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Postscript |
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Wow! It's over...the Concorde era finally
ends. No more passenger supersonic flights, at least for the
foreseeable future. As expected, BA ended Concorde service on
October 24, 2003 with all aircrafts retired to museums around
the world.
I was fortunate to have a short article
published in the Nov/Dec 2003 issue (No. 84) of Airliners
magazine chronicling my most memorable moments on the Concorde
flight.
My article on page 45 in the Nov/Dec edition
of Airliners magazine
("Concorde Farewell" issue).
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| On BA's last weekend of Concorde
service, I made another pilgrimage to New York's JFK. There,
I met other like-minded spotters from the area and around the
country wanting to see and photograph Concorde flying for the
last time. Even though the weather was not the greatest that
weekend, once again, with my friend and photographer Art Brett's
help, I was still able to get some wonderful shots. |
G-BOAC banking over Howard Beach
after taking off 31L on Oct. 18. |
G-BOAE landing on 31R on Oct. 18. |
G-BOAG landing on 31R on Oct. 19. |
I was even more fortunate to have G-BOAG,
the very aircraft I flew on, retire to Seattle's Museum of Flight,
right here on the West Coast of the United States. Of course,
I did not let the opportunity slip by to see my Concorde land
for the final time! On November 5, 2003, I made the trek to Seattle
for the special occasion.
Below, you can see my photos and descriptions
from that day's events:
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At about 2:30 pm, "Concorde
Alpha Golf" made her approach from the north, intercepting
Seattle Boeing Field's Runway 13R localizer. Tower closed the
airport and cleared Concorde down to 1000 feet for the fly-by.
We could see her in the distance that she was high. Alpha Golf
declined the offer and said she was at 2000 feet. So the tower
cleared her for 2500 feet. I couldn't even get a full frame shot
at 400 mm as she went overhead. We were hoping for lower...a
lot lower...
So she went downwind, came back
around and landed on Runway 31L to the cheers of the enthusiastic
crowd.
She taxies up with water cannon
salute near the tower (I just saw the top part of the water cannon),
taxied past the gate into the museum to the end of the taxiway.
The pilots were flag waving and nose cycling along the way.
After waiting for a large volume
of traffic landing and taking off on 31L, Alpha Golf was cleared
to taxi back on the active to return back to the museum ramp.
At the museum gate, a tug pulled Concorde a short distance before
it stopped. As it turned out, the tug had turned too tight and
broke the lynch pin!
The tug is seen here right after
the pin broke.
The tug returns after about 10
minutes and Alpha Golf was finally coming on to the museum ramp.
Capt. Bannister was holding the U.K. flag while Capt. Brodie
was holding the U.S. flag.
Hello, Capt. Bannister!
I was literally inches away from
the tip of the nose!
It took awhile for the ground crew
to hook up the generator. All the while, a single engine was
running. Even at idle, the sound of the engine was ear-piercing.
Many people (myself included) had to plug up our ears!
The ground crew had a difficult
time lining up the stairs to the door. There were some heart-stopping
moments when the stair looked like was going to crash into the
side of the fuselage! Finally, Capt. Bannister and Brodie exited
the plane and held up the Alpha Golf's technical log to the applause
of the crowd.
At the top of the stairs, the two
captains were joined by the Governor of Washington State and
British Airways and Museum of Flight officials for the handover
ceremony. Capt. Bannister announced the flight had broken a world
record from New York to Seattle. At the last minute, the Canadian
Government created a special supersonic track for this flight.
Alpha Golf made the flight in 3 hours 55 minutes 12 seconds.
The crowd cheered!
A view of Concorde with the museum
building. The passengers can be seen disembarking at this point.
Note television antennas on the right.
A parting shot...Alpha Golf's tail
basking in the last remaining light of the day.
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