Pirep Dayton OH

"David CL Francis" wrote in message
...

I was there at the first Concorde take off from Filton but I elected to
join a party listening to the radio link rather than watch.

We (living in Bristol at the time) decided to get away from it all and spend
that day at Chepstow Castle ... and got a good view of Concorde as it turned
more or less over us.

--
Tim Ward - posting as an individual unless otherwise clear
Brett Ward Ltd - www.brettward.co.uk
Cambridge Accommodation Notice Board - www.brettward.co.uk/canb
Cambridge City Councillor

Sorry, Wednesday...

Paul

"Paul Sengupta" wrote in message
...
Are you going to Filton next Monday to watch Concorde arrive?

As I said in another post, I went to see it take off, didn't go to see it
land.
A sad day. Did you see it? Filton weren't allowing arrivals at all on the
day and there was a NOTAM with a 7 mile 4000ft restriction.

Must have been great when it first started flying. All the hopes and dreams
of the future. It was a year before I was born. My "defining moment" as
far as Concorde was concerned was when Blue Peter (children's TV
programme for those reading outside the UK) had live (?) coverage of
when the BA and Air France Concordes flew transatlantic and met
nose to nose...1977?

What was Brian like as a person? I've read his autobiography and would
have loved to have been able to sit and listen to his stories in person.
I've
met Bob Hoover, now I want to meet Neville Duke, Chuck Yeager, and
maybe Neil Amstrong :-) ... just to say I've met them. Read Bob Hoover
and Chuck Yeager's autobiographies, in the middle of reading Neville Duke's.
One chap I work with occasionally at Brooklands Museum is Spud, who
was Barnes Wallace's assistant. He's now 86 (? Something like that) and
he's been working on the site since he was 14!

Paul

"David CL Francis" wrote in message
...
Sorry, I missed your post Paul and could not find it again. Depending on
the weather I hope to find a spot but the final flight pattern has not
been published. 3000 people have been invited to Filton but it is
probably not the best place to go without one. The A38 through Filton
will be closed during the approach and landing and there will be 'no
stopping' enforced.

There is some G.A. flying in Filton but most of it seems to be light
commercial twins. I am guessing but I think prior permission is probably
needed.

I was there at the first Concorde take off from Filton but I elected to
join a party listening to the radio link rather than watch.

I did get a ride later and did a write up of the 3.5 hour flight. I have
posted it before somewhere but I may put it on my WEB page. If so I will
post the URL here. I was lucky enough to get to know Brian Trubshaw
quite well after he stopped flying. I live about 12 miles from Filton.

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 at 14:15:47 in message
, Paul Sengupta
wrote:

As I said in another post, I went to see it take off, didn't go to see it
land.
A sad day. Did you see it? Filton weren't allowing arrivals at all on the
day and there was a NOTAM with a 7 mile 4000ft restriction.

Yes we saw it, I posted separately.

Must have been great when it first started flying. All the hopes and dreams
of the future. It was a year before I was born. My "defining moment" as
far as Concorde was concerned was when Blue Peter (children's TV
programme for those reading outside the UK) had live (?) coverage of
when the BA and Air France Concordes flew transatlantic and met
nose to nose...1977?

Yes it was but the oil crisis which sent fuel prices soaring and the
activities of the anti people, here and in the USA and that no country
would allow supersonic flight over its land meant that it would never
sell enough to recoup its costs.

What was Brian like as a person? I've read his autobiography and would
have loved to have been able to sit and listen to his stories in person.

He was great and very kind, however he was not very talkative. If you
met him in the street you might well think he was a successful farmer
rather than a test pilot. I knew him best when he was General manager
at Filton and I did a similar job in the weapons division.
I've
met Bob Hoover, now I want to meet Neville Duke, Chuck Yeager, and
maybe Neil Amstrong :-) ... just to say I've met them. Read Bob Hoover
and Chuck Yeager's autobiographies, in the middle of reading Neville Duke's.
One chap I work with occasionally at Brooklands Museum is Spud, who
was Barnes Wallace's assistant. He's now 86 (? Something like that) and
he's been working on the site since he was 14!

I have a friend in Philadelphia who is an ex test pilot, flight
instructor and Commercial pilot. He knew Chuck Yeager. Many years ago I
went to a talk in London by Chuck Yeager. I can't remember all the
details but at one point he said (referring to a flight when the
aircraft tumbled at high altitude), "After I uncaged my eyeballs!"

In the summer I visited the Neil Armstrong Space Museum at Wapakaneta in
Ohio which is his home town, quite a small town but he was born there
and I believe still lives there. The Museum is quite good.

