Anyone flown on Concorde?

It is. I work with many people who never even saw Concorde in the flesh. Having discussed it over coffee with a few of them this morning, most of them appreciated it to. So its appeal seems to be global. Not bad for something so useless.

So you’re saying that it’s a nice piece of design for us to appreciate? Well, I don’t mind in principle that my tax is used to make art galleries and museums free to the public, but there’s a limit.

You seem to have been happy enough to debate other topics on here for quite some time. Why the change now?

You were the one complaining about thread derailment.

Seems to be one you’re not prepared to argue, however

Be my guest.

Hallelujah!

I had hoped that Russell’s teapot might give you a clue, but apparently not. This is basic stuff Zokes, and you’re failing.

You were the one complaining about thread derailment.

Nope, actually it was molly, claiming Maxtorque’s facts about Concorde weren’t relevant. I just quipped that his prius was a lot less relevant.

This is basic stuff

it is

and you’re failing.

And you are

> If flying on the thing is the only condition by which one can benefit from Concorde, sure. Can you prove that’s the case?

Prove a negative? No, I can’t.
Russells’ Teapot etc
Your whole line of reasoning has been that Concorde benefited a tiny number of people, citing its small scale of operations and low passenger throughput. We asked you to prove that only the people who flew on Concorde benefitted from Concorde – a key part of your reasoning – and you can’t. Meanwhile, we’ve offered proof that other people can benefit from Concorde who have not flown on it, which refutes your claim, and I have to break all of this down into tiny chunks so you can understand it, yet you think you’re the clever one?

I AM THE KING OF THE INTERNET, NOT YOU

Jamie, if you’re out there, photoshop me a crown!

Nope, actually it was molly, claiming Maxtorque’s facts about Concorde weren’t relevant. I just quipped that his prius was a lot less relevant.

So you weren’t complaining? It’s certainly how it came across.

And you are

Save it for the playground – you’d fit right in.

FFS! A really interesting thread on Concorde and people’s experiences of it and by page 7 a pointless personal bicker about guess what? Bloody cars again!

Can we get back to experiences of Concorde please and leave all your cars and mindless bickering out of it?

(Yes, I can’t rant like Stephen Fry).

Despite having no strong feelings about concorde (probably more “meh” than “yay”), I was enjoying reading this thread – to be fair, it opened my mind to what was good about concorde hearing others’ opinions, links etc. Any chance we could stop carrying on arguments from other threads onto this one?

EDIT: 🙂 ononeorange was obviously feeling the same.

I was lucky enough to take a trip on Concorde to new york in 2003 – fantastic experience! Amazing take-off and climb (30k ft in 8 mins as opposed to more like 30 in a conventional plane!)

Excellent service, and the concorde lounge at heathrow. I was sat in front of Simon le Bon and Anthony Keidis was a few seats further back!

You’re a bit old to be sitting on that chap’s knee.

concorde lounge at heathrow.

The CCR is still very pleasant!

Love the cockpit pic above!

Your whole line of reasoning has been that Concorde benefited a tiny number of people, citing its small scale of operations and low passenger throughput.

Incorrect. My line of reasoning is that the tiny number of direct beneficiaries on their own does not justify its enormous cost.

We asked you to prove that only the people who flew on Concorde benefitted from Concorde – a key part of your reasoning – and you can’t.

You are asking me to prove that everyone who hasn’t flown on it hasn’t benefitted from it. You are asking me to prove a negative. See Russell’s teapot.

Meanwhile, we’ve offered proof that other people can benefit from Concorde who have not flown on it, which refutes your claim, and I have to break all of this down into tiny chunks so you can understand it, yet you think you’re the clever one?

Where is this proof? All I’m seeing is unsupported assertions.

I AM THE KING OF THE INTERNET, NOT YOU

Not on this evidence, you’re not.

I think the Adelaide bagpipes are bored 😉

A mate of mine flew back from New York on Concorde, she said it was tiny and a bit uncomfortable, the food and service was amazing and from take off in New York she was back home in Wales in less than 6 hours. She said that was really bewildering.

Thinking about that is astonishing, no internet back then, mobiles were the size of bricks and you only had four channels on the telly yet you could cross the Atlantic in the blink of an eye.

