I know it's not trains, but...

[jchnhtfd]

we're all a pretty sympathetic lot...

Does anybody but me mind that the Concorde made her last flight today?

We all need to dream a little, and we all need the far side of the hill. She was all that, and more, and now -- with some of the great trains -- is only a legend.

Just me, thinking.

Jamie

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with you 100%. An aircraft that has been in service over 30yrs. with only 1crash, does not deserve to be taken out of service. [:(!] I absolutely can't stand it when the almighty dollar gets in the way!!!!!!! [B)][:0] GOOD BYE CONCORDE, WE'LL MISS YOU. [B)][V][:(]

[edblysard]

No Jamie,
Dont mind at all.
But some one will draw a comparison between super sonic air travel, and High Speed Rail, and point out that the Concords never really made money for its inventors or investors.
But its two different things, and the price on the Concords was above all but the most wealthy or well to do, and of course certain type of businesses.
Plus too much capacity, too little demand.
The fare recovery still didnt cover the cost of opperations and facilities, even with its subsidies from England and France.
High Speed rail wont be like that.
Look at the Chunnel, that thing is packed every train, all the time.

But yeah, its kinda sad, we can fly passengers like than, but it ended today, and most likley wont ever be back in our lifetime.
Too bad, its still a classy looking aircraft, even after 25 years.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[ironhorseman]

That's funny you should mention the Concorde on a trains forum. There's a video called Pennsylvania Short Lines which begins with an opening shot of a Concorde in flght and then landing. The dialouge is short so I'll transcibe it here.

"The Concorde. An aeordynamic wonder. Able to fly at twice the speed of sound. A marvel of scientific technical genius. Only 12 exist in the whole world. The fastest way to travel in the world. It's hard to believe but the steam era provided the beginings of technology back when your great-great-grandfather would ride the railroads. Railroads powered by steam."

The rest of the video is about steam tourist lines in Penn. I guess the point they were making is the extreme contrast in two forms of transportation technology. The video was made around 1980-something, 1987 I think.

The way I see it the Concorde is like the streamlined steam engines. Beautiful, sleek, fast, but a pain and expensive to maintain. Now the most glamorus trains are all but gone from memory and museums and now, what's probably the most famous plane in the world, the Concorde, has been retired. They say it won't fly again, but just wait, it'll be up in the air again giving excursion rides. But for now it'll have to join the ranks of the B-17s and the Constellations.

[sooblue]

Well,
I think there is a need for a little negativity here so I'll supply it.[}:)]
On the way to work this morning the radio announcer started talking about the concord. One of the things he said, besides repeating all the sentiments stated here so far, was that it cost $9,000.00 round trip. WHAT! I said to myself.
No joking?[xx(][xx(]
Excuse me! But there's NOTHING worth cutting a few hours off a flight and paying $9,000.00 for the privilege.
The ONLY reason to take the concord is because you what the status of the symbol.
Pure foolishness. I don't feel the least bit sorry that it's gone. There are many more "worth while" uses for that $9,000.00.
Example:
We just had a teen boy killed by a train in the middle of the night. The kid was walking on the tracks in his bare feet facing the oncoming train. The engineer (supposedly) said that the kid had a smile on his face. [:(] (sounds like suicide)[:(!]
Maybe ONE fare could have gotten that kid some help coping with his problems.
Maybe the people who have the money to Ego trip out on the concord could drop their wad into a fund to find out how to help kids and their parents resolve issues.

There is a lot of money in this world that goes just to stroke Egos and DAMN the worthy things, the meaningful things. [V]
Please, don't get the idea that I am attacking you guys for your views. I don't mean to.
It's just that I know of many people who give so much into charities that they
"go without". (It’s called sacrifice) but many rich people, maybe most, are so tight that they squeak when they walk and "give" only if they need to for tax reasons.
I applaud Bill Gates but at the same time he could give ten times as much as he is giving and still leave his kids more then they will be able to spend in their lifetimes.
Well I better stop before I stroke out. Sorry
Sooblue[:(]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jchnhtfd

we're all a pretty sympathetic lot...

Does anybody but me mind that the Concorde made her last flight today?

We all need to dream a little, and we all need the far side of the hill. She was all that, and more, and now -- with some of the great trains -- is only a legend.

