Any first hand Concorde experience?
 

Dear all,

I read a bit of a discussion of the on-board Concorde experience here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16758812
It was mentioned that it was not possible to stand up straight in the cabin for tall persons and that there was less legroom than you have nowadays in some LCC.
Can anyone confirm here that actually sitting and flying in the Concorde was less glamorous than people might think?

I am 181cm tall and never had any problem standing up. For a 3.5 hour flight, the seats were very comfortable with sufficient pitch. A comparison to a densified LCC737 is nonsense, if you want my honest opinion.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3e401f72a.jpeg

Sorry it’s not a brilliant photo.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...25c582f40.jpeg

This is me getting a run through of the controls by a former pilot
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...801b1b75b.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...64e17f8e7.jpeg

Yes. I could not stand up. Had to bend over. There was just enough knee room. . A bit like Club in the pre flat bed days.

It was a bit of a surprise when you entered the cabin, I remember my first impression being that it all looked very small. I don’t remember my 6’ tall husband having a problem though it must have been tight. We had gone on a day trip to Bergen which included a separate flight over the ffords. It was pointed out that we would be a group of very select people who had flown on Concorde twice in one day. As we could never have afforded to be regulars I thought that fact was quite the thing.
I will never forget that trip. As a once in a lifetime experience it was phenomenal. When we landed at Bergen it was quiet and when we left a few hours later there were thousands of people up in the multi-storey car park all waving and just everyone on the ground standing and staring. What a day that was.

The diameter of the fuselage is quite small, so it did feel small when you got on board. A little tighter than a 737 I'd say. The overhead lockers, as in most short haul aircraft (yes, Concorde was counted as short haul, given the longest trip was about 3 1/2 hours!) would prevent people from fully standing up in the window seat positions. The aisle was fine though. The seats were nice though , 2 - 2 configuration, I think 34" or 36" pitch (?), plenty of room for your knees and wide enough for comfort and not jostling your neighbour. Good seat cushions too, so I found it quite comfortable for the length of flight.
Often on a lightly loaded plane, the seat next to you would be kept empty.
A delightful experience, very glamorous, I'll never forget it :)

A lot of Concordes have ended up in aviation museums around the world, so you can go on board and see for yourself. Manchester, Edinburgh and Seattle all allow you inside, doubtless the others do too.

Not unlike an E190 - full headroom only in the aisle, 34" seat pitch, 2x2 leather seats....Bit faster, though. And it was a long time ago.....

Don't forget Barbados where you can certainly go on board and try the seats.

Also you can go on board at Brooklands (Surrey) and Sinsheim (Germany). The best thing about Sinsheim is there is a TU144 adjacent to their Concorde, and you can board both and compare...

IIRC, the one at the Fleet Air Arm in Yeovilton (Somerset) does not allow you on board.

Same in Edinburgh, well it's East Fortune really and you can go on board etc but the seats are tensa barriered off so you can't officially sit down in them.

Manchester when I was there, an FT Do, you could actually sit in the seats.

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures.

It was certainly not flying in luxurious roominess like in a modern first class seat. But that was not the point - think of taking a flight to Athens in a premium economy seat on an aircraft that would take comfortably take these seats in a 2 x 2 configuration. The description that you heard is a significant exaggeration.

It does, or at least did a few years when we visited. It's aircraft #2 , so half is fitted out with instrumentation, and half with passenger seating. I'm 6'4" and could not stand up straight in the aisle.

+1 on that - I'm also 6foot4 and can't stand upright on Concorde (only ever on the ground in museums :( ). The seats as far as I understand were 34inch pitch, and correctly maintained in many of the museum pieces.

I also believe the seats in the boardroom in the CCR are reclaimed from Concorde

Sadly, those have now gone.

Thank you! I'll try to find a list with all the museum Concordes and if a business or leisure trips sends me close by, I know how I will spend any free time I may have. Thanks!

The one in the Duxford museum can even move the nose cone.

My wife and I were lucky enough to fly the Rocket a few times. I'm 6' 2" and never had an issue standing. The seats were snug but not uncomfortable. Probably the people who never got to fly on it just wish they had the chance :)

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/46144772@N00/, on Flickr

I'm 6'1". I did have to duck down a bit when moving about inside. It was definitely a challenge standing up in the loos, also due to the curve of the fuselage (meaning I had to sort of lean back when standing up in there!).

I think your seat pitch is wrong. I recall it was nearer 38". I read lots of comments from people who claim Concorde seating density was the same as economy, which was certainly not true. I recall placing my hand luggage under the seat in front (due to the very slim overhead lockers) and struggling to reach it while seated with my seat belt on. I also had plenty of knee room.

Seat pitch was 37".

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...75c6b3488d.jpg

The Concorde interior at the Seattle Museum of Flight - G-BOAG apparently... It does look rather similar to an LCY Embraer interior!

Mrs rapidex and I were able to get some cushions and put young rapidex on the armrest between us, where he slept peacefully all the way to JFK. Being short and fat it was very comfortable for me.

