Concorde G-BOAG final landing

[David Brooks]

It's a beautiful day in the Puget Sound: no clouds and 50 miles visibility.

My wife and I were on the apron at Wings Aloft by 2:10, having left work in
plenty of time for the scheduled 2:50 arrival. I was idly monitoring the
tower frequency when I realized someone was saying "Speedbird" and G-BOAG
was 25 minutes early. At that moment my wife spotted the familiar shape over
the city. The news helicopters had only just lifted off, and the tower was
scrambling to get the field closed.

Tower and the crew negotiated briefly and she did an overhead pass
southwards at 2000ft, went on for a graceful procedure turn over Seatac, and
came on final with a shadowy Mount Rainier as a backdrop, to her last
touchdown on 31L. Wheel contact was abeam where we were standing, and I
heard that deep roar for the last time. And, ah, those familiar British
Airways pilot accents.

She stopped to hang the flags out, and taxied slowly down Bravo taxiway. He
may not have realized it, but the captain was waving the British flag upside
down (a sign of distress at sea). She stopped abeam the Museum Of Flight, a
little perplexed because nobody seemed to know what to do next. Ground even
asked a police car if they could find a follow-me truck. Eventually she
taxied back on the runway a couple of intersections and turned off to get
positioned at the right spot. After another long gaze, we left.

Ground Control was operating even more on the edge of his temper than
usual - there were lots of transients all stepping on each other, and at one
point he even snapped at the Concorde crew for not replying when he called
her C-BOAG.

-- David Brooks

[Dave]

"David Brooks" > wrote in message
...
> It's a beautiful day in the Puget Sound: no clouds and 50 miles
visibility.
>
> My wife and I were on the apron at Wings Aloft by 2:10, having left work
in
> plenty of time for the scheduled 2:50 arrival. I was idly monitoring the
> tower frequency when I realized someone was saying "Speedbird" and G-BOAG
> was 25 minutes early. At that moment my wife spotted the familiar shape
over
> the city. The news helicopters had only just lifted off, and the tower was
> scrambling to get the field closed.
>
> Tower and the crew negotiated briefly and she did an overhead pass
> southwards at 2000ft, went on for a graceful procedure turn over Seatac,
and
> came on final with a shadowy Mount Rainier as a backdrop, to her last
> touchdown on 31L. Wheel contact was abeam where we were standing, and I
> heard that deep roar for the last time. And, ah, those familiar British
> Airways pilot accents.
>
> She stopped to hang the flags out, and taxied slowly down Bravo taxiway.
He
> may not have realized it, but the captain was waving the British flag
upside
> down (a sign of distress at sea). She stopped abeam the Museum Of Flight,
a
> little perplexed because nobody seemed to know what to do next. Ground
even
> asked a police car if they could find a follow-me truck. Eventually she
> taxied back on the runway a couple of intersections and turned off to get
> positioned at the right spot. After another long gaze, we left.
>
> Ground Control was operating even more on the edge of his temper than
> usual - there were lots of transients all stepping on each other, and at
one
> point he even snapped at the Concorde crew for not replying when he called
> her C-BOAG.

Well I saw her leave London for the last time Tuesday 15.40Z as she passed
overhead.

There is no denying it, the plane IS a showstopper and it is/was the only
one you would go out of your way to see.

I do hope that they look after the plane properly.

[David Brooks]

"Dave" > wrote in message
...
>
> I do hope that they look after the plane properly.

Here are the plans:
http://www.museumofflight.org/visit/concorde.html

-- David Brooks

[Tony Roberts]

In article >, "David Brooks"
> wrote:
> She stopped to hang the flags out, and taxied slowly down Bravo taxiway. He
> may not have realized it, but the captain was waving the British flag upside
> down (a sign of distress at sea).

He knew. Same thing happened with the Royal Yacht.

--
Tony Roberts )
PP-ASEL
VFR-OTT - Night
Cessna 172H

[C J Campbell]

Not the last flight. The Concorde will fly on to Renton sometime between now
and Saturday for some work to be done and then there will be a final flight
back to Boeing Field.

