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Oct. 24, 2003
Concorde's last revenue service flight out of JFK.
(Ok, yes, yes, I know, I'm sad for even writing this!)
But hey, it was a great day, and new beginning to other endeavours in my life.
Phil, perhaps you could do us a favor and show us some of threads from that week?
And some pics of the day
http://www.airliners.net/search/phot...ange=photodate
I would, but NYCAviation didn't exist back then. Those were Aireola Aviation days if I recall correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by mirrodie
What a sad and cold day that was. :(
Sad day indeed. Such a beautiful piece of machinery yet not too practical to operate. Especially with the fuel prices we have been seeing.
Ok, today, let's celebrate the Concord product :lol: :D ..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...tMike/logo.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...08494040_1.jpg
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I still find it amazing that there is no Supersonic transport today. I have to wonder when we'll see one again if it will be in our lifetime. It just seems now that there is no need for a large commercial supersonic plane in the eyes of the industry. I almost wonder though if someone did develop a cost effective SST it would be a solution to a problem we don't know exists.
I think the major problem is fuel, those engines need a lot of it and after the novelty wore off there wasn't many that were willing to shell out the 7 or 8 thousand to fly it. Or enough to keep the thing cost effective. Hard to say if we will see SST agian but with these fuel prices I doubt it.
I think you have to remember they were using 1960 technology. Today composites and new wing designs can surely reduce the consumption of fuel. Although its all consumer driven, I don't see anyone rallying for a new SST so if no one wants it Boeing and Airbus aren't going to build it. Well maybe Airbus will, no one really wants the A380 either but its being built.
Very sad day in history - I still to this day have all the videos, sounds and pictures saved from that day and the departure of the last AF Concorde as well - historic moments...
You can think of Concorde like a '60s muscle car or old ocean liners like the United States - fast and high-tech for its day but inefficient to fuel and maintain in the 21st century. That said, it was a great experience to fly and I was lucky enough to be able to use miles to get a couple of crossings onboard. In an era of commoditized generic travel experiences it always felt like something special.
I believe BA was making money with it prior to the AF crash...the intent was to keep it another 5 years or so, but my understanding was the airlines were finding more age related tech issues than were anticipated at the point they had to be retired. ...as we know AF and Airbus forced BA's hand in that regard as well.
Of course if the sales had been more successful, the flaw in the design leading to the crash would've been discovered much earlier on....with such a small fleet the safety statistics given all those years in service were quite misleading... from just about ths safest commercial transport to potentially the unsafest overnight. :(
Tom
Since I can't share my pics from the last day since they where on my dad's old hard drive that failed two years ago, I will share these two shots:
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...K/DSC_0155.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...K/DSC_0125.jpg
Both shots were taken at Concorde Day 2003.
HAHA... you said aireola!! lol... haven't heard that word in a long time.
omg Gordon...you were so little! :)