[Closed] Anyone flown on Concorde?

Been inside one. Also been inside a Konkordski. Not flown in either though.

I bet CFH has

Alas no. 🙁

Mrs CFH's first travel experience as a nipper was on that lovely triangle of power though. Am most jealous.

The wife has a few times. My father in law used to drive them. He must have done several hundred trips and I think he said he had 3 flights when nothing went wrong. You actually had to fly it, not stick a brick on pedals and go and chat with the passengers.

Went on the concorde tour at Brooklands where they have a cobbled up display model.
What really struck me was how tiny they are inside and the very British technology, example being if the hydraulic pump or altenator failed a tiny windmill dropped from below the fuselage and spun up in the airstream to power the spare pump and altenator - GENIUS !!
Never flew but was sitting on the M25 once when it took off. Fine until he hit the throttle or fired the afterburners - the whole car shook and the noise was deafening, I kid you not - vicious power !!
Locals probably got out the bunting when it stopped flying, shame though, an awesome spectacle...

My cousin went on it, he said it was rubbish. Very small, cramped and old fashioned. First class on a jumbo is a thousand times better in every respect, so much so that being in first for seven hours is preferable to being on Concorde for two. One reason it wasn't more popular I suppose, although not the only one.

The family bought my nan a trip on one of the last flights, she said while the service was second to none, the actual flying bit was pretty unremarkable, which i guess says a lot. we went to watch the landing, it was a truly majestic thing of beauty.

No, but I started up the Virgin Atlantic Challenger 😀

Yep. Back in the eighties. Take off was unbelievable!!! Didn't go supersonic as the flight was only around the UK but very memorable none the less.

Had a friend who arranged for me to sit on board whilst it did a few touch and goes at prestwick airport was quite fun and blagged a goody bag

My uncle flew it transatlantic a few times - he loved the speed and accepted the small form of the cabin for what it was.

I have been on the second fastest passenger airliner tho. The VC10.

Also been on a special UK only fight back in the early 80s, but we did go to the whateversphere and travel above Mach 2 (which you only know because of the display and in our case the announcement), flight deck walkabout, speak to the crew, etc.

Asking someone what they thought of it, is like asking someone what they thought of riding down that woodland hill on their bike. I imagine some people find it horrible, uncomfortable, or just plain boring. Imagine that, people have different tastes and priorities in life. 😉

I've never been higher, or faster, and probably never will (Mig 25 flight when I win the lottery I don't play aside) so in that respect it was an experience of a lifetime.

I have been on the second fastest passenger airliner tho. The VC10.

meh....if only you could feel it 😉

I have been on the second fastest passenger airliner tho.

Concorde, then? Seeing as a Tu-144 was (allegedly) faster in the cruise.

*Aerogeek*

My old man worked on it at Filton in the 1960s. We treated him to a subsonic flight for his 60th birthday. He was well chuffed 😀

When you are doing Mach 2 does it look any faster? The extra altitude must be noticeable surely?

Locals probably got out the bunting when it stopped flying, shame though, an awesome spectacle...

Nope, local here and I miss it. Felt like a very sad day for the countries aspirations when they retired Concorde. As if someone had cancelled the future.

As if someone had cancelled the future.

^This^

When she flew in over London, everyone stopped and looked. Now? Just planes.

Concorde was progress, future. We've gone backwards since.

Used to work at Filton too, but not on Concorde. Used to live right under the final approach there, which was ace on the few occasions it would visit (and Eurofighters/EAPs too). I didn't mind having the windows rattled... that just signified "hurry up and come out side to watch (and hear) it at 1000ft!".

I have flown in a pair of Concorde passenger seats. They've been slightly modified and we only managed about 5 knots.

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A bit more leg room than standard.

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lasty - Member
Went on the concorde tour at Brooklands where they have a cobbled up display model.
What really struck me was how tiny they are inside and the very British technology, example being if the hydraulic pump or altenator failed a tiny windmill dropped from below the fuselage and spun up in the airstream to power the spare pump and altenator - GENIUS !!

Thats standard on nearly all aircraft and has been for many years (long before Concorde) - its known as a RAT or Ram Air Turbine.

