Seen The Concorde

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

...today, i turned t.v on and it was live at manchester airport, they was all waiting for the concorde!! I couldnt believe it, so dp came home,within minutes and we drove to manchester airport it was hectic,people everywhere, helicopters everywhere, media the LOT!
We managed to park up on a road, and got over to the gates (police was everywhere),people was standing on high buildings,it was amazing!

It came in,and it looked well LIKE A Bullet! it roared like ive never heard anything roar before, it was amazing ,all the bagage handlers was cheering as was the crowds, the pilot waved to everyone and gave thumbs up! it was a apart of there "farewell" tour, people on board was people who had won contests, and the media!! but it was amazing by far!!
Dp is there now to see it "take off!" I couldnt go as i needed to pick DD up from school and i wouldnt of made it in time,but it was enough to see it this morning!

Just wanted to share
Just wish i had been able to go on board

Beth

 

[elisebutt]

I saw it on Monday when I was in the library at college(Birmingham) It had just taken off and was slowly roaring over the office blocks. If I hadn't had a lecture at 11.00 I would probably have gone to see it land as well. Gorgeous looking thing - i can't believe they are retiring it!!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I have to confess to being very pleased that it's retiring. While I do think it is a wonderful looking plane, the noise it makes is way too loud. I live near Heathrow and occasionally planes take off in my general direction. Most of the planes can hardly be heard inside my house, but Concorde shakes the windows, scares my cat and sets off several car alarms down the road. Fortunately this doesn't happen too often, but I do pity the poor souls who live on the other side of the airport who get this virtually every day.

I've nothing against supersonic flight for the fabulously wealthy, just make it a bit quieter next time!

Regards

Rob

 

[Dimplenose]

She flies over my house every day. Like Rob I'm far enough away from Heathrow not to be bothered by other plane noises, but Concorde definitely is noisy enough to stop a conversation for a while.

Unlike Rob I will really miss her. It was nice to get her back after the French tragedy, so I'll be sad now it really is the end.

Libby

 

[Dimplenose]

She's just gone over my house for the last time

Libby

 

[UKDEB]

Anyone needing to travel to Heathrow today might be interested in this message I received from the Virgin Flying Club:

<i>Friday 24 October marks a sad day for the airline industry - the last flight of Concorde, the world's first and only supersonic passenger aircraft.

BAA and the Heathrow area police are expecting significant traffic congestion and a huge turnout of spectators to view Concorde's final landing at around 4pm.

We'd like to inform all our flying club members that if you're travelling from, or meeting someone at Heathrow on Friday, you should allow extra time to get to and from the airport. Before you leave for the airport, check your local up-to-date travel news.</i>

 

[Muppet]

We were coming back from London in early May and saw her take off (why are machines always 'her'). Looked amazing, never wanted to travel on her though, just aswell due to the cost!!!!

 

[WDWfan uk]

Anyone else feel sad that Concorde will just be a museum exhibit after today? I don't really know why, but I do. I can imagine that if like Rob, you've had Concorde flying over your house regularly the romance would soon evaporate (!!), but whenever I've been lucky enough to see 'her' roar overhead, I've always felt an affection for 'her'. Any other plane is just that - another plane.

However, financially it is just not viable for Concorde to fly any longer, which is a great pity considering the amount that was spent on improvements after the dreadful Paris crash. But it was a great piece of engineering - other countries tried and failed to produce anything like it, and a great example of UK and France working together.

 

[Beejayjay]

Before my move to wonderful (?!?) Milton Keynes, I used to live right under Concorde's flight path in South East London - she would come over at least once a day, often twice.

And after almost 20 years of seeing her daily, I still often looked up and admired the simple beauty of the design.

The first time I saw it close up was a surprise - it was parked near a couple of BA 747's, and looked absolutely tiny in comparison ! Like a kid with it's mum and dad.

And that, alas, was one of it's few failings - it really was very small and very cramped ! A former boss of mine got upgraded one time to Concorde from first class on a 747 that couldn't fly because of a technical fault. He was happy as Larry, but after the flight, he sure wasn't - he said it was uncomfortable, cramped and aside from the speed of the flight, definitely not a patch on standard first class, and he would certainly not pay the extra over first class.

If BA removed seats to make more room, the prices would simply be even higher, and a lot less people would use it, so it simply would not have made any sense on purely economic terms to keep the planes flying. Sad but true, in these cut throat days...

I'd still give plenty to fly on it though, and it will definitely be a loss from our skies.

 

[Rain]

Shirley,

I too feel like that about Concorde , I find it a really magestical plane, each time I watch it in flight it makes me feel quite emotional.

It flew over my house on it's last trip out of Manchester yesterday and it made me feel so sad!!!


Lynda

 

[Peebee]

We just drove up towards Heathrow to see the final flights coming in, one after the other. It's only 30 mins away and thought it would have been silly not to make the time and capture the event on video.

It was quite a sight, with people pulling over and getting out of their cars - reminded me a little of the REM video for Everybody Hurts!

Paul

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Feel very nostalgic right now.

Luckily for us the wind changed and that meant that all three had to fly in from the East and that meant by our house and one of them came ever so ever so close - it was an awesome sight and yeah we feel very sad.

We really wished we had got to go on

Paul - I can just imagine that picture of all the cars stopping, very poignant!

 

[janeossie]

Would've loved to have come down to see the final flights but working fairly close to Manchester airport stayed a little time after work to see her. It was almost like a flypast just for our building she headed straight towards us and then turned to our right round back on herself and then climbed very steeply. It looked like they had allowed a lower flightpath so that everyone got one last view. Productivity where I work certainly dropped Weds afternoon.

My dad helped make some of the parts and he has always been really proud of the workmanship involved. He is just really sad that we probably won't have the skills to make anything like her again.

Jane

 

[Beejayjay]

The pictures of the 3 planes coming in to land together were quite something to see even on TV, to have seen it in the flesh must have been a sight for the ages...

Jane,

The main reason it's unlikely another supersonic passenger jet will be built - anytime soon at least - is because of cost and how Concorde was funded.

Much of the funding came from government grants, so a lot of the burden of needing to consider the usual major commercial aspect of such a project, ie the project's development cost versus return on that investment, was removed from the project and it's people. The British and French governments weren't under as much pressure to show a worthwhile return for their investment - if they had been the plane probably would never have flown commercially if at all.

Russia had a supersonic jet too, a Tupolev, but the same thing applied - government money built it, it never ever made money and so it was grounded years ago I believe.

A few companies - including Boeing I believe - have looked into the viability of building a new supersonic jet liner, but none has come close to finding a way to break even on the project, let alone make a worthwhile profit !

It's a great shame thats the case, and hopefully it will change - it would be marvellous to see another such fantastic plane flying again...

 

[WDWfan uk]

...... right now one of the Concordes is on a special barge on the Hudson River, being taken to a New York museum. Watch a TV news report some time today/tonight to see it - not sure I like seeing it strapped to a barge and permanently grounded.