"had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but there had been two prior non-fatal accidents and a rate of tyre damage some 30 times higher than subsonic airliners from 1995 to 2000. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining on the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres. The first flight with the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland,"
"prior to Concorde entering passenger service. There were some differences between this aircraft and the final production aircraft, such as a thinner fuselage skin. The aircraft was painted in British Airways livery throughout her testing period. The aircraft flew a total of 1282 hrs 9 mins; its final flight was on the 24th of December 1981. After the final flight, she was stored at Filton in a state of semi-airworthiness throughout 1982, where she could be returned to flight in two weeks if required. However this was never required and the aircraft was eventually bought by British Airways as part"
"of service. The final commercial Concorde flight was BA002 from New York JFK to London Heathrow on 24 October 2003. In 1981 the airline was instructed to prepare for privatisation by the Conservative Thatcher government. Sir John King, later Lord King, was appointed chairman, charged with bringing the airline back into profitability. While many other large airlines struggled, King was credited with transforming British Airways into one of the most profitable air carriers in the world. The flag carrier was privatised and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987. British Airways effected the takeover of the UK's"
"allow for ""luxury"" features of subsonic air travel such as moving space, reclining seats and overall comfort. In the words of ""The Guardian""'s Dave Hall, ""Concorde was an outdated notion of prestige that left sheer speed the only luxury of supersonic travel."" Air France made its final commercial Concorde landing in the United States in New York City from Paris on 30 May 2003. Air France's final Concorde flight took place on 27 June 2003 when F-BVFC retired to Toulouse. An auction of Concorde parts and memorabilia for Air France was held at Christie's in Paris on 15 November 2003;"
"Mike Bannister Mike Bannister (born 1949) is an airline pilot. He is most famous as the Chief Pilot of British Airways' Concorde fleet, a post which he held from 1995 until its withdrawal from service in 2003. He joined the British Airways crew of Concorde in 1977 where he became its youngest pilot. In his Concorde career Bannister accumulated around 9,600 Concorde flight hours almost 7,000 of which were Supersonic. Bannister captained the Concorde's retirement flight, from New York to London on 24 October 2003. Since the retirement of Concorde, Bannister has contributed significantly to the raising of over £350,000"
"Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a British-French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner that was operated from 1976 until 2003. It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04 ( at cruise altitude), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially; the other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which operated in passenger service from 1977 to 1978. Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later"
"turns into a Concorde. The Concorde was the title aircraft and star of the 1979 film ""The Concorde ... Airport '79"" in which it was flown primarily by Alain Delon and George Kennedy's characters. In the 1982 episode ""Time-Flight"" of the series ""Doctor Who"" a Concorde, its passengers, and crew are pulled through time to a prehistoric version of Earth. In the 2010 Charles Stross novel ""The Fuller Memorandum"", the occult arm of the British government maintains four Concordes for use as supersonic reconnaissance aircraft to monitor the Sleeper in the Pyramid. In the event of the Black Pharaoh awakening,"
"Windsor Castle, an honour reserved for state events and visiting dignitaries, as Concorde's last west-bound commercial flight departed London. British Airways retired its Concorde fleet on 24 October 2003. G-BOAG left New York to a fanfare similar to that given for Air France's F-BTSD, while two more made round trips, G-BOAF over the Bay of Biscay, carrying VIP guests including former Concorde pilots, and G-BOAE to Edinburgh. The three aircraft then circled over London, having received special permission to fly at low altitude, before landing in sequence at Heathrow. The captain of the New York to London flight was Mike"
"Supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 and it was last flown in 1999 by NASA. Concorde's last commercial flight was in October 2003, with a November 26, 2003 ferry flight being its last airborne operation. Following the permanent cessation of flying by Concorde, there are no remaining SSTs in commercial service. Several companies have each proposed"
"technology. It would have a high capacity utilization, being able to cross the Atlantic four or five times a day, up from a possible twice a day with the Concorde. Supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 and it was last flown in 1999 by NASA. Concorde's last commercial flight was in October 2003, with a November"
"aims to buy the Concorde currently on display at Le Bourget airport. A tentative date of 2019 has been put forward for the return to flight—50 years after its maiden journey. However, due to regulatory and technical hurdles, some of the aviation community are highly skeptical of the plan, including former Concorde captain and Club Concorde co-founder William ""Jock"" Lowe, who was quoted in June 2016 saying: On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France after departing from Paris-Charles de Gaulle en route to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing"
"to only 150p in September 2001, showing how heavily the company had been hit. With the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in 2000, 9/11, and escalating maintenance costs, the future of Concorde was limited, despite expensive safety modifications made after the Air France accident. It was announced on 10 April 2003 that in October that year BA would cease scheduled services with Concorde, due to depressed passenger numbers. The last commercial Concorde flight from New York to London was on 24 October 2003. The airline retained ownership of eight Concordes, which were placed on long-term loan to museums in"
