24th Nov 2010, 20:06
permalink Post: 768
Just finally getting around to reading 'Not much of an engineer' - What a fabulous read. Simply cannot put it down. At least I have 4 days ahead to finish it. Amazing! But is it just me and the fact that I am getting older ???? I know the mind tends to romanticise the past but as I read it, it tugs at the heart to see what we had then and where we are now. Maybe I am out of the picture nowadays and things are not as bleak as they may appear. In the book, Sir Stan mentions how he was disappointed when seeing the changes in University life compared to his years. The respect, the discipline, the uniforms !\x85a different era. Whenever I visit the ol\x92 country nowadays, I feel the same way. Its as if the spark has simply been snuffed out. Its hard to listen to some of the views and ideas and biases and negativity that seem to be the norm nowadays. I simply don\x92t feel that same sense of pride, or dedication or hope that seemed to envelope the country in the 60\x92s ( although I was just a nipper in the 60's I loved Concorde ! )\x85. In terms of aviation, it is truly amazing what was achieved by these brilliant engineers / scientists. For such a small country, wow\x85just look back and see what was achieved. Someone please tell me I have been away too long and it is not as bad as it appears \x85.! But alas, I feel it will take something much greater to arouse that British passion once more\x85then again, maybe the world really is a different place nowadays\x85and maybe 50 years from now, people will look back at the early part of 21st century with awe and say how things were so different \x91then\x92\x85 Sorry if I am blabbering here, but reading the autobiographies of such amazing gentlemen like Sir Stan does indeed arouse that sense of pride and passion that acted as a catalyst for such perfection and advancement\x85.
Reading this particular thread has been wonderful. I used to frequent PPRuNe many moons ago with great enthusiasm until the ego\x92s of many turned it into a \x91professional\x92 Vs \x91SLF\x92 forum\x85 Ask a question that maybe wasn\x92t up to the \x91standards\x92 of many of the posters and bam!! You were crucified. I still see it now, even when the forum is titled \x91Rumours\x85.and news\x92 - Frightening to think some of these folk could be piloting my plane one day !!! so coming to this thread and seeing the open arms of folk who obviously have a great deal of knowledge and who welcome the rest of us who are newbies ( but with a great deal of enthusiasm ! ) is really appreciated. Wish I could meet more folk like yourselves. Maybe then my pessimism would dwindle in favour of optimism!!!
I so wish I had the ability to connect all the remaining people who worked on Concorde in some way - whether they were engineers, flight crew, cabin crew, designers, tea makers...! Whatever their role with Concorde was - they were all part of the dream - wherever they are now - surely in todays world it cant be that difficult ??? You know, as every year passes, we will lose more or more ties to this icon. And those great stories and experiences that many may cherish ( and would love to share ) will be lost to the rest of us. One day we shall wake up and realise they are all gone. All we will have are memories ( and a few autobiographies ) of these great folk.
Best wishes to you all. Amazing that Concorde still connects many folk across many continents still, and she isn\x92t even in the skies any more..
Truly remarkable.
Regards,
d
Reading this particular thread has been wonderful. I used to frequent PPRuNe many moons ago with great enthusiasm until the ego\x92s of many turned it into a \x91professional\x92 Vs \x91SLF\x92 forum\x85 Ask a question that maybe wasn\x92t up to the \x91standards\x92 of many of the posters and bam!! You were crucified. I still see it now, even when the forum is titled \x91Rumours\x85.and news\x92 - Frightening to think some of these folk could be piloting my plane one day !!! so coming to this thread and seeing the open arms of folk who obviously have a great deal of knowledge and who welcome the rest of us who are newbies ( but with a great deal of enthusiasm ! ) is really appreciated. Wish I could meet more folk like yourselves. Maybe then my pessimism would dwindle in favour of optimism!!!
I so wish I had the ability to connect all the remaining people who worked on Concorde in some way - whether they were engineers, flight crew, cabin crew, designers, tea makers...! Whatever their role with Concorde was - they were all part of the dream - wherever they are now - surely in todays world it cant be that difficult ??? You know, as every year passes, we will lose more or more ties to this icon. And those great stories and experiences that many may cherish ( and would love to share ) will be lost to the rest of us. One day we shall wake up and realise they are all gone. All we will have are memories ( and a few autobiographies ) of these great folk.
Best wishes to you all. Amazing that Concorde still connects many folk across many continents still, and she isn\x92t even in the skies any more..
Truly remarkable.
