Own a piece of the Concorde | FerrariChat

Own a piece of the Concorde

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by Wade, Sep 29, 2007.

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  1. tbakowsky

    tbakowsky F1 World Champ
    Consultant Professional Ferrari Technician

    Sep 18, 2002
    19,349
    The Cold North
    Full Name:
    Tom
    Very cool! I have always had a bit of a fascination with this aircraft. Mainly how it came about and the big rush it was to be the first to build and produce a real supersonic passenger aircraft. Its interesting to see the attempted copy cat plane by the Russian's, and others that never flew.
     
  2. LightGuy

    LightGuy Three Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 4, 2004
    39,601
    Texas
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    David
    Once in Miami Intl airport while taxiing onboard a commercial jet, I saw a Concord parked next to a DC3. No camera. Rats.

    Smoke detectors withdrawn because of radio-activity protests ? Time to get a life.
     
  3. whart

    whart F1 Veteran
    Honorary

    Dec 5, 2001
    6,485
    Grandview NY
    Full Name:
    Herr Prof.
    I got to fly it quite a bit back in the mid-late nineties, always the Air France one- it was an event; the fellow passengers a bit more interesting than the usual fat guy in the sweatshirt/screaming kids routine of more pedestrian commercial air travel. It was also one of the few airlines to western europe that still had a smoking section well after others had banned cigarettes on planes. The cockpit was an abundance of analog dials and gizmos, and filled racks of space- today, all that could probably be accomplished with something the size of a single hard drive. You only really felt the speed when you deaccelerated to come back over land, for an eventual landing (due to noise regs, the speed reduction took place well in advance); at that point the thing would crank down to a crawl and you'd still be going at 500 or whatever the top speed was for 747/767/big airbus commercial jets.
     
  4. Kds

    Kds F1 World Champ

    Never flew on one [insert Whart envy icon here].........but was inside the one parked at the Seattle Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Quite a small cabin inside....good thing it was fast (3-4 hours to cross the Atlantic IIRC)......I wouldn't be able to handle 8-10 hours in that skinny seat regardless of how much Dom Perignon 1959 was funnelled down my gullet.
     
  5. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 20, 2003
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    Dirty Harry
    Some years ago...

    High Noon outside Leesburg, VA

    ROAR

    Boy, did I know there was a Concorde.

    I went outside to see it fly directly overhead each and every time I was there at that time of day, though.
     
  6. mclc26

    mclc26 Formula Junior

    Apr 27, 2006
    250
    Long Island, NY
    That plane was awesome - noisy as hell though. My home is right under one of the approach paths to JFK (10 minutes away) and I could always tell when a Concorde was coming in for a landing.
     
  7. Darolls

    Darolls F1 Veteran
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    Jul 2, 2003
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    Sparky
    I flew in it a few times.

    It was always quite an experience, considering the altitude and speed.

    I do miss that Machmeter!
     
  8. LetsJet

    LetsJet F1 Veteran
    Owner

    May 24, 2004
    9,334
    DC/LA/Paris/Haleiwa
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    Mr.
    I was in the control tower at IAD once when Concorde taxied and was cleared for takeoff....... I had a great view

    About 15 years later I was on the final Concorde flight back to IAD from LHR.

    It has a special place in my heart
     
  9. BT

    BT F1 World Champ
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    Mar 21, 2005
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    FL / GA
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    Bill Tracy
    I flew the British one once coming back from Europe in 1985. Our top speed was mach 2.14 according to the passenger cabin machmeter. It took about three hours from London to Dulles. We took off at 3:30 in the afternoon and landed at 1:30 the same afternoon because we were flying faster than the earth was turning. Time travel - almost. The sky was a deep blue because the plane flies at around 78,000 feet and there is very little atmosphere to give the normal blue sky. Definitely my best plane trip ever!
    :D
    BT
     
  10. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

    May 17, 2006
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    James K. Woods
    The Russian one (of course all the airplance pundits called it the "Concordski") was reported to be so noisy on the inside that the passengers had to be issued with earplugs.

    It turned out to be a total failure, and an expensive one at that. It was mainly used for express mail due to the poor ergonomics.

    They did fly theirs supersonic over land, however - I guess they were not too worried about shaking the peasant's teeth loose out there in the steppes.
     
  11. Kds

    Kds F1 World Champ

    It flew between 55-60,000 feet..........not 78,000.
     
  12. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

    May 17, 2006
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    James K. Woods
    Correct - 78,000 is SR-71 (or high altitude balloon) territory.
     
  13. starboy444

    starboy444 F1 Veteran

    Oct 7, 2006
    7,265
    Toronto, Canada
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    Lucas
    It just goes to show how amazing and advanced aviation technology was back then.

    This plane was developed in the early 60's and flew for over 30 years!
     
  14. wingfeather

    wingfeather F1 Rookie

    Feb 1, 2007
    3,653
    rock bottom
    True! Sadly, aviation technology seems to have fizzled since...
     

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