Finally the caviar at 55,000 feet: When the “beautiful bird” landed

by

November 26, 2003

The Concorde supersonic passenger plane makes its last flight, returning to its “birthplace”, near Bristol in the south west of England. He has remained there ever since.

The Concorde, jointly developed by France and Britain, began commercial flights in January 1976.

An important achievement not only of aeronautics but also of design, with its characteristic “D” shaped wings, could make the journey from New York to London in about 3.5 hours, flying at a speed of 1,350 miles per hour (2,170 km / h).

Somehow, the Concorde became a symbol not only of speed but also of luxury. Without, however, missing the problems.

Those who lived under the passage of his itineraries complained about the excessive noise.

The myth

A ticket to an average transatlantic voyage cost about $ 12,000, which is why the Concorde carried the froth on both sides of the Atlantic: Its passengers were a patchwork of wealth, power and fame.

Almost no flight lacked the famous passengers, from blue bloods and models to rock stars. Singers such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney used to sing a song when traveling, as between the flowing champagne and the menu of caviar, lobster and duck orange, passengers often became a group.

“People ask me what it was like to fly the Concorde. “And I always said it was like giving a bus driver a Ferrari to play with,” said Richard Westray, a pilot who flew Concorde from 1999 to 2003.

The accident

However, the Concorde story was marred by the tragic accident of July 25, 2000, when an Air France plane crashed after taking off from Paris, killing all 109 people on board and four others on the ground.

All Concorde flights were grounded for one year after the accident.

Under the weight of high operating costs and reduced ticket sales, British Airways withdrew its Concorde fleet in October 2003. Air France had landed its own Concorde in May 2003.

But the appeal of the supersonic plane to aeronautics fans was so strong that many parts of the planes were sold at prices that exceeded all expectations. A $ 100 Concorde blanket sold at auction for $ 2,000 and a door fetched $ 33,000. Anonymous paid $ 550,000 for the “nose” of the plane.

In August 2020, Virgin Galactic announced plans to work with Rolls Royce to create a supersonic passenger plane that will travel at three times the speed of sound. And in June 2021, United Airlines announced plans to resume a supersonic transatlantic flight in the ethers with an 88-seat Supersonic aircraft that would halve its travel time from London to Newark at 3 p.m. 5 hours. The test flights will start in 2026.

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