British Airways Concorde pilots of the 1970s
 

I was reading an article recently and it mentioned Captain E C Miles of BA who flew Concorde on route proving flights but never in commercial service. I have also seen mention that a number of senior pilots on the original intake did not complete the course. Did this failure rate discourage other BA pilots from applying and from a financial aspect was it a fleet to be on?

I flew with an ex BOAC / BA captain who was offered Concorde but preferred to stay on the 747 to continue to see the world rather than just New York and Washington.

Hi dixi,
I understand where this pilot is coming from.
We longhaul guys tend to always be looking at the horizon wondering what's over it.

As i understood it from a couple of BA pilot friends every effort internally was made to ensure Concorde was a not any form of elite and the life style didnt suit many crew anyway so there were far far more pilots who never even bid for it than actually didnt make the training . I think the pay scales were much the same as any other Long haul crew as well. But were there ever any ladies in the front seats . Well technically my wife would qualify except that as a 'fam' trip Speedbird London radio op she was along for the ride and 'familiarisation ' and only sat in the seat for ten mins in the cruise Lol.

The SSB ops girls regularly got these trips as it was felt there would be a better understanding of the problems of HF radio (basically that its pretty useless way of communicating and needs alot of patience on both ends ) but there was no alternative in the 70s. it also aided the informal relationship with the SSB girls passing on all kinds of excuses to wives girlfriends etc from the flight deck along with cricket scores, instructions to wives /girlfriends not to forget watering garden, get the car serviced or similar . A very nice and job actually well paid because it was shift work and only given up as baby came along , perhaps as he got a lot of 'invitations ' especially from US crews who used Speedbird perhaps it was a good thing for me she did give it up LOL

Yes, three,Barbara Harmer of British Airways, Béatrice Vialle of Air France, and Jacqueline Auriol who was one of the first test pilots ever to fly Concorde, working with the André Turcat to take the prototype 001 through its development program it is said, though I doubt the extent of her actual involvement.

I knew a BA Concorde FO who, by that time was a captain on 777s he never talked to his FOs about his time on Comcorde for fear that they would think his head was up his a**se

Bean
 

A couple of my course mates went onto her- one notable ex merchant navy "officier" stated he wanted nothing to do with the rest of our course as none of you appreciated how difficult it was to fly and what a fantastic pilot I am...
Personally four things put me off.. route structure, amount of flying (one time they were flying with double crews to keep recency), being frozen on type until command (15? years) and that it was known as the Masons Fleet. All valid reasons for a bloke from Essex who wanted to see the world and fly.

At a reunion for my wife's primary schoool class, one of her ex class mates (RT) was described as a Concorde pilot. I got to chat with him and he told me that he was currently flying the 747. In my ignorance I suggested that was a bit of a come down. "God no," he said, "its a much better life. I get to many more places and it has modern avionics, much better than the 60's versions in the Concorde."

IIRC the nickname " The Poison Dwarf" being applied to the type in BA ( The later and then late Mrs. Haraka was cabin crew on the fleet in the 70's for several years) .

What year was that? I'd think that would have had to been a 747-400 since the I doubt the avionics on the early 747 models were that much different than the Concorde.

Apart from the gold lettering on the photo ID :rolleyes:

Any more on why a BA Captain flew the aircraft but never in service? Did he retire?

I recall a story where although Concorde pilots were on the same pay scale as other long haul BA pilots, they actually ended up earning less in duty pay than their colleagues on other fleets. This was due to the limited route network and as it was faster, less duty pay per flying hour.

I did a quick search for Captain E.C. Miles and found a reference to him in this book. The book quotes an article from 'The Age' that may well be the one you read originally. I noticed that it refers to Captain Miles' thirty year career. Counting back, it means that his civil flying career must have started just after WWII, which equates to him most likely having a background of flying military stuff during WWII and putting him pretty close to a possible retirement age at the time of the Concorde's route proving programme. This is a guestimate of course, but it could explain why he didn't continue flying the type in service.
Have you tried e-mailing the webmaster of ConcordeSST.com about this question? He might be able to answer it, or perhaps knows of someone who could explain it.

Many thanks. I will drop the webmaster a message.

About halfway through Micheal Riley’s book, A Concorde In My Toybox.

The British Airways checking and training system of that area seems to be a little interesting, which would make the Concorde operation very interesting.

A Concorde in my Toy Box is an excellent read - disappointed to finish it first time round even though it made my arms tired...