Regards,
d
12th Jan 2011, 20:45
permalink Post: 1081
Wow, what a great thread! I started reading it yesterday and am up to page 19 so far! I flew on the wonderful white bird once, in 1999, a Manchester - round the bay at Mach 2 - Paris flight in G-BOAD. And the wonderful thing was I did the entire flight, push back at Manchester to parking at Paris, in the jump seat! What a fabulous experience - thank you Roger!
Here's a picture I took as the aircraft turne left towards the French coast:
One memory is climbing through 50,000 feet over South Wales before turning down the Bristol Channel. It was glorious August day and I had a great view forward past the captain and particularly out of the left window. The speed over the ground at Mach 0.95 seemed noticably faster than a subsonic jet, and that view was breathtaking! The Bristol Channel was edged in golden yellow beaches, and I could see right across south west England to the English Channel. In my headset the controller called another aircraft; "Speedbird 123 if you look up now you will see you are about to be overflown by Concorde". I leaned towards my side window and there was Speedbird 123, a tiny scurrying beetle miles below us. From this height the fair-weather cu looked as if they were on the ground - like small white splodges from some celestial artist's paint brush.
We cruised at Mach 2 and 60,000' over the Bay for a while and the pax came forward to view the flightdeck. I was amazed how patient was the supernumery captain who was answering the same questions over and over again was (the flight crew were too busy to chat).
The approach to CDG looked far steeper than other airliner approaches I had witnessed from the flight deck; more like one of my glide approaches in the Chipmunk! But it wasn't, of course, as we were following the 3 degree glideslope. I guess it was an illusion brought about by the steep pitch angle.
I remember the captain resting his hands on the throttles as they shuttled back and forth under autothrottle control, the smooth touchdown, the 'landing' of the nosewheel followed by full forward stick, and thinking "we'll never make that turn off". Then on came the powerful reverse and the brakes, I was thrust foreward in my harness, the speed disappeared, and we made the turnoff easily!
Oh, and that stange bouncy ride in the flight deck on the ground as the long nose forward of the nosewheel flexed over every joint in the taxyway. So bad at times it was difficult to take a photograph!
What an experience!
I have a question which I hope hasn't been answered in the pages (20 to this one) that I've yet to read.
From an earlier post I understand that the anti-skid used a rotational reference from the unbraked nosewheels to compare to the rotation of the mains, and that with gear down in the air a substiute nose-wheel referance is supplied which, because the mains are not yet rotating, allows the anti-skid to keep the brakes off.
But what happens when the mains touch down with the nosewheels still high in the air? What (if anything) inhibits wheel braking until the nosewhels are on the ground (and therefore rotating)?
Also, this thread started with a question about the lack of an APU. When Concorde was parked could the aircon and cabin lighting be powered by external electrical power, or did the cabin aircon without engine power require an external 'aircon unit' to be connected? Or was aircon simply not available without at least one engine running?
And one for Landlady or any other CC. If a table top was set up between the cabins during service, how did the 'front' crew service the first 2 rows of the rear cabin?
Being 'up front' for my entire flight, I missed out on the cabin service. But superb though I'm sure that was, under the circumstances it's not something I regret!
Here's a picture I took as the aircraft turne left towards the French coast:
One memory is climbing through 50,000 feet over South Wales before turning down the Bristol Channel. It was glorious August day and I had a great view forward past the captain and particularly out of the left window. The speed over the ground at Mach 0.95 seemed noticably faster than a subsonic jet, and that view was breathtaking! The Bristol Channel was edged in golden yellow beaches, and I could see right across south west England to the English Channel. In my headset the controller called another aircraft; "Speedbird 123 if you look up now you will see you are about to be overflown by Concorde". I leaned towards my side window and there was Speedbird 123, a tiny scurrying beetle miles below us. From this height the fair-weather cu looked as if they were on the ground - like small white splodges from some celestial artist's paint brush.
We cruised at Mach 2 and 60,000' over the Bay for a while and the pax came forward to view the flightdeck. I was amazed how patient was the supernumery captain who was answering the same questions over and over again was (the flight crew were too busy to chat).
The approach to CDG looked far steeper than other airliner approaches I had witnessed from the flight deck; more like one of my glide approaches in the Chipmunk! But it wasn't, of course, as we were following the 3 degree glideslope. I guess it was an illusion brought about by the steep pitch angle.
I remember the captain resting his hands on the throttles as they shuttled back and forth under autothrottle control, the smooth touchdown, the 'landing' of the nosewheel followed by full forward stick, and thinking "we'll never make that turn off". Then on came the powerful reverse and the brakes, I was thrust foreward in my harness, the speed disappeared, and we made the turnoff easily!
