Originally Posted by
Tex37
201 (I believe) was fitted with a sidestick control on the left.
You're right, it was 201 (F-WTSB).
After certification the aircraft was retained for several flight test programmes, not all of them Concorde-related.
In this case it was an early trial of the sidestick for the A320.
Concorde was already a fly-by-wire aircraft, so it was "relatively" easy to hook a sidestick into the system.
Unfortunately, I remember only some of the details...
It was only fitted on the left.
The righthand side remained fully conventional, and the RH seat pilot acted as the safety pilot.
was the aircraft actually flown with this?
Yes, definitely.
.. and if so what were the pilots reactions to it?
The story doesn't tell, I'm afraid. At the time it would have 'confidential', of course.
Was it possibly to have been incorporated on later production aircraft?
Not really... as I said it was just an early test for the A320.
At the time the aircraft were already certified, so it would have meant a MAJOR modification of the flying controls, AND recertification.
Also there was no requirement for it... the Concorde flying controls were judged perfectly satisfactory by the pilots.
Also did it retain the artificial feel system?
Yes, that remained connected to the conventional controls (I'm not even sure whether the LH control column was removed).
Of course the sidestick would have its own, totally different artificial feel, since the control laws were different.
CJ