I've never seen one up close, but the Concorde made three trips to the San
Francisco Bay Area in the late 70's and mid 80's. It flew from the Oakland
Airport twice and once to San Francisco (SFO). The last time it was here
('86 I believe), it flew directly over my house on it's departure. I would
not have even known if it weren't for the incredible noise level. I had to
go outside to see what it was. There directly overhead was the unmistakable
shape. It sounded like the space shuttle blasting off.
Gerard
At 9:56 AM -0400 7/29/00, brian S wrote:
>Actually, the controller didn't "have to tell him they were on fire." They
>knew it. They discovered the fire at the point of no return on takeoff,
>known as V1, or decision speed. At this speed or greater, pilots are taught
>to take off no matter what, and try and return. If they try and "put it back
>on the ground" at or above this speed, they most likely won't be able to
>stop in time with the available runway left. I guess they didn't realize the
>severity of the engine failure.
> The Pilot wasn't going to try and to return to DeGaulle airport, he was
>going to try and make it to LeBourget airport about 4 miles away. Much
>easier than trying to return to point of departure. IMHO, the Pilots did an
>OUTSTANDING job keeping it away from the hotel and other people on the
>ground. I'm saddened by the crash, but thankful there weren't more
>fatalities.
>Concorde Factoid, did ya'll know that the Concorde takes off with a fuel
>load that weighs more than the empty weight of the A/C itself? A/C weighs
>about 150,000lbs, and holds more that 150,000lbs of fuel.And when it gets to
>New York, it has only about 1/2 hour of fuel left? No holding for them!
>FWIW, I LOVE Concordes, Especially the NOISE!
>
>Brian
>Bugeye in progress
>ATCS
>
>________________________________________________________________________
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G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
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