Just me, thinking.

Jamie

[dharmon]

A truly beautiful aircraft. They use the call sign "Speed Bird" on the radios......We would listen to them get their transoceanic clearances from ATC and wish we could cruise at Mach 1.2 up at 45, 000 ft. They would be reporting switching to VHF on the other side and we'd be barely halfway across. Unfortunately they were not really that profitable due to small passenger loading and high overhead (maintenance, part, fuel) but they are cooool.

[Anonymous]

The price of tickets were as high as $11,000. I'd rather buy a car with that money. But its weird cause i didn't even know about the last flight until yestertay. But I guess the time has come. It was a succesfull airplane, but people are looking for something modern.
I guess we all have to get over it.

[Trainnut484]

It is sad that the Concorde era has come to an end. Those planes were one of a kind. I believe (I may be wrong) the concordes used the same computers through out their career. That's an amazing feat in itself. I think one should be placed in the Smithsonian as a testament to speed and grace in flight.

Take care[:)]

Russell

[Modelcar]

...Most likely the museums are where most will end up. And rightfully so, in my opinion.

[jchnhtfd]

Thank you all...

[Anonymous]

The call sign "Speed Bird" wasn't used exclusively by the Concorde. That is the call sign of all British Airways aircraft due to the 'bird' logo on the tail.
One reason why the Concorde was finally killed off and why it was so expensive to operate, was because of limited US routes. The environmentalist whackos in this country wouldn't let BA or AF fly the plane over the continental US at more than subsonic speeds. Therefore both carriers were restricted to New York only. If they could have made transcontinental flights with continuing trans-pacific flights, the operating costs would have come down & probably the fares as well.
This is also why there never was a US supersonic passenger jet. Boeing (and Lockheed I think) looked into supersonic transports, but even back then met with such resistance from environmentalists with subsonic only flight restrictions over the continental US, the American companies decided it wasn't worth the expense. The airlines wouldn't invest in a supersonic plane that couldn't be flown any faster than existing planes (or subsonic planes on the drawing boards) on coast-to-coast flights. Supersonic use would only be allowed on trans-oceanianic flights.

[dharmon]

You are correct that "Speed Bird" is the company call sign for BA not just the concordes, but only a concorde would get a clearance for points greater than 10 degrees of longitude at a time, WESTBOUND, against the the prevailing winds on the NAT tracks and to cruise FL410 to 450. Air France experimented early in the concorde's career with some pacific flights but the customer base was not there.

You know, I probably wouldn't spend my first 11K on a concorde flight, but if I had the money to burn I might have. Just to do it.

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Trainnut484

It is sad that the Concorde era has come to an end. Those planes were one of a kind. I believe (I may be wrong) the concordes used the same computers through out their career. That's an amazing feat in itself. I think one should be placed in the Smithsonian as a testament to speed and grace in flight.

Take care[:)]

Russell

[:D]ALL 12 are going on display, and I understand, all air worthy. That is unique, that all of the examples are goingt o be saved, and only one of the original 13 will not, considering what happened to it[V][V]

[Modelcar]

....Even considering if the Concord would have been given permission to fly freely over the continental U S....was the plane large enough to EVER make a profit...? Considering what the seating capacity was and charging reasonable fares.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure the age of supersonic passenger service is over. I saw a program the other night where a bunch of companies, including Boeing, have has taken over a Concordski, the Russian SST, and have all sorts of tests going on trying to figure out how to bring supersonic flights to a economic level.

[jchnhtfd]

Just for the record... the Concorde was profitable, up to Sept. 11 -- and it wasn't the resulting paranoia which killed it, it was the business downturn and the bean counters. There was a market for it... the business about subsonic over land was a real problem; BA tried flights to Dallas, with a lot of demand, but they weren't profitable -- a supersonic airliner flying subsonic is not the most efficient thing in the sky!

Anyway, thanks again all of you for your thoughts!

[brilondon]

It is sad to think that it is its last regularily sceduled flight. There is still hope that BA will come to its senses and sell one of their Concordes to Virgin Atlantic and Richard Branson would keep one flying for special trips and charters. I do want to point out that when you are listening to the radio chatter and they call "speedbird" and a number that they are reffering to British Airways. It is their call sign when talking to ATC.