Concorde Cockpit Onboard Videos

[Spitfire]

Just found this sequence on YT ...... found it very interesting ... sorry if you've all seen it before - I hadn't

I just watched all the way through all of them - spellbound Love it - so atmospheric

Take off London



Acceleration through Mach 1.0



Deceleration from Mach 2.0 - descend (rapidly!) and land New York



Was going to put this in YT threads but thought it warranted a thread of its own

Just found another - take off from JFK -- Roger's the man eh - he does the most work it seems

[Mackrick]

Nice find and yes I agree it belongs in its own thread.

[Stevieboy]

Very nice. Thankyou Spitfire.

Liked the take off clip. No messing when selecting take off power. Wacked the throttles wide open.

[Wedgy]

Oh yes!!

Liked the take off clip. No messing when selecting take off power. Wacked the throttles wide open.

Absolutely!
At 2:40 in the first video, the video doesn't do it justice. If I forget everything about my Concorde trip, I will NEVER forget the feeling of being shoved back in my seat at takeoff. It was wonderful to see that this is due to the throttle being shoved

[Spitfire]

Yes - when I flew the on board commentator said "Ladies and Gentlemen I think we can promise you a .. sporting take off"
The crew brought the reheats in in pairs and you could feel the thump in your back as they ignited. Then as Wedgy says with no luggage on board she was very light and at throttle up she just streaked forward - the commentator read off the speeds and it was astounding how quickly she accelerated.

I too was amazed to see the throttles go forward on the video - no gentle easing there then Off we go chaps

[Dan4th]

I've watched a lot of airliner cockpit videos,
but that's the first time I've ever heard the
word "reheat" mentioned!

Thanks, David, watched it all TWICE (!) and
not done watching it yet!

Dan4th

[RLN]

Good stuff David. Thanks.

Just watched it again - fantastic clips.

[Spitfire]

I actually found the Concorde clips by accident when I was stooging around looking at aeroplane stuff and found videos made by nerds at Manchester airport (where you can get really close to the runway end) of plane after plane taking off

That led me to 747 videos of the same kind at it suddenly struck me how VERY VERY small the cockpit looks on a 747 when coming towards you real close up - and the blokes inside even smaller.... that led me to this sequence that I won't post in YT form just the URLs ......747 take off sequence - through flight and landing with some very good pilot commentary...............

I know its a lot but watch them all - they are really brilliant and you learn loads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHmIR1JJXyw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UUQr6T4EZ0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnTBw1JPjow&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-tvYVNC60M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EqXNXWxWdk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl-TWH93qTY&feature=related

That then led me to the same thing with Concorde - and there we are full circle

Just added a 4th at the top - take off from JFK - Hail Roger

[RLN]

That's fascinating. Exactly how I do it in FSX

[Spitfire]

See here just how small a 747 400 cockpit looks in comparison to the bulk of the aircraft - and see how it seems to get smaller as it gets nearer and nearer
When you can see the pilots they look like dolls they're so small

Then when the video pans back at take off - it really hits you just how small the flight deck is as a part of the whole ( )

[Dan4th]

In Mid-December of 1970, I flew on Pan-Am from
Boston (Logan BOS) to Amsterdam (Schipol) on a 747.
We ultimately landed at Brussels due to weather.
That was (Hmmmmm) over 38 years ago. I was sitting
in the aftmost section of the aircraft with all the
"Hippies". It was a wonderful flight which I will never
forget. Ain't it funny how we all still love this aircraft?

My return trip had the 747 lose #3 engine on climb-out
and diverted to LHR which resulted in my only VC-10
flight on or about Feb. 11, 1971. The BOAC girl chose
me for going on the VC-10 due to the fact I was wearing
nice shoes!!!!!!!!!!

I went First Class, Too!!!!!!!!!!!!

SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan4th

[RLN]

Must have been your New England charm Dan4th

[Saracenman]

excellent post - thank you Spitfire!

two comments in relation that you all might find interesting:

1) you might notice just how much the flight-crew bounce around when taxiing - one of Concorde's unique 'features'! i used to speak with Concorde crews on a daily basis, and they all said that it was something that many of them never got used to - in fact some even felt sick because of it!

because Concorde's nose leg was SO far back, and that the fuselage was so narrow, the flightdeck would sometimes bounce up and down by as much as 2 feet when taxiing on uneven taxy-ways! in fact Concorde avoided certain airports because of this - the worst i believe was Athens, where it was all but impossible to operate because the crew would get bounced around so much!

2) Concorde's ability to 'supercruise' without reheat - it's unique feature, as the Captain said. it was this factor that the Russians never solved with their Tu-144, which could only maintain M1+ with reheat.

contrary to popular belief, this has very little to do with the performance of the engines - it's all to do with the ingenious intake ramp system, to which the Captain referred. this was the main purpose of prototype 002, now retired at Yeovilton - she spent six years developing the computers that control the intakes. the fact that the Olympus engines could maintain M2+ by taking in sub-sonic air seems like witchcraft to me!

lastly, as an interesting bit of trivia - those same computers developed on 002 were removed and held under lock and key, by BA/AF engineers when each service-aircraft was retired. why?

because they are still on the official secrets list!

sm

[Spitfire]

Strange you should say that as I did notice the bouncing

And i do remember from my flight being told by the on board commentator about the engines taking in subsonic air at Mach 2 - as you say - witchcraft

[Bubbles]

The ramps slowed the air down and also compressed it, thus effectively adding another compressor stage to the engines and giving ithem greater performance.clever int it!

