Concorde experiences anyone?

[Helol]

I did the pleb version of a schedule flight. Not to NY, but MAN to CDG supersonic over the Bay of Biscay in the early 90's. Best experience for me, was the take-off, such power! So glad I did it, it cost me circa £500 at the time for the flight, day out in Paris (didn't need that as I lived in Lux), and 737 back to Man (where I was visiting my parents just so I could do the Concorde flight). Got to visit the flight deck too.

The one I flew on was BOAB, which is now parked up at LHR.

[Krystal n chips]

Nothing as exotic as everybody else, par for course for me. My only Concorde experience was at Fairford. Valley did a bolt hole there when the runway was being renovated.

Came back "slightly late " from lunch with a couple of others, hence "volunteered" to be part of the towing team for a photo-op ( 2x Hunter 1 Gnat) at the front.

Asked if we could have a look inside, and in we went. Don't think the seats would be quite as per BA / AF and the telemetry equipment wouldn't pass for IFE for most pax.

As an aside, saw my one and only Javelin flying...it was a chase aircraft I understand when Concorde was trundling down the Irish Sea....decided it wanted to have a look a Valley one day, so, in it came. This led to "some consternation" trying to find an engineer experienced on the type, but, seek and ye shall find.

That said, the lucky engineer was "less than impressed" to be reunited with the Jav.

[Preon]

Adjacent and ‘bien-tow’ days

Used to regularly operate the 1030 London to Belfast shuttle, Concorde operated the slot ahead of us igniting its reheat only a few yards off our nose. After several years of this it’s no surprise my wife now calls me ‘a deaf so and so’.
Also remember seeing at CDG an Air France Concorde with its right side u/c embedded in the grass whilst under tow, that must have taken some explaining?

[Mogwi]

Never flown in it but we used to see it accelerating down the Bristol Channel on occasions. Once I was carrying out intercepts in a SHAR over north Devon, when London Mil advised me that Concord was accelerating to my northeast. I acquired a radar lock at around 40nm and AIM9 lock at just over 30nm. 😈

Mog

[PAXboy]

For those of us with less knoweldge, what is a SHAR? Also, up to what distance could you fire and expect to hit the target?

[SimonPaddo]

Originally Posted by PAXboy

For those of us with less knoweldge, what is a SHAR? Also, up to what distance could you fire and expect to hit the target?

Sea Harrier, will defer to Mogwi on missile range

[wub]

Never flew on her but I was stationed in Cyprus on the day of her inaugural passenger flight to Bahrain. I was on Mt. Olympus radar station and we watched as Concorde appeared on the radar display and skipped smartly across it at M2. Someone radioed her to wish her good luck, then we rushed outside to see the aircraft streak across the sky and leave a double sonic boom in its wake. By the time we got back inside, she was off the far side of the display. The sonic boom was a regular feature of daily life in Cyprus in the mid-to late1970s.

[justapax]

I flew BA, where the food was comparable to a 5* airline today, but in 2003 was definitely a cut above what any first class subsonic passenger would expect. I've just come across the AF menu on the 'net from the same era. Sumptuous is the word, and look at that wine list. Still ahead of anything on offer today - even Air France La Premiere.

The original was a slightly blurry .pdf, so I've done a bit of OCR on it and made it a bit more legible as plain text. Here it is.

AIR FRANCE CONCORDE

Paris-CDG to New York-JFK

MENU

Flight Number AF002

DEJEUNER

APÉRITIF CAVIAR

************************************

CHOIX DE HORS D’OEUVRE

CHOICE OF HORS D’OEUVRE

Homard et ses petits légumes

Lobster served with baby vegetables

***

Foie gras de canard et sa gelée au porto

Duck foie gras in port aspic

***********************************

SALADE DE SAISON

FRESH GARDEN SALAD

***********************************

CHOIX DE PLATS CHAUDS

CHOICE OF HOT DISHES

Chateaubriand poêlé, purée de céleri ,

ratatouille d’aubergines et pleurotes à l’huile d’olive

Panned tenderloin steak served with celery purée,

eggplant ratatouille and oyster mushrooms with olive oil

***

Turban de sole à la tapenade

confit de légumes et ravioles au fromage

Turban of sole granished with black olive purée,

vegetable confit and cheese ravioli

***

Méli-mélo de légumes cuisinés

Medley of vegetables

**************************************

LA SÉLECTION DU MAÎTRE FROMAGER

LA A SELECTION OF FINELY SEASONED CHEESES

**************************************

DUO DE DESSERTS

DESSERT DUET

Assiette de fruit frais

Fresh fruit platter

Melons, mangue, fraise

Melons, mango, strawberries

***

Mignardises

Eclair au chocolat, tartelette fraise coco, macaron vanille

Petits fours

Chocolate eclair, strawberry and coconut tartlet, vanilla macaroon

New York-JFK to Paris CDG

MENU

Flight number AF001

BRUNCH A LA CARTE

POUR PATIENTER

Pétales de mangue et kiwi aux fruits rouges

Petals of mango and kiwi garnished with red fruits

***********************************

CHOIX DE PLATS CHAUDS OU ASSIETTES FROIDES

CHOICE OF HOT OR COLD DISHES

La sélection du chef

Chef’s special

Oeufs brouillés aux truffes, médaillons de homard du Maine et morilles à la crème