I AM THE KING OF THE INTERNET, NOT YOU

Not on this evidence, you’re not.
You’re clearly arguing with a moron, now you look silly 😉

My line of reasoning is that the tiny number of direct beneficiaries on their own does not justify its enormous cost.

But we agree anyway! Now let’s go outside.

Love the cockpit pic above!

I should think that phrase required a bit of careful typing. 🙂

🙂

You’re clearly arguing with a moron, now you look silly

Ha!

Anyway, I shall leave zokes to one side as he has nothing to offer.

Do you know what, I do think Concorde is pretty cool, and I dare say I would’ve enjoyed a flight in one. I suppose I would put it in the same category as the Sydney Opera House – too late, too small, too expensive, not very good at what it was supposed to do, yet somehow captured the public’s imagination.

Last ever concorde landing – BAe Filton in November 2003

We all went onto the airfield to watch it land. Pilots taxied around for ages waving at us all with flags flying out of the windows…

If anyone’s interested in the history of its development, the whole sorry tale is in here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yXFGxmy0xL0C&lpg=PP1&dq=great%20planning%20disasters&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=great%20planning%20disasters&f=false

See Chapter 4. Estimated development cost of £2billion at 1980 prices!

I once heard Concorde while I was on a boat in the Celtic Sea. Double bang out of nowhere as it went supersonic.

I’ve also heard a Vulcan bomber at the Farnborough air show and was impressed that it set off all the car alarms in the IBM car park nearby. I used to hear Vulcan’s a lot as they flew from Manston near where I grew up, but hearing it again reminded me that planes like motorbikes used to be noisier.

Where are they all now ?

Estimated development cost of £2billion at 1980 prices!

So, about the same as the Falklands war, and it didn’t even cost hundreds of deaths. It was also a much more worthwhile use for the Olympus engine than successfully getting a solitary 1000 lb bomb to make a hole that was filled in a couple of days later.

Do you know what, I do think Concorde is pretty cool, and I dare say I would’ve enjoyed a flight in one.

See, wasn’t that difficult after all, was it?

I suppose I would put it in the same category as the Sydney Opera House – too late, too small, too expensive, not very good at what it was supposed to do, yet somehow captured the public’s imagination.

Though famously controversial at its inception, it’s one of the Australian tourism industry’s biggest draw cards, as evidenced by prices that in dollar per “unit of ransos’ definition of utility” terms would make your eyes water. And that’s just to wander round the bloody thing, never mind actually watch an opera*

I think the Adelaide bagpipes are bored

Nah, I was watching telly

Thinking about that is astonishing, no internet back then, mobiles were the size of bricks and you only had four channels on the telly yet you could cross the Atlantic in the blink of an eye.

Still, it was utterly useless 😉

*also an utterly useless thing

I think we should leave the past in the past, arguments that cannot be won, and any other petty bickering stemming from (valid) differences in opinion.

So, i’ll just put up these as a way of distraction:

Just LOOK at the thing! That right there is what made kids stop in the street and point (yes,like those “Pointless” Ferraris too!) and if that’s all it did, well, that’s enough for the young kid still in me!!

😉

I love the thing as a beautiful plane.. but the original statement was that we had regressed since it was created rather than entered the future. I do not thing this is true. The future is here, it is amazing, it is just not as fast.

Although, for most of us, it is still faster anyway even without Concorde.

Used to go over my flat in Reading just around 11am shortly after takeoff every weekday, and no matter how often you had seen it, when you heard the rumble, you always looked up with a smile on your face.

So, about the same as the Falklands war, and it didn’t even cost hundreds of deaths. It was also a much more worthwhile use for the Olympus engine than successfully getting a solitary 1000 lb bomb to make a hole that was filled in a couple of days later.

And? Are you assuming that I think the Falklands war was worthwhile? As I said earlier, if all you have is “other stuff costs money too” then you really don’t have much of an argument.

See, wasn’t that difficult after all, was it?

You never asked. Instead, you repeatedly claimed that which isn’t true.

