Was Watching Concorde Worth It?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 1:45 am

My brother got excited outside his docklands flat watching the last flight.

Can't say I really gave a damn.

Yes, Concorde is a great achievement.

However it was only ever a rich mans travel accessory and not for the ordinary mortal to travel in.

So it was that only the most frequent fliers like Joan Collins got to savour the very last flight.

Am I bothered, nahh!

Robbie.

paul_y3k · Post by **paul_y3k** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:14 am

true that not all of us got to fly in it .. but cmon
it was something that the British (and grudgingly the French ) designed in the 60's and basically showed the world what this country is all about. Certainly something stuck into the eye of those in the US.

for instance Concord is a true fly by wire aircraft. Fly by wire on passenger aircraft wasn't seen (i think) until the 747-400.

it's also a very beutiful aircraft ...

my own suggestion was to give one to whoevers in charge of the country. An English Equvilant to AirForce One.

ICE DOCTOR · Post by **ICE DOCTOR** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 12:05 pm

Good suggestion there Paul.

Jussi · Post by **Jussi** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 12:12 pm

Hmm, i thought you all english travel a lot with concorde

Vince · Post by **Vince** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:41 pm

Hmm, i thought you all english travel a lot with concorde

Yes. All the time.

Two and a half million people travelled on Concorde over the years. I was on reserve duty at Heathrow on the day. Fortunately, everything went so smoothly that I wasn't needed. We were stood down at three o'clock and I was almost home by four.

Every bridge over the M4 motorway west from London for about 15 kilometers had people stood on it waiting to see the final arrivals. (Needless to say, the aircraft arrived from the east.)

There will still be a few chances to see the Concordes flying to the final homes. Last actual (as opposed to commercial) flights will be in November.

Vince.

tiranova · Post by **tiranova** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 10:49 pm

My brother got excited outside his docklands flat watching the last flight.

Can't say I really gave a damn.

Yes, Concorde is a great achievement.

However it was only ever a rich mans travel accessory and not for the ordinary mortal to travel in.

So it was that only the most frequent fliers like Joan Collins got to savour the very last flight.

Am I bothered, nahh!

Robbie.

The only reason that Concorde never caught on was the bloody yanks. They were so jealous that they hadnt thought of it, that they banned it from most of their airports. Concorde flights would have come down in price if more Concorde's had been built, and supersonic flights became the norm but the

yanks spoilt it for everyone!

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 1:34 am

However it was only ever a rich mans travel accessory and not for the ordinary mortal to travel in.

on it often then robbie ?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 2:16 am

:rolleyes:

britboy · Post by **britboy** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 4:08 pm

I'm not being unpatriotic here .. but Concorde was fundermentally a economic failure.

We put it on sale to the whole world .. and no-one (yes no-one) bought a single one of them.

We offered them incentives -- discounts -- but no-one was interested. The fuel costs etc. were so high compared to the new Boeings coming out .. that ticket prices were overbearingly high.

Anyone could design an aircraft like Concorde (look at the US 'Blackbird' spyplane .. all the same concepts) .. but we were the only ones silly enough to actually do it.

Talk about misreading the marketplace. How would you judge a company that produced something that sold 0 units? as a success?

So -- you've got this loser plane that no-one wants to buy .. what do you do? Well put a few inot your own national airline .. charge the earth for the tickets ... and pretend to still be proud of it.

You've got to aim for a market nowadays .. otherwise you're just gonna end up with another millenium dome. Yep it looks impressive .. yep no-one actually wants to use it.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:25 pm

:rolleyes:

at least u didn't disagree

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 6:50 pm

We used to live a couple of miles from the end of the Heathrow runway and she'd go over at 11am and 7pm and it was awesome, especially when she flew into autumnal sunsets

There were all the T5 and night flight campaigners but no-one ever complained about Concorde. I'll miss her, it's a shame that flights were Â£6,000+ to New York!

PS Years ago, my mum and I had just watched Concorde fly over my flat and then we went for a drive along the A30 where Concorde's hanger is (was) and there was one parked up there. Mum said "Wow, that got back quick" not realising that there was more than one!

Alex LS · Post by **Alex LS** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:19 pm

Anyone could design an aircraft like Concorde (look at the US 'Blackbird' spyplane .. all the same concepts) .. but we were the only ones silly enough to actually do it.

Umm, no they couldn't. The Russians tried and failed. The USA tried and failed, and gave up as soon as the Jumbo was introduced. The Blackbird is not the same concept at all. You can't fit a hundred people in a Blackbird, its fuel tanks leak when it's not flying, it costs even more than Concorde, etc.

There have been several major blows to Concorde. The first was the USA not continuing its own developments. The second was the fuel crisis in the 70s. Another was the global decline in air travel since 2001, and yet another has been the arrival of the Internet and video conferencing meaning that people don't necessarily have to be over in New York in the morning and back in the UK for lunch.

charlieannear · Post by **charlieannear** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:32 pm

Anyone could design an aircraft like Concorde (look at the US 'Blackbird' spyplane .. all the same concepts) .. but we were the only ones silly enough to actually do it.
Umm, no they couldn't. The Russians tried and failed. The USA tried and failed, and gave up as soon as the Jumbo was introduced. The Blackbird is not the same concept at all. You can't fit a hundred people in a Blackbird, its fuel tanks leak when it's not flying, it costs even more than Concorde, etc.

Concorde is the only aircraft capable of flying at mach 2 all the way across the atlantic.
The Blackbird (and lots of other planes) can do Mach 2 but not for long.

I was always amazed that there was never a military variant of the Concorde produced as there is literally nothing else in the air that can keep up with it for more than a couple of minutes. Certainly nothing of 'bomber' or 'transport' size.

Nope, in my book the withdrawal of service of the Concorde is criminal. We're going backwards.

britboy · Post by **britboy** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:14 pm

Whoever said the concorde could outpace the blackbird??

SR71-Blackbird:

Speed Mach 3.
85,000ft CRUISE altitude!
range 3,300 miles without flight refueling

Concorde

Speed - Mach 2.
MAX Altitude: 62,000 ft. (only allowed to 60,000ft).
Range: 3,100 miles

Yep the USA failed (the SST). Their thing would have been bigger and better then concorde (and gone 33% faster) but it was too loud so it failed on environmental reasons. (In fact our concorde was also too loud -- but we are surrounded by water so the government had a 'get out of jail free' card and made it illegal to create a sonic boom anywhere but over water).

The Russians failed? You forget the TU-144! (Yea OK they did take a few shortcuts which lead to a number of test-pilots .. er .. dying!).

Click below to see a Russian 'concorde'. Totally built by the Ruskies.

http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Scienc ... TU-144.asp

I was always amazed that there was never a military variant of the Concorde produced as there is literally nothing else in the air that can keep up with it for more than a couple of minutes. Certainly nothing of 'bomber' or 'transport' size.

Sorry but you have forgotten the good old Lockheed YF-12A. Could go 2485 miles, at MACH 3.2 (about 40% faster then concorde -- and it can STAY at this speed) -- The YF-12 was an SR-71 with an internal bay carrying Hughes GAR-9/ AIM-47A air to air/air-to-ground radar guided missiles, designed to shoot a variety of enemy targets

And just so you believe me, here is one having a missile fitted!

http://www.voodoo.cz/sr71/o/aim47.jpg

Although admittedly -- it couldn't take 100 passangers along for the ride!

Julia · Post by **Julia** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 6:05 pm

Concorde flew over yesterday!

Couldn't believe it when I heard it and then looked up to see it!
Aparently 7 of them are flying out each day this week to places such as Seattle, New York, Barbados etc to rest?