Scrambled eggs with truffles, medallions of Maine lobster served with creamed wild morels

La marmite végétarienne

Vegetarian hotpot

Timbale de polenta à la romaine, assortiment de petits légumes printaniers

Timbale of polenta with a medley of spring vegetables

L’assiette gourmande

Gourmet platter

Foie gras d’oie marbré aux truffes et duo de gelée de vins de Bordeaux

Goose foie gras marbled with truffles, garnished with a duet of Bordeaux wine-infused aspic

L’assiette marine

Seafood platter

Mille-feuilles de lotte à la fricassée de truffes et chanterelles, gambas sautés au paprika

Layered monkfish, truffle and chanterelle mushroom fricassée, served with sautéed king

prawns seasoned with paprika

***********************************

SELECTION DE FROMAGES DES REGIONS FRANCAISES

SELECTION OF FRENCH REGIONAL CHEESES

***********************************

MIGNARDISES

PETITS FOURS

Tarte à la framboise, gâteau à la ganache, macaron à la vanille

Raspberry tart, ganache-filled gateau, vanilla macaroon

AIR FRANCE CONCORDE

WINE LIST

From November 2001 to January 2002:

Champagne Cuvée Spéciale : Champagne Dom Pérignon – 1993

Bourgogne Blanc : Meursault 1er cru 1996 – Labouré Roi

Bourgogne Rouge : Nuits Saint Georges « Les Porêts » 1993 – Antonin Rodet

Bordeaux Rouge : Pomerol 1996 – Château La Croix Du Casse

Bordeaux Blanc liquoreux: Sauternes 1er Grand Cru Classé 1994 – Château Rieussec

From February 2002 to March 2002:

Champagne Cuvée Spéciale : Krug Grande Cuvée

Bourgogne Blanc : Chablis Grand Cru « Les Clos » 1997 – Simonnet-Febvre

Bourgogne Rouge : Volnay 1er Cru « Les Taillepieds » 1996 – Bouchard Père et Fils

Bordeaux Rouge : Pauillac Grand Cru Classé – Château Batailley -1996

Bordeaux Blanc liquoreux : Sauternes 1er Grand Cru Classé 1994 – Château Rieussec

[artee]

And here's the BA Concorde Wine List from 1992. Sadly I didn't keep a menu.

[Loquz]

I have a friend who was a 747 pilot at BA and he was lucky enough to position on a Concorde from LHR to JKF to replace a 747 pilot to LHR. Funny enough, when he got to JFK, that flight he was meant to operate got cancelled and he went back to LHR as a passenger again on the Concorde after a night spent in NYC. He loved it but according to him "you couldn't tell the difference".

[911slf]

I was lucky enough to win a Birmingham Evening Mail competition for a trip on Concorde, in1980. Manchester to Paris via mid Atlantic so we could briefly touch the magic Mach 2.0. Seating was about equivalent to economy plus. The passenger experience was not that spectacular, though I guess the acceleration on take off was noticeably larger.

It cost me a fair bit even though the flight was free. There was an overnight stay and having arrived by Concorde I felt I had to live up to the image!

It was a beautiful September evening, so I went to the Lido to see a show, had a meal on the Champs Elysée, and bought several souvenirs. Nearly missed my subsonic flight home as it was rescheduled an hour earlier. I got a phone call to my room saying if I were not at reception in 15 minutes it would go without me. I made it, but asked why I was not given greater notice. They said an announcement had been made in the bar during the evening. Astonishingly the other 99 passengers (who were all Chubb fire extinguisher salesmen) had spent the evening in the bar and had not left the hotel. And I thought my Civil Service colleagues were dull!

[Ancient Observer]

I had one flight on it in the late 90s . JFK to LHR.
As others have said, seat was OK, but a bit like j class in the pre-flatbed days. Wine and food were good.
I still have my colibri/concorde biro and a grey document folder that were the freebies. They also gave out a small silver container, but I lost it!
Good memories.

[Krystal n chips]

I have another Concorde memory which I found amusing, but, others probably won't.