[Peter Duniho]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
> Not the last flight. The Concorde will fly on to Renton sometime between
now
> and Saturday for some work to be done and then there will be a final
flight
> back to Boeing Field.

How'd you find out? Where do we have to check to find out the specific
dates/times of those flights, if that's possible?

I was unable to hoof it over to BFI for their arrival yesterday, and am
salivating at the thought that I might get a second (or third!) chance to
see it.

Pete

[Mark Mallory]

C J Campbell wrote:

> Not the last flight. The Concorde will fly on to Renton sometime between now
> and Saturday for some work to be done and then there will be a final flight
> back to Boeing Field.


WRONG. The aircraft was *towed* to a hangar at the north end of Boeing Field
for decommissioning; when the work is done (expected on sat 11/8) it will be
*towed* back to the Museum of Flight.

[C J Campbell]

"Mark Mallory" > wrote in message
...
|
|
| C J Campbell wrote:
|
| > Not the last flight. The Concorde will fly on to Renton sometime between
now
| > and Saturday for some work to be done and then there will be a final
flight
| > back to Boeing Field.
|
|
| WRONG. The aircraft was *towed* to a hangar at the north end of Boeing
Field
| for decommissioning; when the work is done (expected on sat 11/8) it will
be
| *towed* back to the Museum of Flight.
|

Boo. NW Cable News had it wrong, then.

[Dave]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mark Mallory" > wrote in message
> ...
> |
> |
> | C J Campbell wrote:
> |
> | > Not the last flight. The Concorde will fly on to Renton sometime
between
> now
> | > and Saturday for some work to be done and then there will be a final
> flight
> | > back to Boeing Field.
> |
> |
> | WRONG. The aircraft was *towed* to a hangar at the north end of Boeing
> Field
> | for decommissioning; when the work is done (expected on sat 11/8) it
will
> be
> | *towed* back to the Museum of Flight.
> |
>
> Boo. NW Cable News had it wrong, then.

Unless the British Airways crew were going to stay out there to do the
flying as there are no US aircrew type rated to do the flying and not really
worth doing it for such a short time too.

FWIW

[Mark Mallory]

Dave wrote:
>
> Unless the British Airways crew were going to stay out there to do the
> flying as there are no US aircrew type rated to do the flying and not really
> worth doing it for such a short time too.

Yep. Plus, the runway at Renton is only 5300 ft long; a bit of a
squeeze for an aircraft that flies at 160 kts on final.

>
> FWIW

[Dave]

"Mark Mallory" > wrote in message
...
>
> Dave wrote:
> >
> > Unless the British Airways crew were going to stay out there to do the
> > flying as there are no US aircrew type rated to do the flying and not
really
> > worth doing it for such a short time too.
>
> Yep. Plus, the runway at Renton is only 5300 ft long; a bit of a
> squeeze for an aircraft that flies at 160 kts on final.

Time some checked out their landing distance calculations again

[Robert Moore]

"Dave" > wrote
> Unless the British Airways crew were going to stay out there to
> do the flying as there are no US aircrew type rated to do the
> flying and not really worth doing it for such a short time too.

There certainly are US crews type rated in the Concorde, probably
not current for a long time, but Braniff crews flew the Concordes
on scheduled flights from Washington (DUL) to Dallas (DFW).
The Concordes even carried "N-Numbers" during those flights.

Bob Moore

[Dave]

"Robert Moore" > wrote in message
. 7...
> "Dave" > wrote
> > Unless the British Airways crew were going to stay out there to
> > do the flying as there are no US aircrew type rated to do the
> > flying and not really worth doing it for such a short time too.
>
> There certainly are US crews type rated in the Concorde, probably
> not current for a long time, but Braniff crews flew the Concordes
> on scheduled flights from Washington (DUL) to Dallas (DFW).
> The Concordes even carried "N-Numbers" during those flights.
>
> Bob Moore

Not current is an understatement!