R2112
I wonder if a piece I wrote some while ago may possibly be of interest?
JFK, 31L, Kennedy 9 SID, Canarsie transition, Concorde climb
Speedbird 2, cleared take-off 31L.
Call
3-2-1 Now, start your stopwatch, pre-set to countdown from 58 seconds, and push the throttles fully forward until they hit the stops. Four RR Olympus engines spool up and four reheats kick in, together producing 156,000 lbs of thrust, but at a total fuel flow of 83,000 kgs per hour. A touch of left rudder initially to keep straight, as the #4 engine limiter is restricting that engine to 88% until 60 kts, when it will release it to full power.
The F/O calls
Airspeed building,
V1, and then, at 195 kts,
Rotate. Gently rotate the aircraft, and lift-off occurs at around 10° and 215 kts, but keep rotating to 13.5° and then hold that attitude, and let the aircraft accelerate.
Positive Climb is called, you cross-check and ask for the
Gear Up.
Passing 50 ft RA, the F/O, having first checked the aircraft attitude, airspeed and rate of climb, calls
Turn. Slowly roll on 25° left bank to turn out over Jamaica bay, and as the speed accelerates through 240 kts, pitch up to 19° to maintain 250 kts and keep the left turn going to pass East of CRI. 54 seconds after the start of the take off roll, the F/O starts the noise abatement countdown with
3-2-1 Noise. At the call of
Noise the E/O simultaneously cancels the re-heats and rapidly throttles back to noise abatement power, whilst you quickly pitch down again to 12° to maintain 250 kts. It is now a minute from the start of roll and already 1,000 kgs of fuel have been used.
Speedbird 2, contact departure, so long.
Turning through heading 235°M, rapidly re-apply full dry power and pitch up to 17° to maintain 250 kts, but also reduce the left bank to 7.5°, until passing 2,500 ft, when bank angle may be increased to 25°.
Approaching the 253° radial JFK, you again hear
3-2-1 Noise, and the E/O throttles back to noise-abatement power for a second time. Pitch down to 12°, and tip-toe quietly over the Rockaway Beaches, aiming to pass right over the car park by the Marine Parkway bridge, to minimise the noise impact on the residents. Keep the left turn going and intercept the 176° radial outbound from CRI, and when 5 miles DME from CRI, slowly re-apply full climb power. Call for the
After Take Off Checklist and raise the aircraft attitude to maintain 250 kts, you are in the USA, within 12 miles of the coast and still below 10,000 ft.
Speedbird 2, present position direct to SHIPP, climb FL230, no speed control.
Select INS and use it to track towards SHIPP, check the gear lever is at neutral, and call for the
Nose Up, and then the
Visor Up. Flight deck noise level drops dramatically as the visor locks up. 12 miles away from the US coast, lower the attitude to 9°, and accelerate to Vmo, currently 400 kts.
Speedbird 2, present position direct to LINND, climb in the block FL550-600, accelerate Mach 2.0.
Call for the
Climb Checklist at M0.7, which will get the E/O pumping fuel rearwards to move the CG aft, and then go straight into the
Transonic checklist. Maintain 400 kts IAS, and around 24,500 ft, at M0.93, select the re-heats back on, in pairs, and raise the nose by 3° to maintain 400 kts as they kick in. Precise flying is required in the high drag transonic region, and as the Mach meter reaches M1.0, a quick flicker on both the VSI and Altimeter confirms that the shock wave has just passed over the static ports, and the aircraft is now supersonic.
A quick glance at the elapsed time indicator shows that you’ve been hand flying for just over 9 minutes since the start of the take off roll.
Another hard day in the office!
ChristiaanJ and
Nick Thomas
I haven't got a copy of Brian Calvert's book, and I can't comment on what the procedure was when he helped introduce the aircraft into passenger service.
However, purely for the sake of accuracy, in the later years of passenger service, the initial turn on the Concorde noise abatement procedure from 31L at JFK (full length or intersection) was not triggered by passing 100 ft, but rather by the following three conditions, all of which had to be met, and confirmed by the F/O, before the turn commenced.
- Stable at the (pre-calculated) target rotation attitude.
- A Rate of Climb of 500 fpm or more.
- At or above 50 ft RA.
Once the F/O was happy, she would call "TURN", and that call was the trigger for the turn.
100 ft may well have been a typical or average height at which the turn did in fact commence, but the limit was 50 ft RA (raised from an earlier limit of 20ft RA !) and the trigger was the TURN call.
The only reference to 100 ft on this departure was in the engine failure procedure (for an engine failure after V1) when the initial turn was delayed until passing 100 ft RA, and limited to 15° bank. Happily, I never had to delay the turn until 100 ft RA!
With very fond memories
Bellerophon