Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00017799
Aircraft
Flight Experience
What was it like to fly on the Concorde for those of you who have?
Peter Burgess
On Friday 25th July 2003 one of my lifetime’s dreams came true when I flew to New York on Concorde.
I have always been a massive Concorde fan since watching her maiden flight in 1969 as a 13 year old, and had it in my mind that I would fly on her one day, though never really thinking I would. However the aircraft was due to be retired later in the year, so it was ‘now or never'.
I had three months of excited anticipation after booking my ticket and on the day everything was perfect. I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 4 with lots of time to spare (didn’t want to miss the departure), checked in for British Airways Flight 001 and then relaxed in the Concorde Lounge, being well looked after. You could tell who were the business travellers and who were the people like me with their cameras and camcorders going the whole time (no smartphones then of course).
I think I was actually the first person who happened to be looking up when Concorde taxied round the corner and into sight to come towards the special airbridge they have for her. It was a wonderful moment.
The next was when we were called for boarding. At that moment I was truly moved.
I had booked Seat 17D, a window seat halfway down the wing, and was relieved that my fellow passenger in the aisle seat was an American businessman who had obviously travelled on Concorde numerous times before and spent the entire trip working. I was glad I hadn’t got a ‘talker’ because I wanted to enjoy the whole thing with just me and Concorde.
The flight crew and cabin crew were superb and obviously out of the British Airways top drawer. Concorde takes off (took off, I now have to say) at 250 mph which is much faster than a normal airliner. We progressed at ordinary aircraft speed towards Bristol, over South Wales and Southern Ireland, then when we were over the Atlantic we went supersonic. There were display panels showing all the flight information and we rose to 58,500 feet (twice the height of a conventional aircraft), reached the speed of sound quite quickly, then accelerated to full throttle, twice the speed of sound. We were travelling at 1,320 mph – faster than a speeding bullet. It was just fantastic.
And while this was going on, we were being served dinner from the specially printed menu of the day, a superb choice of food and wine (I would have been happy with anything) (and filmed it all).
Suddenly we were half way across the Atlantic and it was time to start slowing down! Then I was looking out of the window and seeing America for the first time. The flight took 3 hours 24 minutes (26 minutes ahead of schedule) and, because of the time difference, we arrived 1 hour 31 minutes before we left.
So there I was in New York City. I had booked a hotel in central Manhattan and took a cab from JFK to there. I will never forget my first sight of the NYC skyline as the sun was starting to go down behind it. It was magnificent, especially when I saw the Empire State Building.
I didn’t really know much about New York before I arrived, it just happened to be the place where Concorde landed, but I absolutely loved it. I did an open-top bus tour of part of the city the next day (not enough time to do all) and the native New Yorker tour guide was so informative and amusing, plus it was obvious how much he loved his city.
On the Sunday I went to the local subway station to travel to the Empire State Building. I was looking at the ticket machine to try to work out what to do when a man who saw me looking came over and was just so helpful at telling me what I needed to do. That was very much the flavour of the whole place, friendly and outgoing. I felt totally safe the whole time.
Then next morning it was Time to Go Home. I had booked a car to take me to the airport and I was waiting for it to arrive when the porter got hold of my bags and loaded them into one of those huge stretch limos. I thought, “Hey, what are you doing putting my bags in there?” Then he said, “Your car, Sir”. It had room for seven people and I was knocked out – all this just for me! That was just such a great finale.
Had a McDonald’s at JFK before boarding the flight home. Thought I had better do that while I was in America. Then a Boeing 747 back to Heathrow. Sub-sonic flight ……
I watched on TV the last commercial flight landings of Concorde at Heathrow in October. There, right at the very end, was the vision of what the future should have been: three Concordes stacked for landing. There should have been hundreds of them at airports all over the world. This was the first experience in my lifetime of technology going backwards.
Then the very final landing ever, at Filton, Bristol, in November. That was particularly poignant for me because it was ‘my’ aircraft, G-BOAF, that I went on. I am glad to say I cried my eyes out.
If I hadn’t flown Concorde when I had the chance I would have regretted it forever. The memories of that wonderful day are incredibly vivid and complete.
Sorry to have gone on! But it was very important to me.
Farewell Concorde, and thank you.