I hope Virgin revives them, I would like to fly in one someday.
Posted on 05/28/2003 9:28:46 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
Paris (dpa) - With the cessation of its Concorde flights just days
away, Air France said Wednesday it would donate four of its remaining
five supersonic aircraft to aeronautic institutions around the world.
''The Concorde belongs to aviation's and humanity's heritage,'' Air
France said in a press statement.
The Concordes will go to the Technical Museum in Sinsheim, Germany;
the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington D.C.; the Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget, France; and
to the European air manufacturer Airbus in Toulouse, France.
The fifth Air France Concorde will be displayed at Charles de
Gaulle Airport, north of Paris.
Not far from that airport, an Air France Concorde crashed in July
2000, killing 113 people, a disaster that contributed to the decision
by Air France and British Airways, the only carriers to fly the
Concorde, to stop its commercial supersonic service.
Air France will stop flying its Concordes this Saturday, while
British Airways said it would cease service at the end of October.
Hermann Layher, director of the German museum, which two months ago
trussed a jumbo jet at rooftop level on one of its sites, welcomed the
donation, for which the museum will pay a token 1 euro.
The Concorde would be flown to nearby Baden Airport in late June,
with the museum paying for crew and aviation fuel, then taken in
pieces to the museum.
The Sinsheim Technical Museum already has a Tupolev 144, the Soviet
equivalent of the drop-nose Concorde, on its Sinsheim site and wanted
to complete the set.
At its other site in Speyer, 30 kilometres away, a retired Boeing
747 was hoisted onto a giant pylon in March to be displayed like an
outsized toy.
It's a little claustrophic, as the cabin is noticeably shorter and narrower than other trans-oceanic commercial aircraft.
The flying sensation is nothing unusual, tho it is fun to watch the "speedometer" tick thru Mach 1.0.
The best part was NO jet lag! Breakfast at home, lunch on board, and a late dinner in Paris before hitting the sack.
A Concorde hanging from the rafters next to the Wright Bros contraption. The beginning and the end. Complete cycle.
Please add a little video tape loop near the display of Jay Leno's joke;
"The French should be proud, it's the first time they actually killed any Germans"
Guess I'll have to splurge on something else>
Not necessarily, Virgin Airlines may pick up the British planes and put them into service, stay tuned.
Aren't they about done with the Smithsonian Museum extension out at Dulles Airport? Wouldn't that be where they'd put it along with the Shuttle and the Enola Gay? Atleast, wasn't that the plan at one point?
Also, I believe they'd been grandfathered in under noise abatement regs. A friend who lives under a main runway at JFK, and hears literally hundreds of planes a week, said she can ALWAYS tell when the Concorde is taking off.
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
Pretty cool, looks like it'll definitely be a trip worth taking.
Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility
...and it even has a webcam so you can see the employees eating lunch in their workshop!
Branson is said to have an interest in them, but for exactly what use we aren't certain. Given their voracious fuel appetite, a regular schedule of departures might not be in the works, but another possibility is some kind of extremely high-dollar charter fleet - something to attract customers such as the Sultan of Brunei and celebs or other outrageously-rich individuals who don't mind paying for what would become a very elite privilege. If Branson IS interested, you can bet good money that he already has his plans firmly in mind and his target market brilliantly scoped out.
Michael
NCL has redone the interior of the old "France" over time, but vestiges of its heritage remain. We've never sailed her, but people who have say its entirely possible to go on a 7-day cruise and not be able to explore all the various public rooms. The original layout was said to be REALLY over the top in terms of Grand Gaullist Machismo. She IS big, to be sure, at least by standards that existed until recent years. Now, there are so many "mega-ships" that her size alone is no longer that spectacular.
Michael
It was actually an interview with Branson himself where I heard him express this. I'll bet he could get the planes at really really good prices, that might help. He did mention trying to have more than one class on board so more people could fly it. I agree, he's a smart cookie, and Virgin is a very nice airline to fly.
I was on the Norway in a bad storm in the Carribean, She rode it out without a fuss due to her deep keel. The other newer shallower draft vessels sustained quite a few passengers who got bumped and banged up in the passageways. Her deep draft also kept her from docking in most of the Carribean ports of call, she had to anchor in the harbor and shuttle the passengers to shore on 2 75 ton landing craft that she carried on her foredeck.
NCL is really forcing the ship into the Carib market where she's not really at home. But that's where all the cheap cruises go and NCL has to compete. Does the ship really use LST's instead of the normal ships' tenders?
Michael
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