If you want to see a few pictures and read some pdf files about my
Concorde ride and my short 'flight' in the Concorde simulator go to my
rather amateur web site at

http://www.dclf.demon.co.uk/
--
David CL Francis

David

My Concorde ride.

Was in Washington DC on business and was able to exchange my ticket
for one on the Concorde for an earlier departure from Dulles to DFW
(Braniff was flying that leg).

Was Xmas eve and Washington Wx was P*** Poor. We were driven out in
the 'buss' used at Dulles and loaded. Engine start and taxied to end
of runway.and sat there for 15-20 minutes in the cold and light rain.
I knew how much fuel the engines burned and began to wonder if we
would have enough to make the trip G After about 20 minutes the
Captain came on the speaker and said "there was freezing a few
thousand feet off the ground and that their rules required them to
have the duct heaters working and they weren't. Said they would
trouble shoot for a few more minutes and if they couldn't find the
problem they would taxi back and Mech would fix so we could get
underway."

We sat for a few more minutes and the Capt came back on and in a
jovial voice said they "had found the problem and it was the circuit
breaker which they reset and the heaters were working so sit back and
enjoy the flight".

Hearing this I was about ready to get out of the aircraft. If it took
the crew 25 minutes to check the circuit breaker on a inop electrical
circuit on the ground what would they do if they had a bad emergency
while airborne?

At about that time they started passing out the booze and that calmed
me down G A couple of Martini's before dinner always does.

Flight to DFW was at .98+ (no super sonic over the USA). Some people
were disappointed at not going super sonic but I'd been many times in
"Heavy Iron" so no big deal.

Landing at DFW was the smoothest I have ever sat through in a airline
bird. Couldn't tell when the wheels were rolling. Flew the nose down
for a smooth touch down of nose gear. This technique made up for the
problems at Dulles G Of course I'd been drinking Martini's (stirred
not shaken as Bond used to say) the whole trip (before, during and
after dinner).

Wished the crew a Merry Xmas and hopped the 'Cattle Car' (South West)
to Houston and my family.

Home before midnight Xmas Eve and a wonderful Christmas was had by all
that year with Dad home.

Big John

Braniff quit flying the DFW-Dulles leg shortly after that.


On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 23:32:27 +0000, David CL Francis
wrote:

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 at 14:15:47 in message
, Paul Sengupta
wrote:

As I said in another post, I went to see it take off, didn't go to see it
land.
A sad day. Did you see it? Filton weren't allowing arrivals at all on the
day and there was a NOTAM with a 7 mile 4000ft restriction.

Yes we saw it, I posted separately.

Must have been great when it first started flying. All the hopes and dreams
of the future. It was a year before I was born. My "defining moment" as
far as Concorde was concerned was when Blue Peter (children's TV
programme for those reading outside the UK) had live (?) coverage of
when the BA and Air France Concordes flew transatlantic and met
nose to nose...1977?

Yes it was but the oil crisis which sent fuel prices soaring and the
activities of the anti people, here and in the USA and that no country
would allow supersonic flight over its land meant that it would never
sell enough to recoup its costs.

What was Brian like as a person? I've read his autobiography and would
have loved to have been able to sit and listen to his stories in person.

He was great and very kind, however he was not very talkative. If you
met him in the street you might well think he was a successful farmer
rather than a test pilot. I knew him best when he was General manager
at Filton and I did a similar job in the weapons division.
I've
met Bob Hoover, now I want to meet Neville Duke, Chuck Yeager, and
maybe Neil Amstrong :-) ... just to say I've met them. Read Bob Hoover
and Chuck Yeager's autobiographies, in the middle of reading Neville Duke's.
One chap I work with occasionally at Brooklands Museum is Spud, who
was Barnes Wallace's assistant. He's now 86 (? Something like that) and
he's been working on the site since he was 14!

I have a friend in Philadelphia who is an ex test pilot, flight
instructor and Commercial pilot. He knew Chuck Yeager. Many years ago I
went to a talk in London by Chuck Yeager. I can't remember all the
details but at one point he said (referring to a flight when the
aircraft tumbled at high altitude), "After I uncaged my eyeballs!"

In the summer I visited the Neil Armstrong Space Museum at Wapakaneta in
Ohio which is his home town, quite a small town but he was born there
and I believe still lives there. The Museum is quite good.

If you want to see a few pictures and read some pdf files about my
Concorde ride and my short 'flight' in the Concorde simulator go to my
rather amateur web site at

http://www.dclf.demon.co.uk/