Not the best picture but found this chap lurking in the trees near the small lake/nature area behind where I live. Makes a change from ducks and moorhens!
Ive not, but been up close on open days at filton. Missed my chance when they were doing 'pleasure flights', either subsonic to Heathrow from Bristol or super sonic down to the Bay of Biscay. Know a few people who did. Have flown the flight simulator though. Not on a pc, the one they used for training pilots. You don't so much get into the cockpit, you more put it on
Concorde was elegant, but a real beast. Flew on an experience flight from Heathrow to Paris. It would normally be a 30 minute sub sonic hop just to get there, but they took us on a 2 hour jaunt out over the Bay of Biscay to experience the performance of the thing - simply awesome. We had a third pilot on board just to do commentary on everything from the roll out onto the runway - he was brilliant. He told us they normally took on about 95 tons of fuel for the trans atlantic trip but that morning they needed less than half of that. Because there was little or no luggage on board as well, be prepared for a low weight spectaular take off as the power to weight ratio was equivelent to a military fighter aircraft. Whoosh - we went up almost vertically - never experienced anything like that. When out over the sea he talked us through the acceleration procedures and told us to keep an eye on the digital mach display on the front bulkhead. First he said you'll feel a little kick in the back when they switched the afterburners on and he wasn't joking either. Out over the Bay of biscay they opened up the beast. Went through Mach 1 with a jolt throught the aircraft and the display climbed upwards eventually going through Mach 2 with a cheer from all on board. Also invited into the cockpit which was indeed a very small and cramped area. A bit queasy inducing when they did banked turns and dropping heights like a stone made you feel weightless but something I'll never forget nor will ever experience again. Had the weekend in Paris and the return on the Eurostar through the tunnel was somewhat slower but also enjoyable.
It was a similar thing we missed out on. They started them for the 21st anniversary I think it was, run from Filton. They were so popular others carried on doing them. I do regret not having made a trip. After the initial trips by BAe, Bristol Airport started planning trips. The shortfall in their planning was the length of their runway. Not big enough. Only realised after they'd sold a plane full of tickets. It really was a small plane. I remember seeing one on a stand at heathrow next to a 747 which brought home its size.
Just watching the Queen leaving Edinburgh aboard a C-17 Globemaster.. Another awesome aircraft and one I've been fortunate to have a good root around on up at Brize (sadly not airborne though). Also had a play on the flight sim and loadmaster training rigs.
Anyone notice the tail number ? When viewed upside down it spells *****is that a nice touch or is it luck ?
This morning's job was to take 8 lambs to the slaughterhouse. Butcher will collect them tomorrow and we'll deliver them as boxed meat on the weekend.
Not FLOWN on it, but my dad worked at the Rolls Royce factory in Filton (Bristol) and when I was a kid he took me to one of them in its hanger and we walked up and down it and sat in the cockpit.