Oh, and that stange bouncy ride in the flight deck on the ground as the long nose forward of the nosewheel flexed over every joint in the taxyway. So bad at times it was difficult to take a photograph!
What an experience!
I have a question which I hope hasn't been answered in the pages (20 to this one) that I've yet to read.
From an earlier post I understand that the anti-skid used a rotational reference from the unbraked nosewheels to compare to the rotation of the mains, and that with gear down in the air a substiute nose-wheel referance is supplied which, because the mains are not yet rotating, allows the anti-skid to keep the brakes off.
But what happens when the mains touch down with the nosewheels still high in the air? What (if anything) inhibits wheel braking until the nosewhels are on the ground (and therefore rotating)?
Also, this thread started with a question about the lack of an APU. When Concorde was parked could the aircon and cabin lighting be powered by external electrical power, or did the cabin aircon without engine power require an external 'aircon unit' to be connected? Or was aircon simply not available without at least one engine running?
And one for Landlady or any other CC. If a table top was set up between the cabins during service, how did the 'front' crew service the first 2 rows of the rear cabin?
Being 'up front' for my entire flight, I missed out on the cabin service. But superb though I'm sure that was, under the circumstances it's not something I regret!
Last edited by Shaggy Sheep Driver; 12th Jan 2011 at 22:07 .
14th Jan 2011, 08:37
permalink Post: 1093
Happy New Year!
Hello again, chaps and chapesses, and a belated HNY to all.
I was prompted to post again by a fellow forumite..... I haven't really been in the mood to write after I fell over on the ice
(well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...) damaging a few bones, and then caught 'flu (woman 'flu, not man 'flu,) so I'm hoping that after a shaky start, 2011 will brighten up a bit now!
This is the year I will retire
..... I really don't know how I feel about that....but if anyone knows a kindly book publisher, perhaps it's time I thought about how to subsidise the pension, and keep Mr LL (or the Landlord, as he likes to be known), in gin and golf balls.
In reply to Shaggy's question with regard to the table top which was put into place after take-off at D2R, it didn't divide the cabins .... it was put accross the actual doorway to make an extra work-space during service. (Rather like a side-board in your dining room. Posh or what!) The fwd crew would take everything that could be needed during service from the front to the mid...wine, fizz, ice, lemon, water, etc., which would help the cabin crew (as opposed to the galley crew) to quickly replenish anything they needed without having to return to the galleys and more importantly, disturb the smooth running of the service...trolleys may be in the cabin and no-one wants to ask the crew on the trolleys to get more wine/water/whatever when they were busy. Of course, you could never second-guess what would be needed, and most probably someone would ask for a drink which you wouldn't have at the mid, but the things we needed all the time were there. The table top remained in place until the seat-belt sign came on for landing, and it was really handy. (Probably designed by a woman!) It was also a place for a couple of pax to stand and have a drink and a chat after the meal service was completed, if they fancied stretching their legs or were waiting for the loo.
Dude, your pic of pushback in IAD is fabulous! Just look what we were missing by being on-board!
With warm regards,
LL x
I was prompted to post again by a fellow forumite..... I haven't really been in the mood to write after I fell over on the ice
(well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...) damaging a few bones, and then caught 'flu (woman 'flu, not man 'flu,) so I'm hoping that after a shaky start, 2011 will brighten up a bit now!
This is the year I will retire
..... I really don't know how I feel about that....but if anyone knows a kindly book publisher, perhaps it's time I thought about how to subsidise the pension, and keep Mr LL (or the Landlord, as he likes to be known), in gin and golf balls.
In reply to Shaggy's question with regard to the table top which was put into place after take-off at D2R, it didn't divide the cabins .... it was put accross the actual doorway to make an extra work-space during service. (Rather like a side-board in your dining room. Posh or what!) The fwd crew would take everything that could be needed during service from the front to the mid...wine, fizz, ice, lemon, water, etc., which would help the cabin crew (as opposed to the galley crew) to quickly replenish anything they needed without having to return to the galleys and more importantly, disturb the smooth running of the service...trolleys may be in the cabin and no-one wants to ask the crew on the trolleys to get more wine/water/whatever when they were busy. Of course, you could never second-guess what would be needed, and most probably someone would ask for a drink which you wouldn't have at the mid, but the things we needed all the time were there. The table top remained in place until the seat-belt sign came on for landing, and it was really handy. (Probably designed by a woman!) It was also a place for a couple of pax to stand and have a drink and a chat after the meal service was completed, if they fancied stretching their legs or were waiting for the loo.
Dude, your pic of pushback in IAD is fabulous! Just look what we were missing by being on-board!
With warm regards,
LL x