Last Flight

Hope this worked ENJOY!

Words can't express how bummed I am that I never got a ride, and that the whole concept has essentially proven commerically unviable.

Cool pictures!

>Words can't express how bummed I am that I never got a ride,
>and that the whole concept has essentially proven
>commerically unviable.
>
>Cool pictures!
>
>Tools

Well, MIke I was lucky to ride one.

For nothin'!!!

I was going to Helsinki, from Rio, British Airways.

At Heathrow there would be a change of planes.

I had an hour to kill, ate some decent food, had a stout, ans went th the BA counter to get the boarding pass.

The lady at the 'puter and typed, typed, and by her expression I could see there was something wrong.

She called this other lady, probably her superior.

This one also ends up with the same look on her face.

They call this guy, he looks like the boss around there, and like Mr. I-know-it-all.

Just a couple of strokes at the terminal and he said uh hum..., ok!

And he turns to me and says: "You are a lucky fellow indeed!"...

"Why?". I ask.

"Because we are missing an aircraft to go to Heslinki, and to honour this ticket we'll have to use the Concord."

"OK, but why am I lucky?" (all I wanted was to get to Helsinki)

"He looked at me as if I had insulted him and held my ticket as if is were a dirty sock.

Young Man, you bought the cheapest ticket (apex ticket) on the market and you're going to fly on the Concord!!! People pay six thousnd dollars to fly on it and you payed ..(I don't remember how much, but it was a ridiclous sum to get on that Concord)"

I mumbled something about not giving a rat's "dérriere", but i started liking the idea.

Well, the Concord has a slim fuse, only 4 seets per row, two on the right, two on the left.

Leather chairs

Leg space? Are ya kiddin? Couldn't reach the chair in front if I wanted to...

No engine noise. They played Muzac.

The service? Well, decency keeps me from gettin into the sibaritic food I ate and the Champaign I guzzled.One didn't have to ask the stewadess to give you some more champaign I had to ask het to please STOP fillin' my glass every time it was half empty.

The flight was subsonic, but the capitain said that he'd fly over MACH 1 for a couple of minutes so we could feel how it was to fly faster then the sound.

There was a digital display near the pilot's cabin that showed the time, speed, altitude, meant for the passengers.

It went to Mach .85. , 90, .95 , mach 1. 1.1.....

I felt...

NOTHING!!!

THAT was a bummer!!!!

This guy sitting by my side was from Scotland.

HE was as happy as could be! Kept saying to me "Aren't we lucky?", ate all he could and drank all that fancy bubbly stuff as if food and drink were goin' out of fashion the next day.

Next thing he gets his camera and I have to take a zillion shots of him (well, I think he was right, who would believe in a story like this?) on the Concord.

The thing I really liked in the plane was the silence. That's not because it was supersonicc, the passenger's compartment just had a decent sound insulation.

God bless you!

In Christ,

...The service? Well, decency keeps me from gettin into the sibaritic food I ate and the Champaign I guzzled.One didn't have to ask the stewadess to give you some more champaign I had to ask her to please STOP fillin' my glass every time it was half empty...
>God bless you!
>
>In Christ,
>
>Ion

Ion,
You were looking at the glass as only half empty, she was looking at it as only half full.

> ...The service? Well, decency keeps me from gettin into the
>sibaritic food I ate and the Champaign I guzzled.One didn't
>have to ask the stewadess to give you some more champaign I
>had to ask her to please STOP fillin' my glass every time it
>was half empty...
>>God bless you!
>>
>>In Christ,
>>
>>Ion
>
> Ion,
> You were looking at the glass as only half empty, she was
>looking at it as only half full.
>
> George

You have to look at this with an engineers view and come to the conclusion that they made the glasss too big.
Dennis

>> ...The service? Well, decency keeps me from gettin into the
>>sibaritic food I ate and the Champaign I guzzled.One didn't
>>have to ask the stewadess to give you some more champaign I
>>had to ask her to please STOP fillin' my glass every time it
>>was half empty...
>>>God bless you!
>>>
>>>In Christ,
>>>
>>>Ion
>>
>> Ion,
>> You were looking at the glass as only half empty, she was
>>looking at it as only half full.
>>
>> George
>
> You have to look at this with an engineers view and come to
>the conclusion that they made the glasss too big.
>Dennis

Naw, Dennis, them ladies were just too darn fast!

Even if I has a cox 0.010 venturi as a glass the thing would be always full.

If I didn't keep an eye on them (they were - by no means - a bunch of crows) I'd start thinkin' the glass was under some spell.

The self filling glass?

God bless you!

In Christ,

Thanks for posting those. Those are some of the neatest pictures, or images as my boy insists on calling them, that I have seen recently.

The Concord is a neat machine even if it was an overpriced piece of ritzy transportation for a bunch of fools. I always thought they were a bunch of devils to pay that kind of money but I was never too keen on putting them down since I might become rich someday... that is clearly not going to happen now so I am not as reserved.

Keenly stated, Floyd. I also had held that 'reservation' of being rich one day. Now that the Concorde is grounded, I no longer harbor these thoughts.

They made a big thing about these last flights over here, and the BBC devoted an hour programme to the arrival of the last three at London Heathrow, about three minutes apart. From where we live I looked out of an upstairs window and saw all three fly past, with u/c down, about two minutes from touchdown. I feel I have lived through an era, and something seems wrong that there is no successor.

And we don't have a colony on the moon either. Indeed, something is not right here.

I saw on the local teevee news that they delivered one of the Concords to the Boeing "Red Barn" Museum, here in Seattle. There's not a CL flying circle just outside, however. You have to drive down the road about 10 miles, and it's not real fancy. Yet. Steve

I was at Oshkosh in '85 when the Concorde arrived there for the first time. We were about 250 yards from the runway CL and saw practically every rivet as it made repeated low passes, and huge chandelles. Later we were there for a takeoff. I still get chills remembering the sound of it. It was more like a rocket launch than an airplane TO. Gorgeous, outrageous, and sorely missed.

I used to live under the approach path of DFW here in Dallas. Braniff used to fly the Concord from Dallas to New York and from there to England by British Airways crew. I can remember seeing one go over, gear and nose down, at about 2500 ft and saying to my son 6 years old or so "look at the plane" He said "no, spaceship".
I also remember the takeoffs, they would be at 10-15,000 ft and you could hear the crackle of the exhaust. Sounded like a rocket taking off even at that altitude.

BEAUTIFUL pictures, and a gorgeous aircraft. The closest I have ever come is an asthmatic 737. Maybe not commercially viable any longer, but it had a long, glorious run while it lasted. Was it the B-71 Valkyrie that was the forerunner, or was it a contemporary? The Brits and the French can build some beautiful flying machines, when they put their minds to it.