My wife and I flew on Concorde when I worked for B.A., I remember waiting in the first class lounge looking out at Concorde, the take off was exhilarating and when we were flying I looked out of the window and you could see the curvature of the earth.The food was fillet steak and caviar with champagne, we flew to New York for the weekend and came back on a 747 cattle class 😥

My mum always said Concorde was the only plane she could be persuaded to fly on. She never did get to fly on it, sadly. 🙁
She did get to fly to the States and Canada, though, and went up the Twin Towers; a couple of months before they fell...
She got to see more than I have, so far. 🙂

I lived under the approach to Prestwick so I used to see it a lot when they were doing the touch and go's there. I was also up a local hill near Muirkirk when it was doing the same. It felt so low! When it was retired from service I was gutted.

Not now. Speaking to my "older" colleagues who used to have to "work" it, they say the thing was a pain in the arse. There were special ATC restrictions that applied to it which meant that a lot of concentration was dedicated to it. Glad I dont have to deal with it now.

As for the experience of flying in it, I would love it, however at least in a Herc you can get your sleeping bag out!

The father-in-law also flew 74's and 77's for BA and when I asked him if he ever wanted to fly concorde, he just went "meh". He liked variety of destinations.

My Grandad treat his self a good few years ago to a flight on it, you have to picture a true Northumberian hill farmer who's ventured very little outside of Northumberland and Cumbria. One of his greatest memories.

I stupidly turned down the chance back in the early 1990's. The flight was a one way to Egypt on Christmas Eve, which meant finding my way back in time for a family Christmas, so I had to say no, regretted it ever since.

Once sitting in a traffic jam on the M25, when she flew over, I was craning my neck out of the window and shrieking with glee, I looked around and not another soul was taking the slightest bit of notice (or were they just trying to appear cool?).

I did get to have a walk around the fuselage once at some air show.

the whole car shook and the noise was deafening, I kid you not - vicious power !!
...an awesome spectacle

Go and see the Vulcan at an airshow while you still can. Same engines. I doubt they can fly it at full chat anymore, but I had one go low over me when I was about 12. Had ringing ears and a stupid grin for days after that!

Once - amazing experience but not sure I would do it again (especially if I was paying?). It was a totally different experience to other planes and not really appropriate to compare with First Class on a 747 etc as designed for completely different purposes.

My memories - concorde lounge in those days was amazing (!!), then how narrow and cosy the plane was, the bucket-style seats, brilliant service, the curvature of the earth, the darkness of the sky, the heat against the windows and the thrill of mach 1 and then 2. I was like a little kid and saddened by all the "regulars" around me who were totally non-plussed by the whole thing.

Best thing was senior colleague who I didn't get on with had caught the 747 earlier and I missed it (the last one) due to traffic to H'row and was put on Concorde and arrived before him!! He was really pissed off as he had never been on C'corde!

I really miss seeing Concorde. It flew over the golf course where I use to play at 10:30 every Saturday morning and we never tired of watching it. A thing of rare beauty. Sad that it was a commercial disaster.

my wife's grandad used it often whilst working for GlaxoSmithKline. thats drug money for you.

When she flew in over London, everyone stopped and looked. Now? Just planes.

Not quite... I stopped and watched an A380 hanging in the sky the other day.

As for noise - I saw a Vulcan at Farnborough a couple of years ago, it was impressive but the noise from the Eurofighter and whatever the American equivalent is was truly bloodcurdling and quite profound from work 5 miles away.

Not been in one but used to watch it cme and go at Leeds/Bradford airport a good few years ago

Damn noisy beast and massively impressive.

Have been to RIAT air show for the last couple of years and whilst passenger planes are now very quiet (in relative terms), the fast jets used in military are simply awesome.

Many years ago while driving on the M25 the car began to vibrate very badly through the steering wheel, I thought another wheel bearing was shot as I'd had to replace one not long before but then there was an almighty roar and Concorde was directly above us.

I sat in the pilots seat once, but it didn't leave the ground.
I also used to work about half a mile from the end of the runway at heathrow. At about the same time each evening when the wind was fom the east you would hear it heading down the runway taking off. If you were on the phone, you would have to tell the other person to wait for a couple of minutes. As it went over the office it was so loud everything had to stop. The windows and everything on the desk would shake, and as the noise faded you would just hear every car and building alarm on the estate going off for the next couple of minutes. I don't remember anybody ever complaining about the noise though.

