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My brother used to work for BA ticketing (DBA) and he told me that Concorde was profitable towards the end of its life and always full. I think he said that it

My brother used to work for BA ticketing (DBA) and he told me that Concorde was profitable towards the end of its life and always full. I think he said that it was the charter flights that brought it the money.

dingaling 10y ago
One of the regular charters in the 1970s / 80s was by the Royal Air Force, hiring Concorde to perform supersonic runs off the east coast of Britain for radar calibration and interception trials. My uncle was involved from the radar side and recounts how amusing it was to watch the Lightning fighters try to scramble to perform a mock interception; they could peak at Mach > 2.2 but that wasn't anywhere near sufficient. They could only manage it if held airborne with a tanker ahead of the flight path and given lots of warning. Later the Lightnings were 'replaced' by the Tornado F3, which was so anemic in performance that they didn't even try for a firing solution. They used to have to engage partial reheat to keep-up with the turboprop Soviet 'Bears'!
djaychela 10y ago
They ran them from Bournemouth Airport where I live, and they were always popular. I went down to watch it take off once, and the noise and jet blast was incredible - MUCH more than any other plane I've seen take off from there, like being blown by a hairdryer all over. My most lasting memory of it, though was the pollution - the air was brown behind it when it initially thrusted up, and the smell was really intense. A great machine, but not a friend of the environment, sadly!
- Graham24 10y ago
  Blimey, I never thought I'd find someone on Hacker news that lives in the same town as me. Up the Cherries.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  They struggled to get them in and out of regional airports. Can't remember runway minima etc, but I remember watching one leave Leeds-Bradford that also ran some charters near end of life. Right to the end of the runway, then full short takeoff tactics. Spin up engines and fire reheat on the brakes, then release. Noise and smoke as you'd expect - engines were in the power and on reheat before it even moves. One thing afterburners can never be is environmental. Still managed to look like it used most of the runway before unsticking!
  - justin_hancock 10y ago
    Bournemouth has a long runway, legacy of its WWII roots. It was chartered for £60,000 for some 20-minute subsonic flights. There were also some day trips to Cairo from Bournemouth.
    - anexprogrammer 10y ago
      They're very similar to each other. Both count as short to Concorde, rotate at 250mph+ and wings that don't generate that much lift.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  The noise on takeoff was insane. In another aircraft on the taxiway (sadly the closest I every got) at Heathrow you could barely hear your own engines, or even those of nearby 747s taking off, but when Concorde fired up the reheat and went down the runway, you knew all about it! Lovely to watch, and hear. I also regret not getting a flight on it, the cheapest ex-Paris tickets were actually closer to business class prices than first, so it wasn't as expensive people believe at all.

dingaling 10y ago

One of the regular charters in the 1970s / 80s was by the Royal Air Force, hiring Concorde to perform supersonic runs off the east coast of Britain for radar calibration and interception trials. My uncle was involved from the radar side and recounts how amusing it was to watch the Lightning fighters try to scramble to perform a mock interception; they could peak at Mach > 2.2 but that wasn't anywhere near sufficient. They could only manage it if held airborne with a tanker ahead of the flight path and given lots of warning. Later the Lightnings were 'replaced' by the Tornado F3, which was so anemic in performance that they didn't even try for a firing solution. They used to have to engage partial reheat to keep-up with the turboprop Soviet 'Bears'!

djaychela 10y ago

They ran them from Bournemouth Airport where I live, and they were always popular. I went down to watch it take off once, and the noise and jet blast was incredible - MUCH more than any other plane I've seen take off from there, like being blown by a hairdryer all over. My most lasting memory of it, though was the pollution - the air was brown behind it when it initially thrusted up, and the smell was really intense. A great machine, but not a friend of the environment, sadly!

Graham24 10y ago
Blimey, I never thought I'd find someone on Hacker news that lives in the same town as me. Up the Cherries.
anexprogrammer 10y ago
They struggled to get them in and out of regional airports. Can't remember runway minima etc, but I remember watching one leave Leeds-Bradford that also ran some charters near end of life. Right to the end of the runway, then full short takeoff tactics. Spin up engines and fire reheat on the brakes, then release. Noise and smoke as you'd expect - engines were in the power and on reheat before it even moves. One thing afterburners can never be is environmental. Still managed to look like it used most of the runway before unsticking!
- justin_hancock 10y ago
  Bournemouth has a long runway, legacy of its WWII roots. It was chartered for £60,000 for some 20-minute subsonic flights. There were also some day trips to Cairo from Bournemouth.
  - anexprogrammer 10y ago
    They're very similar to each other. Both count as short to Concorde, rotate at 250mph+ and wings that don't generate that much lift.
grkvlt 10y ago
The noise on takeoff was insane. In another aircraft on the taxiway (sadly the closest I every got) at Heathrow you could barely hear your own engines, or even those of nearby 747s taking off, but when Concorde fired up the reheat and went down the runway, you knew all about it! Lovely to watch, and hear. I also regret not getting a flight on it, the cheapest ex-Paris tickets were actually closer to business class prices than first, so it wasn't as expensive people believe at all.