A FLIGHT ON THE CONCORDE, by Richard Terrill, (a member of my flying club, not a flight I took!)
The Concorde flight was, well, pretty amazing. I met my friend Jon at the
British Airways lounge at JFK at 0745 on a Monday morning. They have a
dedicated lounge for the Concorde, and the outstanding service starts at
check-in. They take your coat and load it up on the plane for you, and you
may have a full breakfast if you wish. Then, about 10 minutes before takeoff,
you board at leisure, no rush since there are only 100 passengers, and they
are all very experienced travelers.
The plane itself is rather small inside, with 2 and 2 seating. It is about
the same size as an MD80 or DC9, a bit smaller than a 737 in diameter. The
seats are not standard business or first-class seats; they are fairly Spartan
(no videos or cushy lumbar support) but you are only on it for about 4 hours,
so it is not a big deal. They are remarkably comfortable and firm, with a lot
of support for the trip. The most noticeable thing about the plane on first
getting in are the small windows. They are perhaps 1/4 the size of a normal
plane's window, so the view is very restricted. I had the window and Jon the
aisle, but the seats behind us were free, so we spaced out and took over two
seats each (the armrest stows into the chairs to form a mini bench.
The plane requires a crew of three, and we had four, including a pilot on his
final checkride before he was signed off to fly as a Captain. The first
officer (FO) gave us a briefing about the safety features and wotnot, and
explained the takeoff procedure. We had about 75 people on the plane, and I
am sure that Jon and I were the only two rookies on board. Most of these
people were going shopping in London for the day, or to work.
Anyhow, the FO gave us the scoop on flying, "for those of you unfamiliar with
the Concorde"... Basically you take off on a south-north runway heading north
over Jamaica Bay. The takeoff is with full afterburners, and I estimate that
the liftoff speed is around 250mph. Immediately after getting airborne they
put it into a sharp left bank to avoid the microphones that are there to
monitor the noise. Once up to 1000 feet or so they cut back to idle and coast
out into the bay, then they hit full afterburners again to get as high as
possible, I estimate about 8000 feet, and then throttle back again and coast
over some very ritzy beach property west of the airport. Then about 10-15
miles offshore they ramp up again and parallel the coastline out about 15
miles. The entire takeoff is very rough compared to other planes. You bounce
around on the ground, and then the big delta wings really get buffeted during
the takeoff maneuvering. They explain that "the weather forecast, as it
always is in the stratosphere, is for a smooth flight".
After about 15 minutes they get cleared to exceed the sound barrier, and they
just do it. You can't tell it is happening; it just occurs and they announce
it. A few minutes later they get ready to boost up through 1000 mph, and they
explain that as they kick in the afterburners we will feel two nudges in the
back as they come on. Sure enough, a distinctive kick in the seat of the
pants pushes you through 1000 mph. And that's about it. The only indication
of your height is that you can see the distinctive curvature of the earth,
and the sky is much darker. The only indication of your speed is that you are
passing other aircraft on their way to Europe. Quickly. The plane basically
is set to climb as it burns off fuel, and there are no altitude limits since
above 41,000' there are no other planes. We made it up to 58,000 feet, and a
maximum over-the-ground speed of 1348mph. The time to London was 3 hours and
30 minutes. We had to tack on 15 minutes of holding, but it definitely was
the way to fly.
The landing is probably the most dramatic. You come in at a remarkably high
angle of attack, almost as if you are taking off. This is necessary because
the delta wings are very inefficient at sea level. Plus you are landing at
200 mph, so you have to get down now, and stop the plane. Massive carbon
fibre brakes bring you to a definitive "we are stopping now" stop. As
in "take your glasses off" if you don't expect it. Wow. Just wow.
As for Service, British Airways defines it. Jon had never flown with them
before, and he is now a believer. They just do it right, coming from a long
tradition. The food is superb, cooked on board, and served on fine china.
Your choice of just about anything. It usually includes decadent stuff that I
do like (cheeses) and some that I do not (lobster, caviar) but I manage. They
also have a dedicated "Concorde Cellar" that they pick wines out of for the
particular trip. I think that the Captain actually chooses and they load it
up for that flight. It's all fine French wine, so we were quite Continental
for the trip over.
As for the sensation, it is just like flying. The fact that you get to Europe
without losing a night is a bit odd, but we balanced that by getting onto a
connecting flight that got into Munich at 11PM. So it balanced out, but no
jet lag. Just this sense that you just participated in an amazing process. On
a plane that was designed over 30 years ago. And that goes so fast that the
air friction heats up the skin so that they never have any corrosion or water
damage. Big aviation smile to say the least.