I had a Eurofighter do a low pass just outside machynlleth (he was below the hill tops so surely sub 500m) while on the road bike. Nearly bloody fell off due to the noise, properly disorientating levels of loud!

As if someone had cancelled the future.

Yep. Gutted when it stopped flying. Only a few machines I can get emotional about. And Concorde is one of those.

Been on one of the prototypes at Duxford, just walked through it.

I was at Brunel uni near Heathrow and from our halls in the final year you could watch it.
we used to drive to the perimeter roads every now and again to watch it take off. The noise was amazing.

Ah, that'll be it: http://machloop.co.uk/

Don't get nostalgic about the future. We are in it, it just isn't quite like they imagined it in the 60s. In those days flight was something expensive you had to be lucky to do. People didn't travel much.

Now people can afford to travel the world, ordinary people can have experiences our grandparents would only dream of. That's a far better future (in many ways) than simply shaving a few hours off a transatlantic flight. Concorde didn't really give us anything, but the 747, the A380 and the rest have done.

flew supersonic when i was 13 maybe 14 from LBA to LBA 90 minuite flight even got to go onto flightdeck while airbourne, first time in the air. was just wow the noise the speed the smell from the afterburner how small it is inside comfy seats.

watched takeoffs and landings from the wall on cemetary road yeadon too when i was a kid

vulcan howl is awesome saw it first time upclose at sunderland other weekend

typhoon is just so much noise and speed i bet the pilot has a real job keeping it sub sonic while doing displays

I work at Filton and did a tiny bit of work for Concorde just before it got retired. Getting the drawings out of archive was a bit like the final shot in Raiders of the Lost Arc. It's a damn impressive thing though. I had some German colleagues over the other week and took them to have a look at 216. It was an odd experience. I'm desensitized to having one by the car park, but they were totally in awe of it.

We knew a 747 pilot who flew in them a lot. He didn't like it. Said it was noisy and cramped. That said, he still thought it was awesome.

By the way, this was the same guy who said that as a passenger pilot, he was there for the one or two times in his career that something went wrong. The rest of the time he considered himself a glorified bus driver.
His house was huge and seriously impressive but hellishly messy. His wife had died young and with him being away a lot, he would leave his son food packages on the table. His son was a child, around 12-13. He'd pick up his 'Monday' butties in the morning, and eat 'Monday pot noodle' that night. If he got to [two days after his dad was supposed to come back], the food package contained the phone number of a family member.

Great guy to talk to though. He'd be arrested nowadays for child abuse but his kid was perfectly normal and was absolutely fine. You know, apart from the fact he went on Jim'll fix it and went to the bbc with Jim.

Locals probably got out the bunting when it stopped flying, shame though, an awesome spectacle...

nah mate - it was the highlight of the day that thing coming overhead. Everyone just stopped and watched it in awe. On the other hand the tedious drone of run of the mill jets really hacked me off personally.
Watching that thing come in to land over the M25 one day with its stick like landing gear was superb.
Reminds me of thunderbirds for some reason.

I did the carpark jobs as a teenager at Farnborough airshow and all the cynical, seem it before types that went there still used to stop and applaud concorde, just special

Like a few, sat on the m25 when one took off. Bloody Nora!

I used to fly Concord regularly through the 90s, ended up,being like any other commute. Ok to work on, except laptops were much bigger. The wrost part was the tourists who felt that it was such an exciting experience that it was ok to talk to you.

I was on it last weekend, at East Fortune airshow. Never flew in it though.
The new Typhoon however, now there's a weapon, straight vert up and down, slow flyby, afterburners..... fantastic piece of kit, what a racket!! 😀

been inside one and seen them flying overhead many many times. Even viewed them taking off and landing from the old airport viewing platforms (before terrorism).

The sound was immense. I spent my whole childhood looking to the sky's when I heard their rumble overhead. This happended lots.

As much as I like and respect BA, I must admit that it was only (imho) their pride, that prevented them selling the whole fleet to Virgin - which in turn has prevented thousands of travellers and many thousands of onlookers experiencing Concorde first hand. It's a bit like the plane version of seeing an E type Jag on a sunny day 😀

Surely their should be a bit of give and take when it comes to preserving such a classic and amazing peice of potentially profit making engineering such as concorde. Shame but sometimes ( imho ) people maybe cannot see the bigger picture.

