Concorde – the aviation icon, that is.

Health warning. If aircraft and flying don’t give you a buzz then give this post a miss!

There’s a Forum in the UK that is subscribed to mainly by private pilots but also has a decent share of members from all walks of aviation including pro pilots and Air Traffic Controllers. Love of iconic events in flying is often talked about.

Recently there has been a thread about the last flights of the Concorde including links to radio calls between aircraft and London Controllers.

So here is a collection of memorabilia.

First a couple of the great pics around on the web.

and a fabulous pic of a Concorde in landing configuration:

and for the truly dedicated some other points of reference.

Good web site.

This is a recording of the radio traffic between 3 Concordes and London Control (ATC) setting up the very last arrival into London Heathrow, October 29th 2003.

And a recording of the last departure from Heathrow of a Concorde. A contributor on the forum who was in a position to know regarding this departure.

Ah! Les Brodie! His last BA flight, too.

“Cleared take off 27R, Concorde AF”
(Then inside)
“Is everybody ready? 3-2-1 NOW!”

Then the biggest push in the back you’ll ever feel this side of a rocket launch. Zero to 250mph in 30 seconds – or about 18 seconds at light weight!

UPDATE 18/07/09 : A video of the last Concorde departure from London Heathrow, filmed by a person standing just off the runway.

Another piece of nostalgia from a Controller:

I was lucky enough to provide ATC to various Concordes over the years at various Aerodromes, Approach and Area units. Never managed a fam flight, but had a few visits to the flight deck

Lots and lots of memories, all good, but I don’t suppose I shall ever say

“Cleared accelerate and climb FL 600” (That’s 60,000 ft above sea level!)

to a civil airliner ever again