Though famously controversial at its inception, it’s one of the Australian tourism industry’s biggest draw cards, as evidenced by prices that in dollar per “unit of ransos’ definition of utility” terms would make your eyes water. And that’s just to wander round the bloody thing, never mind actually watch an opera*

Actually, it’s pretty useless for Opera. There’s a chapter about it in the book I linked to earlier.

I note that you’re making a reasonable economic argument for its utility, something you have failed to do for Concorde.

Never flew on it but grew up near Prestwick airport where they trained a lot of the pilots so I saw it lots of times.

Never failed to brighten my day whenever I saw it.

Genuinely sad it isn’t flying any more.

Supersonic flight isn’t the barrier it use to be, but I suspect there is no money in it versus an A380 full of paying passengers – taking slightly longer to get there but paying a lot less than they would have to get there quicker.

“Supersonic flight isn’t the barrier it use to be”

No? Laws of physics changed recently?

I do think that A380 is an amazing aircraft too. As someone said above, it really just shouldn’t fly but does and very well too.

EDIT

Where are they all now ?

‘Alpha Charlie’ is kept at Manchester airport (sadly now under cover). They give tours around her, also she’s a wedding venue.

I got a day off school back in 2003 to see the last flight of Concord. Don’t think I’ll ever forget. Was very cool seeing it come in. The speech was great too.

Recently driving home at night, country lanes, at about 2 in the morning. I suddenly feel the car shake and make an awful noise. This got worse and worse so I stopped. Next thing a Chinook flies over me. Unbelievably low. Swear the fuselage touched the hedgerow. Scared the life out of me and then smiled.

“Supersonic flight isn’t the barrier it use to be”

No? Laws of physics changed recently?
The laws themselves? Silly question, you know the answer to that one.
Our Ability to accurately model these same physical laws for engineering and design? That increases every day. As does our technological and engineering capability to adhere to the physical laws in a beneficial way. Just the other day there was news that MIT had developed ionic thrusters with the capability to produce more thrust per unit of energy than any Trent1k. Take a look, it’s awesome.[/url]. Then there’s things like Skylon[/url]. And loads of other stuff that this thread isn’t the place for.

We are not in the future. The future is much more awesome. It just doesn’t look like Concorde.

The future is much more awesome. It just doesn’t look like Concorde.

The future doesn’t look like 1960s technology? Wow, who could of guessed?*

*Rhetorical question, no need to answer ‘anybody with an IQ above that of a carrot’.

Nearest i’ve been to Speedbird in the air was the landing of the fleet at Heathrow during the Grand Tour before decommissioning – stood at the end of the runway with lots of other folks, a sad day indeed. And the visit to Farnborough Air Show (95/6 ?) when i was at the takeoff end of the runway during ,er, takeoff… possibly the loudest thing i’ve ever experienced 😀 And the Brooklands walk/talk-through too – nice to get up close to one.

I have been on the second fastest passenger airliner tho. The VC10.

VC10 goes out of service too next month

You never asked. Instead, you repeatedly claimed that which isn’t true.

I’m not the one saying that something obviously useful to many, either as a means of transport, or something to be simply admired as a feat of engineering has absolutely no use.

Shove that in your chocolate teapot.

“Supersonic flight isn’t the barrier it use to be”
No? Laws of physics changed recently?

No but aerodynamics in the transonic regime are now well understood.

Materials science and engine design has also improved quite a bit.

The sound “barrier” isn’t the technical hurdle it used to be.

Designing a successor to Concorde would be fairly straightforward from an engineering point of view – not trivial by any means but nothing like the engineering challenge it was for the original.

Commercially though there is no demand so it won’t happen. Remember Concorde was as much a government vanity project as it was a serious airliner. With no state ownership of airlines a successor seems unlikely.

The sound “barrier” isn’t the technical hurdle it used to be.

Indeed, but it’s always going to require a shedload of extra fuel, which is expensive and in short supply these days.

Just in case anyone thinks i’m anti “widebody”:

Will you look at the wing on that! Practically sexual curves! 😉

British wings too, from Filton (home of Concorde…. 😉

The company i work (occasionally) for, did a lot of the build tooling for the wing construction, and the tolerances were epic. Something like +- 0.1mm over 40m span !

It has a massive forehead.