The fuselage used to gain 9 inches during the cruise due to the friction heating the outer skin. A great big gap used to open up between the rear of the flight engineers panel and the forward bulkhead.

That sounds almost like the SR 71 Blackbird.

IIRC, there was a sad story attached to the delivery flight to SEA. The aircraft was (unusually) given permission to operate supersonically across the continent. During the flight, one of the crew placed their cap into the gap with the intention that as the aircraft cooled, the cap would become trapped there and could then form part of the exhibit. But after arrival, a cleaner thought that it was discarded rubbish and somehow managed to cut it out.

Is G-BOAD still at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, New York?

She certainly was December 2016.

She sure is. I visited in January this year.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...261226ec49.jpg
Last confirmed sighting for me, August 2016 from a cruise ship.

There's a good list of current Concorde locations here (including links to images of the outdoor ones on Google Earth!).

26 flights on it and afraid your sources are n't correct or somewhat pessimistic.
It was perfectly possible to stand up - at least until the wine started flowing! Wines were truly good - and they always had an 'off-list' vintage red burgundy available on request, but you had to know it was there to request. Often bought out and served with a napkin hiding the label.
Seat pitch like premium economy, so comfortable enough for 3 hours. Seat allocation was non-status and 'boat people' (cruise passengers) in the back cabin, golds, prems, regulars and full fare in front cabin. Status and regulars only in rows 1-3, where the food was hand served, rather than from (narrow) trolley for row 4 on.
Before the 'finale' flights (when the wine and food was trimmed back) it was often possible to sit in row 1-3 with the seat beside you blocked out. That way you could get an aisle seat and have the window seat empty (the Windows were like sitting by a radiator as the windows got very very hot in flight)
Boarding was straight from the lounge, so you could get on board at 5 minutes to go, and food was great, and it was like private jet when some days there were around 20-40 on board, lowest ever was 12.
downsides - small loos (makes A320NEO look generous) and tiny overhead locker s- but then the suiter service really worked and the front wardrobe had tonnes of room.
Unusual features were the Sunrise in the west in October on the westbound evening LHR-JFK as the plane started to fly faster than the earth's rotation and move back into the sunlight; a small set of crew - so after a while you to know them all; and, the stand off to be important enough to be last to board!
oh, and the morning BA2 still often had to hold in the stack to land on a JFK-LHR, whereas the lunchtime BA4 JFK-LHR was the most civilized Transatlantic timing ever - you had a full morning in NYC, a 3 hour hop at lunchtime from JFK to London and were still home in London by UK bedtime.
Sadly missed 15 years on...

A certain BA Captain signed the techlog at top of descent and stuck it in the gap. Caused all sorts of problems at JFK trying to get it out.

I'm in NYC at a loose end on Sunday, might go there for a visit - is it just a walk around the outside or can you go on board?

Has anyone got a pic of this gap? I'm struggling to get my head round it!

You can just walk around the outside. There are steps up to the doors, but these were firmly locked when I was there.

I really enjoyed walking around the different decks of the Intrepid. Make sure you set aside a good few hours - I could have spent a lot longer there!

Could stand up in aisle just about but not a breeze.... speak as a 186-7cm specimen. Legroom was ok....sitting by window was not great more than an hour. It was an experience without a shadow of a doubt but comfortable? Not so much.

Have to say as someone who was thrilled to have done it .... I should say only ever as insanely fortunate upgrades and miles....it had a great ambience (on the ground and air for me...T4 days) but I saw no-one who was thrilled on there. It struck me very much that most (can't say all) looked either that life had all got too serious or they were trying way too hard to be cool. I remember very well they all left their leather binders and gifts on their seats......I collected all I could carry (a lot!) and stuffed them in my Tumi!

Aside from all the obvious platitudes about sun, earth curvature , speed etc etc,....Loos were a pain, bag store a pain.....Drinks & Food needless to say good. It was the good old days of proper (pre BS) lounge service and cigar room and Molton Brown Spa.

I got the feeling it was occupied by those who (in the main) did not care about the experience, and looked on at in awe by those that could not afford the experience. Life in general I guess.

But it was a period of life I would not swap, look back on fondly, no doubt has got more sepia toned with age and memory but never the less, mid 90's-2k T4 were for me the best and Concorde (and in fairness BA) were a good part of that. Was like a pair of shoes you knew you looked good in but pinched some!

It was several years ago when I visited, so rossmacd's experience may be more relevant. At the time, I was able to go up the steps and into the aircraft but not further. The flight deck was inaccessible (perspex screen) and the passenger cabin was blocked off.

I believe they do timed, guided tours which will let you have more access, but these are at additional cost to the Interpid museum itself, for which I would second the recommendation. Also has the prototype/development Space Shuttle Enterprise on deck (another extra cost)

If you want to go inside the Concorde in the Intrepid museum you need to book a tour, during which you sit in the seats (with an exhortation not to fiddle with or recline them since they are now delicate museum artifacts) while the guide talks about various aspects of the aircraft, and you get a full walk around inside. That was my experience a couple of years ago.

The rest of the museum is also pretty interesting.