Could Concorde ever fly again? No, says British Airways

BBC article

Never say never, unlikely yes, but who knows, 50yrs on, maybe for its centenary. Ian S C

I was lucky to see it takeoff in Columbus Ohio, USA. It took off normally, then when it got up several thousand feet, It was just plain gone. Amazing as I live near a airport and see this stuff all the time.

My Dad took me down to Filton to see the maiden flight of the British plane. The last commercial flight out of Heathrow flew low(ish) over our house, the pilot lives a mile down the road. I still miss seeing it pass overhead, I never failed to be moved by its sheer beauty .

Rod

I seem to recall Richard Branson made the offer at the point the aircraft were taken out of service, there is no way Air France or British Airways would allow a Concorde to fly in Virgin livery - it would have been far too demeaning for BA's ("Bloody Awful" reputation.

At the time there was also

TAP - "Take Another Plane"

SABENA - "Such A Bloody Experience Never Again"

TWA - "Try Walking Across"

Sorry, it's my age.

Steve

I think I flew Sabena once or twice to Belgium

We used to see Concorde, or at least hear the bangs, from Barry when I was a kid. Then they stopped it going s/s until it had reached Lundy

We went to Rhoose to see it as it did a trial landing and take off (light on fuel and no passengers) to prove it could be used as a emergency diversion.

Neil

In 2005, I had to be at a meeting at Farnborough. At that meeting was one of the senior guys who had been involved in heavy Concorde maintenance. His comment was that one of the many reasons that Concorde was grounded was simply because many of the skills required to work on such an old fashioned design no longer existed. Remember that most of the systems and structures in Concorde were designed in the early 60s and as such owed more to the 50s than the 60s.

Very very sad though as Concorde was a seriously beautiful and outstanding aircraft.

cheers

Bill

Can remember watching it do a circle of Johannesburg in 1971/2 or thereabouts.

The noise it made was something else, and no real surprise that the USA banned it at first.

The noise got everyone in the office rushing to the nearest window to investigate.

Quite a sight with its nose drooped.

Geoff - Lathe finished! Write-up & photos to follow.

In the later years of service, Concorde flew into Christchurch (NZ) a few times, much to the delight of the locals, I think there is a high proportion of aviation nuts in NZ, one here at least. Ian S C

I worked for some years for BA at Cranebank and the morning Concorde departure was notable for its effect on the cars in the multi storey car park - about 50% of the alarms were activated!!

Of course it will never fly again - the specialist engineering talent required couldn't be gathered together again - certainly not so as to allow certification. Great pity, such a lovely looking, if impracticable, aircraft (for profit making, that is). The thing which struck me most was the size of the flight deck - relatively large FE's 'empire' but the drivers were VERY snug - more like an MG TC!! Got a poor photo somewhere of it on climbout on its last day in service - my flat was just to the South of the West bound SID track.

Rgds

Bill

A long time ago now I went for a job interview at the Aircraft Research Establishment in Bedford. I was taken for a tour through the workshops and watched a technician putting the finishing touches to a large and beautiful solid aluminium wind tunnel model of a very futuristic looking aircraft.

Years later I visited Duxford and got the chance to see the full sized version. We were allowed inside Concorde and I remember how cramped it seemed compared with a conventional passenger carrying plane.

I did read somewhere that the final decision to axe the service was influenced by the number of regular passengers who were murdered in the 9/11 atrocity.

A very sad end indeed for a lovely lady.

Rik

I doubt it will ever fly again but I have got over the sadness.

One thing I can recommend is a visit to the one on display at Manchester Airport. I was given one of the guided tours/presentations as a present a couple of years ago and I was really impressed. It was not rushed, we were not talked down to and it contained quite a lot of technical details. The flight deck IS cramped but I only spent 20 minutes there so did not complain!

Ian P

..could Concord fly again...

1] would need to be in private hands..like mosquitoes etc.

2] BA would hate it...it is there ball after all

3] Where?. when operational had misery corridors ..Concorde castrated might have little point.

4] Boeing wouldn't like it...nor Lockheed..

shame..utterly impractical..gloriously graceful..Speedbird indeed..

link below..SR71 gives way to Concorde

you might find this fun link

All the above has been said before re maintenance, skills etc they said that about another classic aircraft

theres a vulcan bomber flying around at the moment

Edited By mike mcdermid on 25/10/2013 19:10:30

After the crash at Charles De Gaulle a lot of regular passengers started to use private jets. They found that their journey times, from door to door, were quicker since local airports were used. Towards the end Concorde passenger numbers were low. It came down to who, BA or Air France, would blink first and withdraw it from service. The only thing keeping it in service was prestige. In the end Air France had to withdraw it and BA followed immediately.

As for it flying again: the Vulcan is flying but fuel costs makes its operation very marginal. Concorde at low altitude would probably burn more fuel. As for supersonic flight............

JA

Gentlemen,

twenty five years ago I volunteered at the Imperial War Museum Duxford working on the Museums B17G " Mary Alice", we had a member who was a pilot for British Airways and he also drove with the family coach business.

The gentleman organised a visit to the BA hangers at Heathrow through his work so we all met at Duxford for the Coach trip to Heathrow and when we got close he said he had a surprise and took us to Air Canada's bonded warehouse where we were told to wait in the coach until he came back for us, we were taken throught the building to a grass strip right next to the runway and told to stay put and look left where we saw Concord turning onto the runway apply reheat and come thundering down the runway towards us, at this point camera film was being used like it was going out of fashion, as she got to where we were standing she rotated and some where in the loft I have the picture of this point, after that a wander around the hangers was a slight anti climax try something like that today.

Martin P

The Vulcan to the Skies project go Heritage Lottery Funding, despite 'restoring historic aircraft to flying condition' is specifically excluded by their terms of grant.

Not wishing to be killjoy (it was after the project was finished) but looking for potential loopholes, I took this up with HLF and was told that it was a matter of Trustee discretion.

My conclusion to anyone declined an HLF grant because its 'outside what we are allowed to fund' would therefore be to appeal direct to the Trustees quoting the Vulcan as a precedent.

As far as I am aware no-one else noticed this...

Neil

In terms of structure and systems there is a quantum leap (literally) between the Vulcan and the Concorde. Both fantastic aircraft and a tribute to the people who designed, built, maintained and flew them, but very sadly both obsolete.

cheers

Bill

Respectfully Bill i will have to disagree re the quantum leap