I was lucky enough to see Concorde land in Nairobi in the 80s. It had brought a load of multi millionaire's on a round the world trip. It left a few days later and we went back to see it leave, it was just incredible. I only ever saw it those two times.

And for the OP - referring to your remarks in your first post - the big planes don't need all the runway they use at LHR for take-off. They do derated take-offs at less than max engine power to preserve engine life.

So it was you I sat next to CM!!! 😉

Concorde didn't really give us anything, but the 747, the A380 and the rest have done.

What a disappointingly soulless comment.

The main reason (at the time) that Concorde services were restricted to a handful of destinations was that the yanks were pissy that their boeing copy was clearly never going to work. It was arguably more of a technological achievement to get 120 blokes in suits drinking champagne flying 60,000 ft above the earth at Mach 2.04 than it was to get two blokes in funny suits to the moon.

The future we now have thanks to the busses with wings that you mention is future-lite by comparison.

A friend got married under one at Manchester Airport a couple of years ago. We got to go on a tour afterwards so that was pretty cool.

You know Molgrips... I like you.

My gran only flew once in her entire life, but it was on concorde, quick trip to france and back. She said it was like a noisy bus and she didn't really understand why people bother. But then I suppose that's what comes of flying to a foreign country and never leaving the airport 😆

Squidlord - Member
the whole car shook and the noise was deafening, I kid you not - vicious power !!
...an awesome spectacle
Go and see the Vulcan at an airshow while you still can. Same engines. I doubt they can fly it at full chat anymore, but I had one go low over me when I was about 12. Had ringing ears and a stupid grin for days after that!

Same engines yes, but Concorde has reheat (or afterburners for our American friends) which makes it much louder!

I agree with zokes on this one. Concorde gave us something exciting and unusual. While I'm sure a lot of engineering went into an 747, it's just a big bus. It'll never make people feel special just by looking at it.

Big wings, moving nose, mahoosive engines. It doesn't matter that it was too noisy or cramped or cost too much. IT COULD DO MACH 2! It was *just* like seeing an E type or a DB5. The DB5 was an awfully shit car but it's been built with passion and style and soul. You'll probably never see one in real life, you'll certainly never drive one but look at the ****ing thing. It makes your groin move.

*that's* what's important, not the dull transfer of people from one side of the planet to the other.

In terms of engieering concorde was undoubtedly a greater achievement than the 747. In terms of impact on the lives of people the 747 delivered far more in practical terms. Phallic objects may well make your "groin move" but the "dull transfer of people from one side of the planet to the other" is of far more practical value.

The DB5 was an awfully shit car but it's been built with passion and style and soul. You'll probably never see one in real life, you'll certainly never drive one but look at the **** thing. It makes your groin move.

I know where one lives round here. Very nice it is to see and hear too. Alas, I suspect you're correct about me never driving it though 🙁

In terms of impact on the lives of people the 747 delivered far more in practical terms. Phallic objects may well make your "groin move" but the "dull transfer of people from one side of the planet to the other" is of far more practical value.

YAWN

We now aspire to get by, as opposed to aspiring to achieve. That's not progress, if anything, it's regress.

Oh go on then, I was lucky enough to fly on it twice. Second time I had a regular business seat, I got to JFK straight from a nightclub, had been up all night with a pal in NY. The nice BA lady told me there was a Concorde leaving at the same time, do I want a seat?

It was small and cramped and very 1970s true. Best thing was take-off, we did a long slow arc out over Long Island with an amazing view of Manhattan as the sun came up. Once out over the Atlantic the whole thing just tipped back (and I mean right back, so steep you wouldnt be able to stand up) and up it went.....72,000ft in no time. Tiny little windows so you couldnt see much but def see the curve of the Earth, and above us, pure black outer space. About 3hr 15min flight time I think?

Oh and they served us lobster and Johnie Walker Blue Label.

Sadly I never did. Was offered the switch once and stupidly turned it down due to family commitments. BA would often offer Saturday Concorde exchange for a business class Friday evening flight back from Kennedy as they were always booked out.

Lots of the senior people at the firm I unused to work at would fly it, they had to pay for it themselves but they thought the time saving was worth it and they could afford it. Yes it was cramped and loud but everyone loved "the rocket"

I watched the flyover in London when they were taken out of service, a day both of pride and sadness.

