Concorde may fly again !

[mapleleaf]

saw it too back in the early days too when it did afly past at Woodford Air Show. A work colleague was fortunate enough to fly on concord from Bahrain to LHR - I was a young engineer then and didnt have enough tax free overseas years behind me to afford it - but its still on my to do list ! fingers crossed

 

[coupe deville]

I'm surprised at the lack of concorde flyers. I flew on it on a christmas lunch jolly in the mid 1980's out of manchester across to the isle of man, turned right up the west coast to the top of scotland and back down the east coast. the supersonic one [ sub sonic flights were cheaper, £200 and only lasted 40mins ] I think it was about £500 per head but cant remember exactly as the first wifes mother paid for it. I think it lasted 1 hour 40 mins and we reached 60,000 feet and mach 2. tremendous acceleration at takeoff and deceleration on landing. quite normal while cruising over land but when we were over the sea the afterburners were lit to break thru the sound barrier and the push in the back was something else. it included a cockpit visit and the captain signed a souvenier certificate and we all got a concorde model but i haven't seen the certificate or the model since my divorce
it was a once in a lifetime experience and it would be great to see it back in the air but i think pigs will fly before concorde ever does again

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I would love to have flown Concorde, so I'd be over the moon if it eve took passengers again.

My father in law went supersonic several times although one time was to watch Monaco GP with helicopter transfers. That would be an experience and a half!!

 

[GordonTarling]

I was a ground engineer on Concorde for around 25 years and very proud of it! It was a marvellous aircraft which really showed British and French engineering at its very best. I sincerely hope they do manage to get one into the air again, as a 'heritage' aircraft, but don't underestimate the task or the costs involved. If they should succeed, I very much doubt we'll see it either carrying passengers or going supersonic again.

 

[stumpy1]

I was a ground engineer on Concorde for around 25 years and very proud of it! It was a marvellous aircraft which really showed British and French engineering at its very best. I sincerely hope they do manage to get one into the air again, as a 'heritage' aircraft, but don't underestimate the task or the costs involved. If they should succeed, I very much doubt we'll see it either carrying passengers or going supersonic again.

Me too, I was in TBB. Who's shift were you on??

 

[Alfie]

My father was on the original design team at BAC in Weybridge. I was fortunate enough to fly to New york once on concorde (3hrs 10 minutes). the sight of the earth from 60,000 feet is amazing. The curvature is awesome and the sky a deep purple colour. The ride was the smoothest flight ever.

I for one would gladly support any move to get one of the three serviceable planes back in the air. As I understand it at least one still has a certificate of air worthiness (at least in terms of hours flying).

 

[p1ssdoffuser]

I've seen it touch and lift off a few years back at Farnborough air show.
If one does fly again I hope they wont let it near a French airport.

 

[discodom]

This is one of my regrets (and I dont have many) - is that I never pulled my finger out and sorted out booking a flight on this beautiful aircraft!

I agree with some of the other comments - that if they can Vulcan XH558 up into the air (and I have been a member of this club for many years) then I reckon there is a good chance of getting Concorde back in the skies. However, it has taken a huge amount of money, time, dedication, hard work and public support to get XH558 back into the air. I saw her fly for the first time since the very late 80s last year at Fairford - and she was spectacular, smiles on everyones faces. I remember Concorde landing and taking off a couple of times at Fairford before she went out of service - extremely impressive - and the SOUND!

I would defo support getting this beautiful aircraft back into the sky.

 

[st4]

I was a ground engineer on Concorde for around 25 years and very proud of it! It was a marvellous aircraft which really showed British and French engineering at its very best. I sincerely hope they do manage to get one into the air again, as a 'heritage' aircraft, but don't underestimate the task or the costs involved. If they should succeed, I very much doubt we'll see it either carrying passengers or going supersonic again.

Also the carbon this and global that lobby would kick off as concorde was it not, a massive consumer of fuel and emitter of CO2.

They hey day of fast motoring, fast aviation is well and truly over.

 

[GordonTarling]

Me too, I was in TBB. Who's shift were you on??

That depends on which side of TBB and what year you're talking about! However, I was always on #3 shift.

 

[stumpy1]

That depends on which side of TBB and what year you're talking about! However, I was always on #3 shift.

I was in Majors in 93-94. We were working on the wing bathtub mods with 'just a minute' Jim

 

[Londonscottish]

Fantastic aeroplane. I remember being on a training course at SAP (software company), which was on the A4 .... right next to the runway. Their training centre had huge thick walls and double (or even triple?) glazing, but the instructors always paused when a Concorde takeoff was due!

I used to work right next door to that office. If I was returning home to London on the main road past Hatton Cross on a Friday around 6.00 pm Concorde would fly right over. The usual routine was my thinking "What the f**?!" because of the incredible din followed by the amazing sight of Concorde passing a couple of hundred feet overhead in the dusk with four blue cones emerging from the engines. Just incredible. I NEVER got tired of hearing/feeling/seeing Concorde on take off.

 

[Londonscottish]

My father in law went supersonic several times although one time was to watch Monaco GP with helicopter transfers. That would be an experience and a half!!

It doesn't get any better than that.....

 

[mykulmerc]

I was a ground engineer on Concorde for around 25 years and very proud of it! It was a marvellous aircraft which really showed British and French engineering at its very best. I sincerely hope they do manage to get one into the air again, as a 'heritage' aircraft, but don't underestimate the task or the costs involved. If they should succeed, I very much doubt we'll see it either carrying passengers or going supersonic again.

Interesting comment - I can understand, but don't like, the fact that it won't carry passengers (I work in aviation) but could you give reasons why, if it were to fly, it wouldn't go supersonic?

 

[GordonTarling]

BlueC220 - as you're probably aware, the certificate of airworthiness was withdrawn when they were all grounded, so there's no chance whatsoever of it ever carrying fare-paying passengers again. It will have to fly under a special category C of A of some description.

As for supersonic flights - several reasons. There's no need for supersonic capability if it's only ever going to be seen at airshows and special events. The variable intake geometry is an extremely complex piece of engineering which requires a lot of maintenance - far easier and cheaper to fly it with fixed intakes and limit max speed. Though, I just thought about that and it could go to M1.3 on fixed intakes. Fuel consumption would be another factor - fairly 'economical' (used loosely) at M2.0, but it uses a lot of fuel to get there. Lastly, it's no sluggard when subsonic anyway - cruising at M0.95. I hope I'm proved wrong and that it will fly at M2.0 again!

Stumpy1 - Not sure I recall 'just a minute Jim' - please PM me with details.

 

[219]

I think I read somewhere that the French Concorde being considered for recommissioning still has a valid certificate of airworthiness , due to lower flying hours than the others and having had some degree of maintenance carried out whilst in the museum .

Then again , 'they' also said that Howard Hughes kept the Spruce Goose flight ready all these years .

 

[Mr E]

Some pictures and comments regarding the engine inspection here