Concorde droop
 

Hi all,

Would like to know when the concordes nose droops.Is it below certain speeds on approach or is is selectable by the pilots?

Would anyone know what the usual approach pitch attitude would be?


Sonia;)

Sonia

During the approach, above 250 kts, Concorde flies with both the nose and the visor in the UP position.

During speed reduction back to 250 kts, on decelerating through 270 kts, the visor is selected to DOWN, and once that has been achieved, the nose is lowered to 5°, the same position the nose is in for take-off.

On final approach, once the gear is locked down, the nose is lowered further to 12.5°, the DOWN position, to improve pilot visibility on final approach.

All nose and visor movements are done manually, by pilot selection of the visor/nose control lever.

A typical pitch attitude, below 500 ft on final approach, on a 3° glideslope, at the target threshold speed, would be 10.5° PA.

Regards

Bellerophon

Bellerophon's reply is spot on. I would also add that the 5 degree position is used for taxying, and that the flight deck noise level goes down quite a lot when the visor is raised after take off.

As Bellerophon says, nose droop is controlled manually by a small lever. It is on the right hand side of the panel.

The high pitch angle during approach puts the runway quite low in the windscreen. This makes the approach look steeper to the pilots than than that of conventional airliners, wheras of course they both follow the same 3 degree ILS glideslope.

SSD

Thanks you guys.Are you by any chance some of the few who actually fly the lovely bird...............;)

Sonia

For myself - I wish! A Chipmunk and Yak 52 are my usual mounts.

But I have flown on the flight deck of BA Concorde G-BOAD from take off to landing, including mach 2.02 at 60,000. It was quite an experience. I was in the jump seat immediately behind the captain, was wearing a white shirt, and as the passengers came forward in pairs for cockpit visits most of them did take me for one of the crew ;~)

I wrote an article about it for 'Pilot' and it was published a couple of years back.

Such a trip would not be possible, I guess, in these post 11/9 days.

SSD

Hey even the jumpseats cool on the concorde shaggy driver :D

Would that artc. be on the net by any chance :rolleyes:


sonia

sonia ..... here's a photo I took last year of Alpha Fox ...... notice that Concorde enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes !!!! ....

http://www.geocities.com/hobie_1_199...?1010792493080

cheers ....

Thats a nice one hobie.Thanks.

sonia

Sonia - not on the net, I'm afraid, unless there's something on the 'Pilot' site - some articles are on there.

SSD

Ok SSD no problem i shall do a bit of looking around ;)

Sonia

March 2000 issue of 'Pilot', Sonia.

Cheers

SSD