[Gully]

Great find - those Concorde films are superb! Good to see Cpt. David Rowland in his life before becoming current President of the Royal Aeronautical Society. His talk on Concorde at the VTTSC Members Day was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon (aside from DT auctioning Mayfly, of course... ).

Brings it home to you just what a staggering achievement Concorde was. A sadly missed spectacle in our skies .

Also nice to see the Olympus handling test: straight slam for take-off! None of this messing around with slow advance to 80%, then opening further once rolling!!

Thanks for posting those - shall be watching again for certain.

Gully

[Saracenman]

The ramps slowed the air down and also compressed it, thus effectively adding another compressor stage to the engines and giving ithem greater performance.clever int it!

not completely right - the ramp system was vital to slow the air down yes, but as far as almost being an additional compressor stage - no not really

the whole point was that the Olympus would've broken up had air at M1+ reached it - therefore, the ramps actually generated a shockwave to form a protective 'barrier' between the engines and the rapidly approaching air

that was the reason for compressing it, not for the benefit of producing pre-compressed air for the engines, but to stop the engines being destroyed by allowing a shockwave to form inside the engine itself

sm

[Gully]

The ramps slowed the air down and also compressed it, thus effectively adding another compressor stage to the engines and giving ithem greater performance.clever int it!

not completely right - the ramp system was vital to slow the air down yes, but as far as almost being an additional compressor stage - no not really

the whole point was that the Olympus would've broken up had air at M1+ reached it - therefore, the ramps actually generated a shockwave to form a protective 'barrier' between the engines and the rapidly approaching air

that was the reason for compressing it, not for the benefit of producing pre-compressed air for the engines, but to stop the engines being destroyed by allowing a shockwave to form inside the engine itself

sm

The following from Olympus: The Inside Story may be of interest:

"To achieve optimum operating performance, a jet engine needs to be supplied with air at a local Mach number of about 0.5 at the engine face, and this shold be maintained irrespective of whether the aeroplane is flying at low speed close to the ground or cruising at Mach 2 in the stratosphere. A simple intake cannot achieve this as at supersonic speeds shockwaves, if not carefully controlled, can move down the intake throat causing severe distortion and loss of efficiency. The complexity of a variable intake is necessary to ensure that the engine is supplied with the correct amount of air at the correct Mach number at all times, in other words it ensures that the mass flows of the engine and intake are correctly matched for all phases of flight.

The Concorde nacelle was designed with a two-dimensional external compression intake. That is to say all the shockwaves generated by the sharp leading edges remained ahead of the intake, the velocity of the air being reduced to about 0.9 Mach number. The intake throat had a variable convergent-divergent section formed by the front and rear ramps, between which there was an air bleed used to control the position of the shocks. There were four shockwaves, the last attaching to the lower lip of the intake and never inclining any further rearwards than the trailing edge of the front ramp.An auxiliary intake was fitted in the intake floor, which also had the function of dumping excess air during periods of low engine demand. At supersonic cruise, the temperature of the air entering the engine was around 153 degrees C."

Gully

[Saracenman]

yeah - basically what i said

[Spitfire]

What I love about the films - having just watched them again - is how bored the co-pilot looks all the time

Looks like he's only just managing to stay awake

[Gully]

yeah - basically what i said

With added techiness!!

Gully

[Mayfly]

Great find - those Concorde films are superb! Good to see Cpt. David Rowland in his life before becoming current President of the Royal Aeronautical Society. His talk on Concorde at the VTTSC Members Day was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon (aside from DT auctioning Mayfly, of course... ).

Brings it home to you just what a staggering achievement Concorde was. A sadly missed spectacle in our skies .

Also nice to see the Olympus handling test: straight slam for take-off! None of this messing around with slow advance to 80%, then opening further once rolling!!

Thanks for posting those - shall be watching again for certain.

Gully

As an said & slightly off topic Dave Rowlands is a super guy who is very supportive of 665 & I would expect him to be at 655s run day in June

[Gully]

Great find - those Concorde films are superb! Good to see Cpt. David Rowland in his life before becoming current President of the Royal Aeronautical Society. His talk on Concorde at the VTTSC Members Day was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon (aside from DT auctioning Mayfly, of course... ).

Brings it home to you just what a staggering achievement Concorde was. A sadly missed spectacle in our skies .

Also nice to see the Olympus handling test: straight slam for take-off! None of this messing around with slow advance to 80%, then opening further once rolling!!

Thanks for posting those - shall be watching again for certain.

Gully

As an said & slightly off topic Dave Rowlands is a super guy who is very supportive of 665 & I would expect him to be at 655s run day in June

Yep - and the MaPS 655 dvd that Dave Rowland presents is superb! Includes him interviewing Mike Pollitt, Andy Marsden and a certain DT: extremely informative!

Gully

[Bubbles]

The ramps slowed the air down and also compressed it, thus effectively adding another compressor stage to the engines and giving ithem greater performance.clever int it!

not completely right - the ramp system was vital to slow the air down yes, but as far as almost being an additional compressor stage - no not really

the whole point was that the Olympus would've broken up had air at M1+ reached it - therefore, the ramps actually generated a shockwave to form a protective 'barrier' between the engines and the rapidly approaching air

that was the reason for compressing it, not for the benefit of producing pre-compressed air for the engines, but to stop the engines being destroyed by allowing a shockwave to form inside the engine itself

sm

The extra performance from the comressed air was a added bonus if you like. kind of by accident of design