The Concorde….
What a mythic plane, what a dream come true to be part of the 2.5 million happy few who have been given the chance to fly on the Concorde…..
Flight BA 272, August 23rd 2003, I’m in the British Airways lounge at Grantley Adams International airport, Barbados. In a few weeks there will be no more Concorde flying. I’m waiting, just about crazy, as i’m about to board when the VIP services of the Lounge called me. My heart literally stopped beating as i imagined the worse.
On the contrary, they walk me to the plane, alone. As I walk on my way to that mythic bird, escorted like a VIP, I can see at the bottom of the stairs, all the crew waiting form me. First person on board and private visit of the plane, I couldn’t believe it. Seat 8c, first cabin. Did you know that when you fly the concord the best is to be seated in the first cabin, a must. Seated in the first cabin allows you to see, through the window of the size of my hand, the curvature of the Earth!! Flying at about 60,000 feet (11 miles) between stratosphere and Ionosphere, close to space…In the second cabin you can see just the wings. Next time may be :).
The Concorde seated about 100 passengers. 40 in the first cabin and 60 in the second, 2 pilot, one flight engineer and 6 crew members. Some Concorde seated less as tank were bigger. Less than 3.5 hours to NY a bit more from Barbados to London instead of the 8 hours+ with another plane. Cruising speed at Mach 2.02 (1,350 mph/2,172 km/h) twice the speed of sound!! At that speed the heat of the airframe the Concorde could stretch from 6 to 10 inches, enough to increase your leg room and be more comfortable.
When It takes off at about 400km/h (250 mph) I was “smashed” to my seat, then just before breaking the sound barrier, the pilot let us know about the preparation and warn us about a kind of a second take off.
Listening to classical music, looking at the speed Mach 2.00 on the front panel and the curvature of the Earth make your diner experience somewhat different…..In addition the dishes served were worth a 3 stars Michelin, caviar, lobster, salmon with Chablis 1er Cru, Filet Mignon with Pomerol 1er Cru, excellent cheese plate…. I can’t remember the dessert. I read somewhere that at the beginning in some flights they were also offering some Cuban cigars….other times…
Even landing at 300km/h (187mph) I missed my connection and had to sleep over at the Hilton Heathrow airport. Seated at the bar of the hotel, with a nice glass of wine I called all my friends to share that amazing experience. On the following day I was seated with my colleagues who traveled 8 hours in our connecting flight to Paris, funny now ? Speed might be not everything 🙂
