Bye, Concorde ...

[Flyer]

Just been to see Concorde land, for the final time, at Manchester Airport. The Ozzies have a saying, "What a beaut!" - can't argue with that. You could see it from miles away, its unmistakeable silhouette marked out against the drab grey sky.

There were thousands of people watching it land, along with Mike and me. The wind was bitingly cold, but it didn't matter to anybody. The ground rumbled as the engines went into reverse thrust, and the noise was fan-bloody-tastic. The pilots brought it back down the runway and proceeded slowly alongside the viewing park, so that we all could get a good look at it. They stopped for about 15 minutes and then proceeded across the apron and through a water canon "guard of honour". Very impressive and at the same time, very sad that it will never fly again. Infact, just heard on the news that the afterburners have been removed . Hopefully, Mike will see the next supersonic airliner fly and he can say that he saw the first one retire.

I was listening in with my airband transceiver, and heard a conversation between a controller and a pilot, positioned at the end of the runway, who was already having a bad day:

xxx123: Tower, xxx123, request permission to land.
Tower: xxx123, I'll go one better, you have permission to take-off.
xxx123: Err, Roger, xxx123 cleared take-off.

Well, made me laugh

Cheers
Andrew

Edited to add: Saw a very nice black S55 AMG on the way back, registration: 40 PW. Thought it was Pete Watermans, as I know he has a CL55 AMG. Drroool!

 

[jimmy]

I just saw it on the lunchtime news, great shame that they could not keep Concorde going.

They said the one that flew into Manchester was going to be made so that it could not fly again and then used for corporate entertainment, a posh restaurant I expect.

I think they said somebody paid 5.3 million for it, at first I thought I heard 530 million but I must have heard wrong.

 

[Flyer]

Originally posted by jimmy
I just saw it on the lunchtime news, great shame that they could not keep Concorde going.

They said the one that flew into Manchester was going to be made so that it could not fly again and then used for corporate entertainment, a posh restaurant I expect.

I think they said somebody paid 5.3 million for it, at first I thought I heard 530 million but I must have heard wrong.

Yep, heard the same about the restaurant - could be a bit of a tight squeeze I would have thought.

I *thought* I heard the airport chief say they paid £500,000 for it and he considered it a bit of a bargain. Can't argue with that .

Don't know if the others have been moved yet, but I would definitely make the effort if they leave/arrive anywhere near where you are.

 

[jimmy]

Ahh, it must have been £530,000 that I heard, now that is a bargain.

You couldn't buy an air conditioned building for that with all luxuries and mod cons included, kitchen, toilets, wow. Missed out their!

 

[Flyer]

Originally posted by jimmy
Ahh, it must have been £530,000 that I heard, now that is a bargain.

You couldn't buy an air conditioned building for that with all luxuries and mod cons included, kitchen, toilets, wow. Missed out their!

Reckon it would it fit in your barn, then James?

 

[jimmy]

Originally posted by Flyer
Reckon it would it fit in your barn, then James?

It wouldn't quite fit inside but it would look grand parked outside.

Would you need planning permission to park Concorde on your lawn? I remember Clarkson dit it with a fighter plane.

One slight flaw, how would it arrive? I dont have a runway........well not a tarmac one.

 

[Angus Shenton]

I'm not surprised they got rid of it TBH, the running costs are horrific

 

[Flyer]

Originally posted by jimmy
It wouldn't quite fit inside but it would look grand parked outside.

Would you need planning permission to park Concorde on your lawn? I remember Clarkson dit it with a fighter plane.

One slight flaw, how would it arrive? I dont have a runway........well not a tarmac one.

Well, obviously, you'd *drive* it, on full afterburner, burning all the scameras and numpties and Nova-nobs, leaving the roads free to be enjoyed as Mother Nature intended .

I think a plane parked on your front lawn is a great idea - much better than those statues you can get at garden centres ... or, trees ... or, gnomes.

 

[Angus Shenton]

Originally posted by Flyer


I think a plane parked on your front lawn is a great idea - much better than those statues you can get at garden centres ... or, trees ... or, gnomes.

Jeremy Clarkson did this with a lightning fighter LOL

 

[scotth_uk]

Jeremy Clarkson did this.....

Love the look on his wife's face as it arrived. She asked if it would make them a target in wartime, as it may show up on a sat photo!!!!!

 

[markjay]

Old thread revival... here's a very good explanation why there won't be another one any time soon:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Merc220cls]

A step backwards IMO. One non fault accident and the 911 tragedy put the final nail in it.

Loved to see it circling round Prestwick Airport during pilot training. I have some cracking video footage.
I even remember the prototype taking off from Prestwick when it was carrying out low temperature tests over the Arctic.

 

[Bellow]

A step backwards IMO. One non fault accident and the 911 tragedy put the final nail in it.

MJ's posted video is worth a look.

 

[David20]

Who knows, it might return one day.

I hope so anyway

 

[Flyinspanner]

me at the noisy end.... circa 1980, in the hangar LHR

 

[Flyinspanner]

Ps.... Concorde won’t fly again.

 

[SW18]

I’d always understood that fuel use was a big problem for Concorde - being introduced just before the 70’s oil crisis can’t have helped.

I’ve just looked up the stats and apparently Concorde weighed just 79 tonnes empty and carried 96 tonnes of fuel! This fuel load could carry 100 passengers for 3000-4000 miles. Modern airliners (eg the 787 Dreamliner) can move triple the number of passengers twice the distance with a similar fuel load.

 

[SW18]

Despite the downsides, it seems that several companies are trying to get supersonic flight going again, though the claimed test flight in 2019 obviously didn’t come off...

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/son-of-concorde-supersonic-aircraft-plane-jet-speed-virgin-steve-jobs-widow-travel-subsonic-a8718911.html

 

[Doodle]

Just as technology pushed the Concorde into being, technology saw it redundant. The advent of email, video conferencing etc meant that you no longer needed to shuttle bigwigs across the Atlantic and around the world at twice the speed of sound (because time is money) for meetings, they could do it from the comfort of their glass-walled top floor offices.

 

[GeeJayW]