"of the length of the arrangement, there was no profit to be shared. After Concorde was privatized, cost reduction measures (notably the closing of the metallurgical wing testing site which had done enough temperature cycles to validate the aircraft through to 2010) and ticket price raises led to substantial profits. Since Concorde stopped flying, it has been revealed that over the life of Concorde, the plane did prove profitable, at least to British Airways. Concorde operating costs over nearly 28 years of operation were approximately £1 billion, with revenues of £1.75 billion. The last regular passenger flights landed at London"
"the aircraft carrier. ""Bonaventure"" visited Portsmouth before sailing to Canada on 22 October 1969. As the Canadian military sought to cut spending, ""Bonaventure"" was deemed surplus and the last night deck landing took place on 28 October, followed by a visit to Boston, Massachusetts before the last deck landing aboard ""Bonaventure"" took place on 12 December 1969. A few last missions were left for ""Bonaventure"". On 9 January 1970, Captain H. W. Vondette became the final commanding officer of ""Bonaventure"". In January 1970, the aircraft carrier (minus her aircraft) was sent to carry troops of the Royal 22nd Regiment to"
"first woman to fly Concorde as a test pilot. By the time Concorde was withdrawn from service in October 2003, Harmer had served 10 years as a pilot flying regular scheduled services. In 2001, an Air France pilot, Béatrice Vialle, had become the second of only two women to fly Concorde on regular routes by making some 35 trips between Paris and New York before the service was withdrawn. After Concorde, Harmer converted to the Boeing 777 until taking voluntary redundancy in 2009. Harmer's interests were not all in the air as she was a qualified commercial yachtmaster, often taking"
"in air travel following the September 11 attacks, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was technologically advanced when introduced in the 1970s, 30 years later, its analogue cockpit was outdated. There had been little commercial pressure to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same era such as the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in the British Airways fleet that had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated the role. On 11 April 2003, Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson announced that the"
"Concorde mechanically (without using electricity and any control from the cockpit), the test was deemed a success and helped prove it was possible to activate the nose that hasn't been used for many years. On the 23rd of July 2016, G-BBDG had her nose lowered by Jodie Kidd independently for the first time since her retirement, it was watched by a huge crowd including former captains and crew of the aircraft. G-BBDG G-BBDG (manufacturer's serial number 202, known as Delta Golf) was the British development Concorde built for evaluation testing. Along with the French Concorde F-WTSB, the aircraft was used"
"Cape Cod (aircraft) The Cape Cod (Registration: NR761W) was a single engine six-seat utility aircraft that was flown by Russell Boardman and John Polando from New York City to Istanbul in 1931. The plane was purchased as a Bellanca CH-300, and was originally named ""The American Legion"". Following a fire which destroyed the aircraft in October 1930, the aircraft was sent back to Bellanca for a repair cost of $ (equivalent to $ in today's dollars). After it was repaired, it was renamed ""Cape Cod"", after the peninsula in Massachusetts where John Polando and Russell Boardman trained for their overseas"
"decommissioning, advice on where to go to see Concorde at rest, and information on the Paris crash of 2000. He released a smaller book simply known as ""Concorde"" in February 2017. He is descended from the Orlebars of Hinwick, Bedfordshire, and is survived by his wife, two grown-up children and three grandchildren. Christopher Orlebar Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar (4 February 1945 - 24 February 2018) was a former British Concorde pilot with British Airways. He was well known as a lecturer, writer, and frequent contributor to TV aviation documentaries on aviation subjects generally, and on the Concorde in particular. Orlebar,"
"Museo del Concorde The Museo del Concorde is a museum in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México which is dedicated to, and houses parts of, the supersonic airliner Concorde. Concorde was a joint venture between Great Britain's British Airways and France's Air France and was retired in 2003. In 2004, many original components used for maintenance and operation of the Concorde were acquired through the Dovebid agency and transported by ABELS. All components available in El Museo del Concorde weigh more than 10 tonnes. They were brought from Birmingham, England to Houston, Texas, by water. It took 30 days. From Houston to"
"Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon ""Gordo"" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space program of the United States. Cooper piloted the longest and final Mercury spaceflight in 1963. He was the first American to sleep in space during that 34-hour mission and was the last American to be launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission. In 1965, Cooper flew as Command Pilot of Gemini 5. Cooper was born on March"
"for much longer. On 24 October 2003 he was present on one of the three Concordes that made their final commercial flights to Heathrow Airport. Cochrane acknowledged that flying Concorde was the highlight of his career and claimed that involvement in the project was 'perhaps second only to the US Apollo Program'. John Cochrane (pilot) John Cochrane (26 July 1930 – 4 November 2006) was a British test pilot for the Anglo-French supersonic airliner, Concorde. John Cochrane was born in Ayr and educated at Strathallan School, Perthshire. Cochrane initially started an engineering degree before deciding to leave and join the"
"with rooftop portholes for use on the 1973 Solar Eclipse mission and equipped with observation instruments. It performed the longest observation of a solar eclipse to date, about 74 minutes. Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London–Bahrain and Paris–Rio de Janeiro (via Dakar) routes, with BA flights using the ""Speedbird Concorde"" call sign to notify air traffic control of the aircraft's unique abilities and restrictions, but the French using their normal call signs. The Paris-Caracas route (via Azores) began on 10 April. The US Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen"
