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Farewell old girl, may you rest in peace
You were the prettiest and the fastest of them all, I'll miss you, may you rest in peace and stay in the memories of all that flew you.
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Steady on - this sounds like Jimmy Saville and "The Duchess"!
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I watched the future that never was to be fly out of MAN for the last time today.
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It's all a bad dream.
We're going to wake up. We're going to wake up... |
I am trying to get out to the airport tomorrow afternoon but suspect that there will be thousands there.
I have an excuse - I have an early flight on Saturday. Anyway, a person unmoved by the beauty of this plane has no soul. |
Me, Im hoping that BBC World will be showing it at 01:00 on saturday morning. The joys of being downside up in Sydney.
Dave |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dave Noble: Me, Im hoping that BBC World will be showing it at 01:00 on saturday morning. The joys of being downside up in Sydney. Dave</font> |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC: You were the prettiest and the fastest of them all, I'll miss you, may you rest in peace and stay in the memories of all that flew you. </font> I think! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif |
I still find it amazing that her swansong trip did not include Bristol. The person at BA who arranged this certainly has no soul.
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"I know why the caged birds die, for, like them, I have touched the sky" Mike Resnik - Kirinyaga
I've used that as one of my many sign-off quotes on FT for the last few years, but over the past few weeks it's taken on a new meaning for me. It's a sad day for me, a sad day for all flyers, and a pretty bad day for humanity as a whole. As a race, our destiny lies in the stars, but this week, we took a step backwards..... I'll treasure the memory, and hope someday we'll fly that high again. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Ken. "One life, one arrow, short journey from bow to target" - Traditional Zen, via Walter Jon Williams - Voice of the Whirlwind. |
Have just been reading the publics view on Concorde from Sky News
Its amazing how many people think Branson shoud carry on with it, the amount of misinformation out there like people who think the government paid for the 2000/2001 upgrades, the fact it it obsolete technology and that it is very fuel inefficient! This guy that made me chuckle: What a sad end to one of Britain's great achievements. I was lucky enough to be on the inaugural passenger flight from Bahrain on 22 January, 1976 together with HRH The Duke of Kent, the late Brian Trubshaw and many other celebrities. It was an exciting experience and I never regretted it although flying first class in a jumbo is far more comfortable! The real shame is why won't the Government and BA let Richard Branson continue to make use of a unique part of British history. Anthony Walker, Moscow, Russia See if you can spot his glaring error! |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fbgdavidson: Have just been reading the publics view on Concorde from Sky News Its amazing how many people think Branson shoud carry on with it, the amount of misinformation out there like people who think the government paid for the 2000/2001 upgrades, the fact it it obsolete technology and that it is very fuel inefficient! This guy that made me chuckle: What a sad end to one of Britain's great achievements. I was lucky enough to be on the inaugural passenger flight from Bahrain on 22 January, 1976 together with HRH The Duke of Kent, the late Brian Trubshaw and many other celebrities. It was an exciting experience and I never regretted it although flying first class in a jumbo is far more comfortable! The real shame is why won't the Government and BA let Richard Branson continue to make use of a unique part of British history. Anthony Walker, Moscow, Russia See if you can spot his glaring error! </font> |
No, it says FROM Bahrain. That was the 22nd. I'll confess I don't see the error...
[This message has been edited by Alpha Golf (edited 10-23-2003).] [This message has been edited by Alpha Golf (edited 10-23-2003).] [This message has been edited by Alpha Golf (edited 10-23-2003).] |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I was lucky enough to be on the inaugural passenger flight from Bahrain on 22 January, 1976 together with HRH The Duke of Kent, the late Brian Trubshaw and many other celebrities. [/b] See if you can spot his glaring error! [/B]</font> Well spotted! |
I'd guess teh main error is forgetting that there was a little bit of French involvement!
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DrillerNic: I'd guess teh main error is forgetting that there was a little bit of French involvement!</font> |
Ah, but it was the the inaugural passenger flight FROM Bahrain, not the inaugural passenger flight.
This would also explain the 21st/22nd January discrepancy. Does this show the declining standards of our education system, given it was pointed out by no other than fgb himself???? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Edited to add an apology to Alpha Golf, as I see you made exactly the same point I did - oops! [This message has been edited by Swiss Tony (edited 10-24-2003).] |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Swiss Tony: Ah, but it was the the inaugural passenger flight FROM Bahrain, not the inaugural passenger flight. This would also explain the 21st/22nd January discrepancy. Does this show the declining standards of our education system, given it was pointed out by no other than fgb himself???? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif |
CNN just posted the following, I believe. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/concorde/index.html They're also airing a special on the network (a friend of mine worked on it- lucky her!), but I can't find the listing. |
The last of the three concordes is flying over South London right now. Genuinely brings a tear to the eye... goodbye ya beauties.
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Just saw them fly over - beautiful, as ever...
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All down now.
Very sad http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif |
Concorde was the one plane which could still make Londoners stop and stare at the sky; whenever I saw her fly overhead it lifted my day; in my street in North London a few minutes ago there were ten of us watching two of the three final Concordes go overhead. A beautiful sight and so sad to think that there will never be another chance sighting.
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Just saw the landing. CNN cut away on final, but Fox showed at least the first. Lovely shot with two in the air...
Can anyone confirm that my baby flew 002? What a sad day... |
It really is all over now.
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Not so much sad as a national disgrace. An absolutely unique, fully functional and recently fully overhauled gift from the future cut down in its prime. Britain and BA has benefited enormously from Concorde's staggering achievement, prestige and sheer beauty and its worth cannot be measured in mere direct revenue.
