

9021C:"Speedbird Concorde 9021C is localiser established 9L"

Appr: "9021C thank you, descend with the ILS 9L"

Appr: "Speedbird 2, own visual seperation, descend altitude 4000ft, speed to your own requirements"

002: "Thank you, our speed descend 4000 visual sep, Speedbird concorde 2"

9021C: "Whats your VTT(?) boys?"

002: "160"

002: "If you're gonna acquire(?) at 1000ft"

9021C: "We'll do whatever you suggest"

002: "Ok we'll call it 1000 then"

9021C: "We are a little ahead of you at the moment"

002: "Yeah, we got 200"

Appr: "Speedbird 2 you can continue that descent to 3000"

002: "Down to 3000, we've got 210knots at the moment"

9021C: "We're coming back to 175 if thats OK for Speedbird Concorde 9021C"

Appr: "9021C, speed to your own requirements"

9021C: "Can you speed up a bit?"

002: "Yeah, we're just coming"

002: "Concorde 2 is now fully established 9R"

Appr: "Speedbird 9021C, well done, bye from me, 1187"

9021C: "No, thank you very much indeed for all your help sir and we're going to decimal 7"

Appr: "And Speedbird 2 for you likewise, 118.5 for you though"

002: "Nice work fellas, much appreciated, 118.5 (eventually) concorde 2 bye "

9021C 0n 118.7:"We'll continue 9021C"

002 on 118.5: "Speedbird concorde 2 is at 6.2 on the right.......continue Speedbird concorde 2"

002 on 118.5: "Clear to land on the right Speedbird Concorde 2, we're now reducing to 160 knots"

9021C on 118.7: "Clear to land 9L thank you, 9021C"


[edited to add the setup with Director]

[PPRuNe Radar]

I think 'Paulie' needs to buy a new CAP413 :)

[vintage ATCO]

Speaking to people at Cardiff today, there was one dear lady who, this week, had driven to Birmingham, Heathrow (Wed), Cardiff (Thu) and intends to be at Heathrow tomorrow (Fri) just to see Concorde. She complained bitterly about the parallel approaches at Heathrow on Wednesday and reckoned it was a blatant attempt by 'the authorities' to spoil their enjoyment as they had to run from one side of the multi-story car park to the other to see both!!!

I explained it was a brilliant set up by ATC and she came round to the idea. But fancy doing all that driving. A true fan. Bless her.

Well done, guys.


VA

[Jordan D]

Excellent Stuff guys. Well Done

Jordan

[paulo]

A few thousand at Hatton Cross tonight.

The final Speedbird One departure was quite something. I hope to get a proper transcript shortly, but...

BA001, lined up (approx tail end of transcript): "...if this machine was a person, she would be crying".

I booked a minicab home. Driver, no extra charge, took me round into the tunnel so we could see G-CONC both ways. Reminisced and talked of admiration for such a beautiful aircraft. I blubbed for about 10 mins. He got a very good tip!

:{ :{ truly.

[aluminium persuader]

:{

MyDadwas a CSO with BOAC/British Airways. With and without him, I saw Conc many times and in many places as I was growing up. In the late nineties we got a staff travel flight on Conc to JFK, sitting besidea certain McCartney & family. Wish I had taken photos, but BA had very stringent staff travel rules. Worked her as well as an ATCO at Filton, where she came off airways a bit early, so cancelled IFR plan and went VFR for a look at the new Severn crossing which was almost finished then. Had a PA38 doing the same thing from the same direction at 4000, and told him to look below for traffic coming up behind him. He was astonished to have Conc appear under his nose! I'm now working at ELLX, so unable to see any of the final flights. Enough to make a grown man cry - what am I going to tell my son?

God Speed.

[PH-UKU]

It breaks my heart to see these ac grounded. I had the opportunity to bid farewell on frequency way up in the frozen north but it has left a bad sad taste in the mouth.

IMHO BAW's attitude stinks throught all this.

I don't want to piss on anyone's party, but from a personal point of view, the flight in and out of Edinburgh is fine, but please what extra effort would it really have taken to do a fly past at Glasgow (and Prestwick) ? Considering Concorde orbited three times at Dunblane (because the pilot lives there), it does seem rather self-indulgent when there were many aviation pros and punters out there at Glasgow desparately keen for a last glimpse. And considering she had to hold at Ockham to await the join up, an extra 10 mins round Central Scotland would have made a LOT of people very happy.

But, we are told, BAW said 'No'. Kind of sums up your attitude to us up here doesn't it ? Dobbers!! :mad:

If that is the case you should hang your collective heads in shame for having such a self-indulgent elitist final party. Concorde belonged to us all, not just the 'privileged few' in the south-east. May you burn in hell and may the reheat of perdition burn your buttox.

However, you have a slim chance of redeeming yourselves if from your ivory tower you deem to give an ac to East Fortune museum. Why oh why do give them to Barbados (rich geeks) and USA (who objected so vehemently in the first place that it screwed up all the potential airline orders)?

TIME TO LOOK AFTER YOUR FRIENDS AT HOME DOBBERS !!

[Eric T Cartman]

I'm an old geezer who controlled one of the early prototypes during it's numerous test flights from Prestwick, & later several production BAW Concordes on crew training circuits there, so I'm particularly disappointed that BAW didn't see fit to make one of the final flights through there - & I imagine the boys and girls at Atlantic House who controlled it on every ocean crossing are less than impressed that Edinburgh was chosen :-(

[Findo]

Eric T

We got the chance to work it in and out through quite a few sectors so most of the ScACC staff on duty had something to do with the last flights.

Watch out for a big spread in the next edition of your company magazine. Are you retired now ?

[Eric T Cartman]

@ Findo
I've PM'd you - check your "user cp" ;-)