Johnie Walker Blue Label.

That's the first shit thing I've heard about the plane 😀

I was able to work on Concorde at BA Heathrow for my work experience week during school! Worked with Concorde Minor Engineers, best week ever! When we taxi'd it from T4 to the engineering workshop I was sat in the cockpit on the brakes! I nearly got a flight to NY but an engineer had to go due to an 'issue'.

I could not have asked for a better work experience.

I heard a lot of stories about Concorde, I am not surprised it isn't flying anymore. It would be amazing to see it fly again tho.

We now aspire to get by, as opposed to aspiring to achieve.

You think that transporting a lot more people, far more efficiently, at lower cost, over longer distances is "getting by"?

You think that transporting a lot more people, far more efficiently, at lower cost, over longer distances is "getting by"?

I'd class it as the very definition of 'getting by', yes.

Then I'm afraid you don't really understand how engineering works.

We used to live in Fulham, when it came over into LHR we all used to stick our heads out the window and goggle at it, lot of pride in it.

Then I'm afraid you don't really understand how engineering works.

I understand perfectly. But I'll agree with you if you substitute 'engineering' for 'economics' in that sentence.

Economics is an intergral part of engineering. It's all about doing more, with less and the better you do it, the fewer people will notice.

and the better you do it, the fewer people will notice.

Sadly, many people have noticed it now takes more than twice as long to cross the Atlantic than it used to.

One thing that annoys me about not having Concorde any more is the time issue.

I spend far too long sitting in planes, flying around the place. Yes, I get a nice comfy seat, but to get to the East coast of the US for a Monday meeting means I have to give up my Sunday. Spend another night in a hotel, another night away from my family. Over the course of a year, Concorde would give me back whole days of time. Days that could be spent doing something far better than watching another rubbish film* and drinking chablis.

*Dunno why, but I [i]always[/i] seem to choose rubbish films to watch on flights.

CFH understands engineering

It was arguably more of a technological achievement to get 120 blokes in suits drinking champagne flying 60,000 ft above the earth at Mach 2.04 than it was to get two blokes in funny suits to the moon.

Were women not allowed on Concorde? I guess its retirement really does herald progress then.

I'll grant you that the fastest time to cross the atlantic has increased, however I doubt that the average time has changed much, especially as far more people can now afford to cross the Atlantic.

Used to live in Ealing, south facing garden with the flight path left to right looking down the garden. You could hear it coming WAY WAY before you could see it. Very noisy but amazing. Sad day when it stopped.
Been in one at Filton, never flown in one, but have sat in a Space Shuttle trainer when I had a VIP tour of mission control in Houston!

Were women not allowed on Concorde? I guess its retirement really does herald progress then.

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I'll grant you that the fastest time to cross the atlantic has lowered, however I doubt that the average time has changed much, especially as far more people can now afford to cross the Atlantic.

To CFH and many other frequent travellers, the average time has no bearing on their experience. The fact they're stuck on a bus for an extra four hours, often meaning having to stay an extra night or lose some of the weekend does have a significant negative bearing on their experience.

I very much doubt the existence or not of concorde has had any effect on the price of flying on a bus. Following that argument, Ryanair has done more for progress 😯

My wife and I went to New York on it in the early nineties - took 3hrs 26min to get there!
Phenomenal noise, great acceleration, but tiny cabin and windows.
A really sad day when it was withdrawn.

Lots of times, as my father flew them. Probably wasted the opportunity as a kid in realising how lucky I was. Jump seat take offs in the cockpit were cool though.

I would love to go back and do it again now I could appreciate it a bit more.

Your missing the point I trying to make. The 747 and aircraft like it has allowed the cost of air travel to fall. This has allowed more people to enjoy it's benefits and on that basis it has had more on an impact that Concorde.

Would business travellers still have been flying on Concorde had BA and Air France had to pay the actual price of the aircraft in the first place and charge people the actual cost of the flight rather than run it at a loss?

Jeremy Clarksons book 'I know You Got Soul' has a brilliant chapter all about Concorde. Well worth a wee read.

The 747 and aircraft like it has allowed the cost of air travel to fall.

I remain unconvinced that this is a good thing.