Bye Bye Concorde

British Airways just announced the demise of their Concorde flights. Air France is considering doing the same.

I never had the luxury of taking the Concorde but I knew it was fast and expensive.

Any CPF'er have any experience with these long established supersonic flights?

Marty

Not I, but my mum has.

On one of her trips to the UK she took the QE2 NYC-London and after playing tourist for a couple of weeks came back on the Concorde just to say she's done both.

She liked the QE2 a LOT better ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Flown on it last year, on a Contiki Tours package to Europe. It's FAST. About 4 hours to get from New York to London. But be ready to pay a hefty price for it. Contiki wouldn't let us do it on the package, so we had to buy the tickets ourselves. IIRC, it was $750-$800 each person.

This is bad for the French isn't it?

Raven

Bad for both the French and British... The Concord flights have been diminished since the 2000 crash...

I've been on board a few times over the years, seen it fly and boom overhead a few times.

It's a sad day.

What next?! The Harrier?!

Al /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif

I hear that other supersonic planes are on the drawing board so do not fret.

Marty, your Avitar image is nice, it's also huge (For an Avitar) at about 60k. You might consider resizing it in Photoshop /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif thanks!

Well, thats something I can take off my "do this before you're too old to remember" list...

I think they're still carrying the service for some more months, I think until something like September or October. Not too precisely sure, but I don't think they're killing the service instantly. So you might still get a chance...

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FalconFX said:
IIRC, it was $750-$800 each person.

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You sure you didn't miss a zero there? Otherwise consider that a bargain.

A regular oneway ticket purchased today will cost around $5,000 per person.

And yes, that would buy a lot of flashlights /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Next is the space shuttle, probably.

I think the harrier will be around for quite a while. Both the British and the US Marines use it, and it has an excellent record - Faulkland Islands, and both Gulf wars.

What the f$@(!... Woops. Ahh.. Been up since 6am yesterday. Blasted C++... I need some /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif ...

Yep, it's $7500-$8000... Round trip cost.

I've seen it demonstrated at the EAA's Oshkosh Convention. Truly a beautiful machine to behold in person, especially in flight. A shame to see it go /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif

But hey - money talks..... at $8,000 a pop, not many folks around that can scream THAT loud!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Bob

I got some more details this morning. Air France will cease flights EOM May and the Brits will stop EOM October.

Local news was joking that we'll see the planes on eBay /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

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What next?! The Harrier?!

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I just saw a PBS special a couple months ago. Lockheed Martin and Boeing had a big competition to build the next generation Jumpjet. Lockheed won with a twin lift design - redirecting the rear exhaust down and engaging a forward vertical turbofan that sucks air from above the plane and blasts it downward. Mach 1 capable and vertical take off and landing. The're supposed to be providing the aircraft for military around the world for the next 20 years as the Harrier Jumpjet is phased out.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/xplanes/

Quickbeam

I saw the same program. Very interesting.

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Quickbeam said:
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What next?! The Harrier?!

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I just saw a PBS special a couple months ago. Lockheed Martin and Boeing had a big competition to build the next generation Jumpjet. Lockheed won with a twin lift design - redirecting the rear exhaust down and engaging a forward vertical turbofan that sucks air from above the plane and blasts it downward. Mach 1 capable and vertical take off and landing. The're supposed to be providing the aircraft for military around the world for the next 20 years as the Harrier Jumpjet is phased out.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/xplanes/

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The JSF or joint Strike Fighter come in both a STOVL version (X-35B USMC and RN and RAF) and a regular non-STOVL model (X-35A USAF). Pretty exciting, but for fighter jocks, there's no substitute for the F-22 (or F/A-22 as it's now being billed). Now, I'd gladly pay Concorde prices for a ride on that aircraft. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I've seen the AV-8B Harrier (USMC)demonstrated on a couple of occasions. It's loud and impressive, but as far as a practical CAS aircraft, when there are "regular" aircraft available, it's not that great -- low payload and steep training curve, but it does have "viffing". If all you have are helicopter carriers or carriers without catapults, however, -- USMC and RN -- then it's the only game in town. Did a nice job in the Falklands, but I think a lot of that is down to the quality of the British pilots.

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Moat5606 said:
But hey - money talks..... at $8,000 a pop, not many folks around that can scream THAT loud!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Bob

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I heard on this morning's news that a round-trip from NYC to Paris cost $11,000.00 on the Concorde!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
Guess I'm not gonna get to fly on that thing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

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ygbsm said:
I've seen the AV-8B Harrier (USMC)demonstrated on a couple of occasions. It's loud and impressive, but as far as a practical CAS aircraft, when there are "regular" aircraft available, it's not that great -- low payload and steep training curve, but it does have "viffing". If all you have are helicopter carriers or carriers without catapults, however, -- USMC and RN -- then it's the only game in town. Did a nice job in the Falklands, but I think a lot of that is down to the quality of the British pilots.

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I was holding off posting until reading the above. Oh how correct you are. It's neat, it's cool, and looks great in an airshow but it is not even close to the ideal platform for the USMC. I have worked with the Harriers many, many times and I can't or won't give my specific impressions but I do love the Corps and I will say they would be better served buying the F-18 E/F or taking all the Air Force's A-10's and getting rid of the Harrier.

Craig, it depends on when you want to jump on the flight, as well as where you're going (John F Kennedy [NY] to Heathrow [London] is cheaper than to Paris)... I think British Airways still has the Concord prices listed on their site:
www.britishairways.com ... Click on the itinerary and you've got a selection of flights (executive, flexible, coach, ect.), including the Concord available.