Concorde supersonic aeroplane, 1976-2003

[not-bono-ever]

This weekend, I went to brooklands with teh kids. Took the tour of their concorde

I let it slip to the yoof that I had the chance of a Concorde flight for business one ( when I used to travel ) but fucked it off cos Virgin offered a limo both ways to NYC

they were appalled. As am I with 20/20 hindsight.

A mate in the same business as me used to spend a day or tow each week in NYC and took Concorde each way for several years....

Anyone here flown Concorde?

Please note that all answers must back up the falsehood that it was overrated and shit

 

[weltweit]

Never did, always too expensive for my tastes.

 

[not-bono-ever]

the company were paying obv.

 

[Greebo]

Never did - way beyond my income at the time.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Would you have flown it , given the chance of Virgin + limo + head massage + chateau lafitte or no frills Concorde, assuming someone else was paying ?

 

[BarbedWire303]

or no frills Concorde, assuming someone else was paying ?

Just for the fact that it was so fast, yes - Concorde over Virgin every time. Flying scares the hell out of me, but that's also one for the reasons I love doing it. Can't wait for next weekend for that very reason (well, there are other reasons too, but flying is one of them). If I could afford one of those sub-orbital flights, I'd SO be in the queue for one.

 

[Greebo]

Virgin one way and Concorde the other. Hypothetically.

Just so I could tell everyone that it was shit and overrated, but at least supersonic flight left me with a few more hours for living the high life in the hotel, at the firm's expense of course.

 

[editor]

Never, ever flew in it, but saw it take off on one of its first test flights from Filton.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Anyone here flown Concorde?

Yes, Dulles to Heathrow 20th March 1994. Any questions?

I paid btw

 

[mattie]

I've been inside many, never flown in one.

I'd go concorde. A few bottles of wine and a slightly smart car ride are in no way equivalent.

What was your line of work, btw? I've always been intrigued who would spunk so much money on a single trip.

 

[not-bono-ever]

just by the fact you remembered the date ( and probably flight number... ), I believe you will inform me that it wasnt shit and overrated

 

[not-bono-ever]

I've been inside many, never flown in one.

I'd go concorde. A few bottles of wine and a slightly smart car ride are in no way equivalent.

What was your line of work, btw? I've always been intrigued who would spunk so much money on a single trip.

If I told you, I would be hunted down and killed by the U75 capitalist pigdog death squad. it was a long time ago and very different to my present status.At the time, money wasnt an issue for the company. IIRC, the open Virgin upper class flights were still about £5K return . Fuckin insane now I come to think of it.

 

[T & P]

Frankly Virgin would have had to offer unlimited BJs by Charlize Theron in the limo for me to consider flying them instead of on Concorde.

I can only hope that before I die I somehow manage to find the funds to into an orbital flight- which has to be even better IMO.

 

[weltweit]

... IIRC, the open Virgin upper class flights were still about £5K return . Fuckin insane now I come to think of it.

I flew to Australia and back via Bali for £500 twenty years ago with Garuder Indonesian Airlines.

 

[Garek]

I miss the noise of it So bloody offensively loud.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I flew to Australia and back via Bali for £500 twenty years ago with Garuder Indonesian Airlines.

Probably one of the last airlines to allow smoking. Even in 2002 it was pretty unusual, but made for a very social journey as everyone wondered to the back for a fag who hadn't been given the option when booking.

 

[a_chap]

I used to live on the approach to Leeds Bradford airport. When Concorde flew over (you could tell from the unique noise it made) people used to come outside just to watch. It looked and sounded fabulous.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Never did, would have loved too though...know a few people who've been on it and they loved it!

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

yeah you could always tell when the concorde was around. it was fucking loud

 

[skyscraper101]

Never. It was taken out of service before I even had my first job out of college

How much approx was a standard London-NY ticket, say in the 1990s, before the Air France disaster?

 

[not-bono-ever]

not sure, I was given the option by BA for the same price as teh virgin flight £5K - I think it was a special offer though - possibly only Concorde one way IIRC

 

[quimcunx]

I thought it was only supersonic one way?

