Ah, YYZ...
My one flight on Concorde was YYZ to LHR, as part of a birthday treat shared with my parents. They say that of all the things they decided to do and damn the cost, the Concorde trip was the one experience of their lives that far exceeded expectations. (My father is a retired vicar and a PPL, and there's never been a spare penny in the family - when they say that, they mean it.)
I can only agree. Flight of my life. It won't get better. I remember hearing over the PA that this particular leg involved the longest time that Concorde spent supersonic. It could get going before the ocean as there was nobody on the land below to complain about the noise. Is that true?
Anyway: what I remember about YYZ was that the runway was truly abysmal. I am one of those SLF who thoroughly enjoys things going a bit unusual in flight: turbulence, wonky weather, anything with a bit of g in an unexpected direction, all bonuses in the normally mundane business of flinging oneself about the sky in tubes. I trust the engineering, I trust the people, I know how exceptional aviation is as a human endeavour where safety is wired in at every level.
But that runway. Not only did it feel like rattling along a dirt track in a car with dodgy suspension, it went on for so long. Compared to the elegance of every subsequent second aloft, the time in motion before rotation was so unsettling that even my unflappability was flapping. That feeling was heightened by the transparent relief in the voice making the post-takeoff PA: "Now we've left Toronto behind, we can get on with business as usual" - and it's a decent enough city, so I don't think that was any commentary on the pleasures of the place outside the airport.
Was it really that bad, flying out? Or am I being too dramatic?
I have nothing to add about the rest of the flight that others haven't already said, except I'm sad my own son won't have the opportunity.
R
(Oh, one PS: I did hang out for a while with someone who was best friends with one of the Concorde cabin crew. I do hope that some of the stories she told me will one day see the light of day, although they might have to wait for a number of Serious Names -- and cabin crew -- to pass over to the other side, where even the draconian reach of the UK's libel laws have no power. She is a
PR and I a journalist, but the British sense of fair play and mischief requests and requires that this teaser is all there is to be said on the matter. That and the law of libel.)