BA and the government are being not so much shortsighted as committing an act of treason in my view. And the final galling propsect is the likelihood that one of these marvels - with another 20 years flying left in it - is going to end up rusting on the deck of USS Intrepid, probably free-of-charge, in the country most responsible for the early wrecking of its commercial viability. A sad day indeed. |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Alpha Golf: Can anyone confirm that my baby flew 002?</font> And I think she was. When they lined up on the taxiway immediately afterwards for the flag waving, the most enormous Union flag was billowing from Golf's captain's window. That could only have been our great leader Bannister himself. [This message has been edited by Globaliser (edited 10-24-2003).] |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by KenF: [b]It's a sad day for me, a sad day for all flyers, and a pretty bad day for humanity as a whole. As a race, our destiny lies in the stars, but this week, we took a step backwards.....</font> |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mAAine_flyer: Steady on a minute. It's just an airplane, for heaven's sake. By all means feel sad yourself, but I'm pretty sure the rest of humanity has other more important problems on its collective mind.</font> |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mAAine_flyer: Steady on a minute. It's just an airplane, for heaven's sake. By all means feel sad yourself, but I'm pretty sure the rest of humanity has other more important problems on its collective mind.</font> ...and now one of the largest symbols of human striving and promise is to fly no more. Jimmy Carter once talked of a "national malaise" in 1979; these days I feel a great world malaise. Where are the dreamers, the imaginatives, the optimists, the risk-takers among us? How can we be living in a world where we have the ability to fly from London to New York and arrive before we leave - and then just squander that technology, never to be seen again "for generations," as many commentators have put it? Where are the JFKs of the world who tell us to do bold things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard? If there is one thing I know all of humanity needs, right now, it's a sign that things are going to be better. That we have occasional setbacks, but humanity is always striving forward. Not to the next earnings quarter, but to the next generation, the next century, the next millennium. All I get from our leaders these days, both political and business, is "too expensive." Too expensive to reach beyond our imagination? Never. THAT's why I'm sad about the Concorde being grounded. ------------------ Brian/\/\ |
ScottC, fair enough. I'm quite prepared to accept that a few people (few being relative to Earth's population) consider this a very special event. Some earlier comments, though, IMHO, inched perilously close to hyperbole.
Brian, you're absolutely correct. Sometimes there does seem to be a lack of a global vision for the future. That said, with all the xenophobia, needless warfare and aggression, starvation, homophobia, disease, and hate the world has to endure, I'm not sure how keeping a supersonic airplane in service for a privileged few is going to help. Besides, the thing simply wasn't financially viable. |
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mAAine_flyer: Besides, the thing simply wasn't financially viable. </font> I was there today and surprised at the emotion of it by the people around me. There was a couple on my right that were teary eyed when the final plane landed. The father and son on my left were also very teary. An end of an inspiration. |
Although there will be more supersonic planes in the future, there will never be anything like the Concorde. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Besides, the thing simply wasn't financially viable.</font> Personally, I flew on her only 4 times, but every time I left the airport smiling insanely (and that didnt wear from flight 1 to 4). If you have ever driven a Porsche on an unrestricted motorway and the speedometer goes past 300km/h you might know that feeling. It rediculous, environmentally incorrect, doesnt save that much time, NOT financially viable, but gets to you in a special way. I admit you need to have a certain interest in engineering, aesthetics, speed - well you need to be at least a bit "anoraky" as another member here put it - to fully appreciate it this way, but for me it's been a source of pure joy. Today marks the end of the civilized world? Rubbish! But for me its the definite end to having the opportunity to - the sensation of just watching her take off, land, taxi ... - watching the sunrise in the west - experiencing the sheer pride of any BA employee I have ever talked to when touching the subject Concorde - edge of space, arrive before you leave, aso. but most of all: knowing that you travel that fast in that very moment ... No hard feelings towards BA, they dont exist to enjoy people like me, rather their shareholders. Now its back to ugly, slow, and finacially very viable flying toothpaste tubes. And for the short moments of joy onto the road - until some beancounters manage to put this into history too. |
It was always a dream of mine to fly on Concorde.
Thanks to Flyertalk I got the chance. I thought 3 yrs ago that I knew everything about the Frequent flyer system till one day I came across the most marvelous post. that I could fly both ways for a small amount of points. I got straight on the phone and booked my flights. I feel very sad that I will never get the chance to do it again http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif |
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by paulusst: True. But that was maybe part of her appeal. Personally, I flew on her only 4 times, but every time I left the airport smiling insanely (and that didnt wear from flight 1 to 4). If you have ever driven a Porsche on an unrestricted motorway and the speedometer goes past 300km/h you might know that feeling. It rediculous, environmentally incorrect, doesnt save that much time, NOT financially viable, but gets to you in a special way. I admit you need to have a certain interest in engineering, aesthetics, speed - well you need to be at least a bit "anoraky" as another member here put it - to fully appreciate it this way, but for me it's been a source of pure joy. Today marks the end of the civilized world? Rubbish! But for me its the definite end to having the opportunity to - the sensation of just watching her take off, land, taxi ... - watching the sunrise in the west - experiencing the sheer pride of any BA employee I have ever talked to when touching the subject Concorde - edge of space, arrive before you leave, aso. but most of all: knowing that you travel that fast in that very moment ... No hard feelings towards BA, they dont exist to enjoy people like me, rather their shareholders. Now its back to ugly, slow, and finacially very viable flying toothpaste tubes. And for the short moments of joy onto the road - until some beancounters manage to put this into history too.</font> |
I think the words of Mike Bannister to the passengers on BA002 after landing at LHR say it all:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Born from dreams, built with vision, operated with pride - thank you for flying British Airways Concorde</font> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/grap...10/25/matt.gif |
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