 

[T & P]

I thought it was only supersonic one way?

No, both ways. Still noisy as fuck when flying subsonic though. Those Rolls Royce Pegasus engines were the dog's bollocks. In fact I could even be right in saying Concorde achieved supercruise capability before any military jet had managed it.

 

[mattie]

No, both ways. Still noisy as fuck when flying subsonic though. Those Rolls Royce Pegasus engines were the dog's bollocks. In fact I could even be right in saying Concorde achieved supercruise capability before any military jet had managed it.

Olympus.

Pegasus was Harrier.

They were filthy brutes, kicking out all sorts of horrors, but immensely powerful (not surprising, given military background) and astoundingly fuel-efficient when considering 'mpg' - although this was much to do with Concorde as the engine.

A remarkable aircraft. 60,000ft ceiling - even the A380 is only around 43,000. Fly-by-wire as well, a first.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

No, both ways. Still noisy as fuck when flying subsonic though. Those Rolls Royce Pegasus engines were the dog's bollocks. In fact I could even be right in saying Concorde achieved supercruise capability before any military jet had managed it.

Olympus,not Pegasus, but Concorde could supercruise readily, but it's a fuel thing - they used their afterburners to get high if they wanted range. The earliest I think was the Lightning in the 1950's.

 

[Giles]

Never got the chance to go on Concorde, sadly.

I do remember sitting outside pubs in south west London and seeing them go over, people would cheer!

I always thought that when BA decided to retire them, the UK government (having paid for the Concordes in the first place) should have nabbed them all, to be used as Britain's official transport for the PM etc - like "Air Force One" is for the USA.

If only to piss off the American president by having something wayyyy cooler than a converted jumbo jet to turn up in for all those international summit meetings etc.....

Giles..

 

[gosub]

Best story i heard, concerned the aircrafts most expensive component : the paint; which had to strectch deal with temp extremes etc. Anyway, Micheal Jackson doing a world tour chartered one to do the tour with, which being sponsered by pepsi, called for the aircraft to be resprayed in a pepsi livery, with a lot of "but..." goingon from the engineers. They used ordinary spec paint apparently and had to do all the tour flying at subsonic speeds as a result

 

[Giles]

Best story i heard, concerned the aircrafts most expensive component : the paint; which had to strectch deal with temp extremes etc. Anyway, Micheal Jackson doing a world tour chartered one to do the tour with, which being sponsered by pepsi, called for the aircraft to be resprayed in a pepsi livery, with a lot of "but..." goingon from the engineers. They used ordinary spec paint apparently and had to do all the tour flying at subsonic speeds as a result

I remember seeing the "Pepsi Concorde".

They probably should have used the same stuff used on old MJs many facial operations as the paint.

Giles..

 

[gosub]

Never got the chance to go on Concorde, sadly.

I do remember sitting outside pubs in south west London and seeing them go over, people would cheer!

I always thought that when BA decided to retire them, the UK government (having paid for the Concordes in the first place) should have nabbed them all, to be used as Britain's official transport for the PM etc - like "Air Force One" is for the USA.

If only to piss off the American president by having something wayyyy cooler than a converted jumbo jet to turn up in for all those international summit meetings etc.....

Giles..

All types require ongoing underlying support from a manufacturer. Aqusitions and mergers over the years had put Concorde under Airbus. Why would merkel for example want to see the queen and sarkosy getting places in more of a hurry than her.

 

[mattie]

Never got the chance to go on Concorde, sadly.

I do remember sitting outside pubs in south west London and seeing them go over, people would cheer!

I always thought that when BA decided to retire them, the UK government (having paid for the Concordes in the first place) should have nabbed them all, to be used as Britain's official transport for the PM etc - like "Air Force One" is for the USA.

If only to piss off the American president by having something wayyyy cooler than a converted jumbo jet to turn up in for all those international summit meetings etc.....

Giles..

The UK Government gave up all rights Concorde - including sales, spares provision and support - by passing them over, essentially free of charge, to BA.

The government were paying huge subsidies up until that point, primarily thanks to the lack of sales due to the US playing dirty tricks, and were desperately trying to get out of it.