"to the Middle East in 1984 and to the United States in 1991. Pope John Paul II flew on Concorde in May 1989. Concorde sometimes made special flights for demonstrations, air shows (such as the Farnborough, Paris-LeBourget, Oshkosh AirVenture and MAKS air shows) as well as parades and celebrations (for example, of Zürich airport's anniversary in 1998). The aircraft were also used for private charters (including by the President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko on multiple occasions), for advertising companies (including for the firm OKI), for Olympic torch relays (1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville) and for observing solar eclipses, including"
"Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made. The Concorde aircraft used in the film first flew on January 31, 1975, and was registered as F-WTSC to the Aérospatiale aircraft company. It would be re-registered by Aérospatiale as F-BTSC and leased to Air France in 1976. In 1989, this Concorde carried Pope John Paul II. On July 25, 2000, F-BTSC, as Air France Flight 4590, crashed in the small French town of Gonesse, killing all 109 passengers and crew on board, as well as four on the ground. At the time of the accident, F-BTSC had logged 11,989 hours and 4,873 cycles. The"
"The Concorde ... Airport '79 The Concorde ... Airport '79 is a 1979 American air disaster film (in the UK, it was released a year later as Airport '80: The Concorde) and the fourth and final installment of the ""Airport"" franchise. Poorly reviewed by critics, the film also flopped at the box office. Produced on a then high budget of $14 million, it earned a little over $13 million, thus ending the enormous financial success of the ""Airport"" films. The film was directed by David Lowell Rich. The ensemble cast includes George Kennedy, who appeared in all four films from"
"Jones as part of his work for the newspaper, and are preserved in the collection of the Boston Public Library. Cape Cod (aircraft) The Cape Cod (Registration: NR761W) was a single engine six-seat utility aircraft that was flown by Russell Boardman and John Polando from New York City to Istanbul in 1931. The plane was purchased as a Bellanca CH-300, and was originally named ""The American Legion"". Following a fire which destroyed the aircraft in October 1930, the aircraft was sent back to Bellanca for a repair cost of $ (equivalent to $ in today's dollars). After it was repaired,"
"USAir Flight 1016 USAir Flight 1016 was a regularly scheduled flight between Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. On July 2, 1994, the flight encountered heavy thunderstorms and microburst-induced windshear while attempting to land, and crashed into heavy trees and a private residence near the airport. The crash and ensuing fire killed 37 people and seriously injured 16 others. On Saturday, July 2, 1994, the plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 registered ""N954VJ"", departed Columbia Metropolitan Airport at 18:15 EDT for the 35-minute flight to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport with Captain Mike Greenlee (38), First Officer Phil Hayes (41), three flight"
"Christopher Orlebar Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar (4 February 1945 - 24 February 2018) was a former British Concorde pilot with British Airways. He was well known as a lecturer, writer, and frequent contributor to TV aviation documentaries on aviation subjects generally, and on the Concorde in particular. Orlebar, the son of Brigadier John Orlebar, was educated at Twyford School, Rugby School and Southampton University. He learned to fly in 1965 with the Southampton University Air Squadron (RAF), and then finished his training in civil aviation at the College of Air Training at Hamble. Orlebar joined BOAC (later British Airways) in"
"have been supersonic passenger aircraft, namely Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. Both these passenger aircraft and some modern fighters are also capable of supercruise, a condition of sustained supersonic flight without the use of an afterburner. Due to its ability to supercruise for several hours and the relatively high frequency of flight over several decades, Concorde spent more time flying supersonically than all other aircraft combined by a considerable margin. Since Concorde's final retirement flight on November 26, 2003, there are no supersonic passenger aircraft left in service. Some large bombers, such as the Tupolev Tu-160 and Rockwell B-1 Lancer"
"led to rumours that they could be prepared for future flights for special occasions. French Concorde F-BVFB is at the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim at Sinsheim, Germany, after its last flight from Paris to Baden-Baden, followed by a spectacular transport to Sinsheim via barge and road. The museum also has a Tupolev Tu-144 on display – this is the only place where both supersonic airliners can be seen together. In 1989, Air France signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. upon the aircraft's retirement. On 12 June"
"responsibility for Concorde's premature retirement, in CY2003. Jean-Cyril Spinetta Jean-Cyril Spinetta (born 4 October 1943) is a French businessman currently chairman of the airline holding company Air France-KLM Group and chairman of the nuclear company AREVA. Spinetta was born in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the son of Corsican and Italian parents. He attended the Lycée Hoche in Versailles; then the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris. He was also graduated from Sciences Po (""Institute for Politics Studies""), entering after his degree at the École Nationale d'Administration (""National School of Administration"") in 1972. After several jobs in different"
"and crew, and four employees of the Hotelissimo hotel, were killed in the crash. Most of the passengers were German tourists en route to New York for a cruise. The cockpit crew consisted of pilot Captain Christian Marty, 54, First Officer Jean Marcot, 50, and Flight Engineer Gilles Jardinaud, 58. Until the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in 2000, Concorde had been considered among the world's safest planes. The crash of the Concorde contributed to the end of the aircraft's career. A few days after the crash, all Concordes were grounded, pending an investigation into the cause of the"