After a Golf tournament, the golfers chartered an AF Concorde out of MAN. The aircraft duly plonked itself at the end of Pier B to enable a straightforward start / taxi.

For reasons unknown, and this was a different era, the pax and entourage didn't use the walkway in the Pier, but, instead, wandered along the side on the road adjacent to the ramp.

It would be fair to say, for the ladies, there were some very expensive hair styles and clothing on display, likewise the males with clothing. As they strolled past, there was the inevitable preening / smug smiles and posturing. Alas !

What nobody had mentioned to them, as they stood at the end of the pier waving goodbye, was, something called....efflux... of which four Olympus produce " quiet a lot "

The returning bedraggled entourage gave a credible impression of having just left a club, after knocking back a few bottles / been dragged through a hedge backwards, ...or both.

[Asturias56]

It was Manchester - how would you tell the difference?

[Impress to inflate]

I managed to fly Concorde twice, August 1996, LHR-JFK, I managed to sit behind the Capt for landing in JFK, bloody awesome. 4 days later, I did JFK-LHR. What an amazing machine, it still looks one sexy machine all these years later. Jeremy Clarkson was right when he said "Mankind has now gone backwards for the first time in history" when Concorde was grounded.

[homebuilt]

Lucky enough to have enjoyed a JFK-LHR sector. It was in 2003 and I was then a Classic 747 FO with several thousands hours on my logbook. However, when seeing the Beast from the terminal just prior to boarding her, I was as thrilled as I had been for my very first airplane ride as a kid ! I was seated at the very last row, besides the left hand porthole. I remember engine start-up, telling myself "Wow, big cavalry !!" T/O acceleration very powerful, I was stuck in the back of my seat, such as in the jet fighter I experienced 15 years before as a back-seater. A lot of buffet during initial climb, with combination of Delta wing and high AoA. I could even spot saturation on the wing's extrados ! On the cabin indicator showing Mach and altitude, I remember I saw very unusual combinations for the subsonic pilot I was and still am : something like M 0.72 at 13000', M0.85 at 20000', and finally M1 at 27000', up to M2 at 50000' ! Warmer temperature inside the cabin as the airplane was accelerating. And above all, Earth curvature was clearly visible, while I could spot the dark blue sky descending close to the horizon. All this as I was enjoying a glass of Corton-Charlemagne Grand-Cru, wearing my casual clothes, as people flying higher and/or faster, such as SR71 or U2 crew were wearing a pressure suit and eating junk food from something looking like a toothpaste tube !.. When puting my hand on the inside fuselage skin, I realized it was rather hot. When the airplane began to decelerate, immediately the inside fuselage became cold... On final approach I remember I was thrilled with the airplane's high pitch attitude. And finally, a very powerful thrust reverser driven breaking.

Definitly sensational flying !!

Just one regret : no way to get access to the flight deck during flight, we were just 18 months after 9/11 and BinLaden and his orchestra were still close in one's mind. Yet I shaved my beard, had my airline ID and ATPL licence with me..

But a remind I will keep in mind until my ultimate breathe !!

[Asturias56]

I know someone who was flying Newcastle- LHR in the the 80's - for some reason (strike/weather?) when they turned up at the gate BA had replaced the expected Trident with a Concorde. They didn't fly supersonic and they didn't get the champagne but he said it was a magical experience.

[SQUAWKIDENT]

I've really enjoyed reading all your Concorde stories.

Sadly I never got a chance to fly on her but I'm now doing the next best thing and listening to a wonderful audiobook written by Mike Bannister, an ex-Concorde Pilot. I'm sure many of you have read his book. Fantastic story - I've only just discovered it. Read by the author as well which is great.

Link for anyone who's interested.

Concorde by Mike Bannister.

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0B3LKR...R150021921000R

[justapax]

Originally Posted by SQUAWKIDENT

I've really enjoyed reading all your Concorde stories.

Sadly I never got a chance to fly on her but I'm now doing the next best thing and listening to a wonderful audiobook written by Mike Bannister, an ex-Concorde Pilot. I'm sure many of you have read his book. Fantastic story - I've only just discovered it. Read by the author as well which is great.

Link for anyone who's interested.

Concorde by Mike Bannister.

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0B3LKR...R150021921000R

If you want to read in printed words, https://annas-archive.org/md5/bb545b...a56ca006057c63

[blind pew]

Some of it is taken from Aesop and is completely inaccurate especially with the Staines accident and CRM introduction into BA, it didn’t start for another decade, which is a theme in the loss of AF Concorde. If BA had CRM to the standard he alludes to how come his predecessor suddenly disappeared off the scene from running the Concorde fleet.
But the book is a good read especially with the Gonesse accident although he reveals the step in the runway which contributes or is the cause of the accident but imho doesn’t fully explain why.