Posts by user "speedbirdconcorde" [Posts: 19 Total up-votes: 0 Page: 1 of 1]¶

Always love to hear stories like this....I am sure there are many more ! Cheers Christiaan ( and m2dude ) for such great information on our beloved icon....

Reg:

Ancient tale.

There's this SR-71 Blackbird stooging around Cuba on a top-secret mission, at FL500+ and Mach 2+.... when they get a call requesting them to change heading "because of traffic at your altitude".
Traffic at THEIR altitude ??
Anyway, they comply, and shortly, yes, there's an Air France Concorde out of Caracas (Air France flew there in the early days) slowly sailing across their flight path.

Bugger...its past midnight and I'm still reading this thread ! Time to hit the sheets before I find a Concorde vid to start watching lol

As others have said...brilliant thread and great to hear from all the Concorder's...

You are all responsible for my red-eyes in the morning :-)

Feathers,

"If you watch some of the more recent Concorde programmes, such as "Concorde's Last Flight", you'll hear and see the reaction of the various people (including our very own Dude) from the BA side of things as they talk about their charge. The AF crews also have that same look on their faces in the few programmes I've seen them in."

Is this a different show from the discovery programme - if so, is it available on DVD or is it 'streamable' somewhere ?

cheers,

d

Gents and Gent'esses,

Regarding the rather important role of the elevons on Concorde where there any failures during her time in the skies ?

regards,

d

I hope many of us are wrong Christiian and that she does indeed get a new permanent home...... Although I havent visited AC yet in Manchester, the permanent enclosure for her looks great ( although once again, some great hard working 'Concordians' lost their jobs...). One of the saddest images I recall was seeing our beloved icon stuck on a barge in NY..engines removed allowing you to view right 'through', whilst another engine lay covered in a tarp - it was hard to think about all the work that was done to produce such a magnificant machine and to think that in the end, this was all that could be done to inspire future generations of thinkers to achieve even greater feats. A world speed record holder for a transatlantic passenger flight ( we even had Leslie Scott with us who was the pilot on that remarkable flight ) - much much more should be done to remind the youth of today just what was achieved and to instill those qualities into future generations. As it was once said.... "If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past"

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

Discussing the formation video...and video in general, I would assume there is one hell of a lot of footage out there that we have never seen ( at least I hope so ! )....we see snippets here and there but I wonder what happened to most of it ? Would be depressing to think some of it ended up in old tins and junked somewhere. Really referring to the days of construction and testing - would love to see video of the engine testing, flight testing, fuel rig, and the folk involved. Even more footage of the formation video or some of that spectacular footage we see of Concorde behind the 'chase plane' in flight...amazing stuff. Is most of it in the hands of BA or .... ?

Cheers.

Dude, only 5 seconds ?? I'd demand a re-edit mate...outrageous !

Out of interest...here is a pic of AG in Seattle ( taken a while back ) and the source of a big part of this thread - unfortunately could not get any higher in order to get a better view...on either end ! ( I need to check on her again and see how she is doing ) and the SR71 also ( from the Pima Air / Space museum in Arizona) - I am sure all have seen the Concorde intakes but the SR71 rear end is interesting....

ps Please forgive the pic of the Sikorsky ( at Pima also ) ...couldnt resist

Cheers...

She looks amazing even as a biz jet version :-)

"I also thought it would be good to share such good memories on here; especially as some of her Prune detractors are having such fun over on their rumour thread."

Indeed Nick !

To everyone who has contributed to this thread, a BIG thanks. It has been an absolute pleasure to read ( unlike other threads on pprune ). The time and effort spent to share stories and knowledge is truly appreciated and no doubt an appropriate reflection on the brilliance that was Concorde. To everyone that was part of the Concorde dream you have my deepest admiration. Have yourselves a safe and fabulous holiday wherever you are. Looking forward to reading many more great posts in the coming year.
Thanks for keeping the memory of our GREAT ICON truly alive. She was a beauty !

cheers !

Such an amazing sight when viewing Concorde head-on....beauty indeed.....

A quick question for the technical chaps...

I remember that she had 3 channels of signalling for the flight controls - 2 electrical ( 1 main and 1 standby ) with the third being mechanical. How was the mechanical system 'de-coupled' from the electrical channels thus that any movement from the control column was 'ignored' by this channel ? Was it by somehow disabling the hydraulic jack that ultimately connected to the flying control units ? Was this mechanical channel ever used during service ?

Regards,

d

Old ? You, me and the rest of us Dude :-) Maybe we should just say 'Wiser' ?? lol. Ah yes...what I always find fascinating is watching footage of Concorde and the automobiles of that era. Talk about night and day. Even today she turns heads so I can only imagine the sheer awe folk experienced when they first set their eyeballs on Concorde....truly way beyond her time in every possible way.

cheers,
d

Would love to go to a lecture....pity I am 6000 miles away :-(

Just viewing some 'old' in-flight footage...gosh...she was such a beauty...have to say I've never been on any other aircraft which, during taxi, had people stop what they were doing ( servicing aircraft ! ) and just watch her pass by .... anyhow, before I become a sentimental ol' bugger........I noticed that the time between Mach1 being displayed in the cabin, and, in this case Peter Benn announcing that we were indeed Mach1, 40 seconds had passed ! ( Thanks Peter for making that flight so memorable. Your obvious enthusiasm for Concorde made for a very memorable flight - thank you ) - I know Christiaan gave an explanation some time back...but 40 seconds seems a long time ! Any other reasons as to the 'very' early Mach 1 announcement in the cabin ??

Best wishes everyone,

d

360\xb0 Virtual Reality tour of the Cockpit of Concorde by Ken McBride



Check out Kens other VR images on his site...

It certainly makes one wonder what a modern day Concorde cockpit would look like with side sticks and glass everywhere.... would love to be a part of that design team :-) Maybe even update those coffee cup holders and make a place for a latte machine with good ol' bone china cups for the crew when they have a moment to admire the outside view from the heavens.........!! lol

Really, if only Britain had the money, the dream could come true all over again....

Regards to all,

speedbird

"Yes, with fuel prices on the rise it's the perfect time to build a fuel-guzzling aircraft."

Who said anything about building a 'fuel-guzzling aircraft' ?

Your words....certainly not mine...

I don't believe supersonic travel is dead...maybe just not too alive at the present moment...

As I said, if Britain had financial wealth, they could do something special again ( Just look at Reaction Engines )... But as Dude also added, Britain needs a little more than money....it needs a vision...

and it appears to me, reading some of the posts, that Britain currently has neither..