On This Day In History.....2000.....

[ToraToraTora]

Concord Crashed in Paris, sadly this was at least partly responsible for it eventually being decommissioned. I am fortunate enough to have flown on this magnificent aircraft in 1996. Who else has been on Concord? What are your Concord related trivia?

[wolf63]

I watched a video on youtube about the Concorde. It may be of interest to you.

[Peter Pedant]

I worked in a Concorde design office
er what else
Boeing abandoned the supersonic transport plan so.....
american authorities banned SST over America

because that is what the most powerful nation on earth did !

[New Judge]

Never been on Concorde.

A very good friend of mine was an Air Engineer with BA. Concorde was the last civil aircraft to require a flying Air Engineer and he spent about twelve years flying in it. But by the time it was decommissioned he had been promoted to Chief Engineer for BA. He retired a few years back and his retirement package included six pairs of First Class tickets annually to any destination served by BA. Unfortunately by then he had developed Meniere's Disease ( a disease of the ear) which was probably brought on by spending almost his entire working life flying. So he rarely used his first class tickets (which were, unfortunately, not transferable).

[ToraToraTora]

Further to PP's post we have Concord to thank for the 747 another magnificent aircraft. Boeing abandoned their Supersonic Jet and instead invoked the back up project that was the 747. I flew to Las Vegas on one of those!

[Barsel]

Susan, that video was really interesting although of course, I didn't understand it all, I got the gist of it.
One of my questions was answered in the video, but a few questions I still wonder about, isn't somebody responsible for making sure the runways are clear of any debris before take-off and why weren't the special tyres fitted before they were ?

[rockyracoon]

I was in Legoland when the very last Concorde flight flew into Heathrow. It flew over the top of us and it felt like every person there stood quietly and watched. It was strangely moving.

[retrocop]

Barsel it is called FOD. I believe the debris in the take off path of concorde had immediately fallen off a previously take off. Too late to stop as Concorde was on rotate speed.
FOD trucks do clear runway debris when witnessed and reported but this happened to soon. FOD is Foreign Objects and Debris. Onjects

[theshedman]

I was an aircraft fireman at RNAS Yeovilton, in July 1976 when Concorde came in on it's last flight before going into the museum there. Didn't fly on it but did go on it then and a few years ago when I visited the museum. Got a shock when I saw myself on film on HMS Ark Royal as part of a display they had.

[tuxedo37]

the middle east said no to it as well because of the shockwave thats why usa said no too and to be fair so would you if you had this over you daily
a great aircraft (made to small though to make any profit ) but well done for flying safely for all that time

[Barsel]

Thanks for that Retro.
It's shocking that such a tragedy occurred because of a tyre and a piece of metal.

[Bobbisox1]

Coming back from NY we changed flights at CDG , we saw Concorde on the apron and marvelled at how small she was , a beautiful looking lady nonetheless

[bhg481]

Working at Boscombe Down in the mid 60s I was involved with noise trials on take-off, with a Vulcan standing in for Concorde. You will remember that Concorde used modified Vulcan engines and, at the trial stage, a Vulcan was flown using a single Concorde engine.
It was also interesting to see a Lightning take off just before noon, returning shortly after, with reports of a sonic boom being heard over London at noon.
I agree with PP that it was sour grapes that made the Americans ban it flying across the US.

[Old_Geezer]

I saw Concorde's maiden flight out of Filton Airfield.

[wolf63]

Barsel, he is usually good at explaining complicated stuff in a way that allows us to understand the basics of the problem. And considering English is not his first language he is very easy to listen to.

[rowanwitch]

Mum lived under the usual approach to heathrow, saw them so often but if the sun was just right as she banked to take up the final approach she turned golden... Beautiful but so noisy at subsonic speeds.

[bhg481]

https://ibb.co/KwqwZBm

[ToraToraTora]

Is that Concordski on the right bhg?

[youngmafbog]

Never went on it but my Dad designed the escape shoots (we had various versions in our hall) parts of the door (He broke my mums kitchen scales with the door handle) and the tail.

[youngmafbog]

* Yes spelt chutes incorrectly.

[Peter Pedant]

Concorde's lift was connected to two trapped vortices under the wings. COncordski had unstable vortices ( under the wings that is!) and when they failed, er it did too.

so it fell out of the air. Did tuvalev ( the "designer" silly!) land up ( haw haw haw) in a concentraton camp ( Gulag)