In Motoring's annual Christmas Road Test, we settle into the cramped flight deck of the Concorde
"They taped up the windows in our local pub when Concorde first flew in the late Sixties. The mysterious sonic boom was the subject of fevered speculation and lurid newspaper graphics. Would it smash the nearby greenhouses of Efford horticultural research station, or split the sails of yachts in The Solent, or even burst our eardrums? Every car backfire or distant thunderclap would have us staring fearfully into menacing skies. Was that “The Boom”?
London calling: Mike Bannister gives Andrew English his instructions as they 'fly' Concorde over the capital in the supersonic aircraft's actual simulator that is now based at Brooklands
We are in the Concorde simulator, part of Brooklands Museum’s Concorde Experience, including its own Concorde,
G-BBDG. More than 30 per cent of the aircraft, including the tail assembly, was made at Brooklands and the original agreement to build the aircraft was signed there.
This is a real Concorde flight deck, turned into a simulator by Link-Miles, with electrical systems from Redifon Flight Simulation. It cost about £3 million, went into service in 1975 and was originally perched on six hydraulic jacks, which simulated pitch, roll, yaw, heave, sway and surge. The vision system received a £3 million revamp in 1987, with a convex mirror giving pilots 165 degrees of vision. Over 28 years, 134 British Airways pilots and 57 flight engineers were trained on the simulator, with a full course lasting 76 hours.
"Co-pilot? That’ll be Captain Mike Bannister, chief Concorde pilot and owner of the sauciest laugh that ever escaped a man with gold braid on his sleeves. It was Capt Bannister who piloted Concorde at 300ft up The Mall in formation with the Red Arrows in 2002 for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. “I could see Her Majesty standing on the balcony,” he says, “it was astoundingly emotional.”
"They taped up the windows in our local pub when Concorde first flew in the late Sixties. The mysterious sonic boom was the subject of fevered speculation and lurid newspaper graphics. Would it smash the nearby greenhouses of Efford horticultural research station, or split the sails of yachts in The Solent, or even burst our eardrums? Every car backfire or distant thunderclap would have us staring fearfully into menacing skies. Was that “The Boom”?
London calling: Mike Bannister gives Andrew English his instructions as they 'fly' Concorde over the capital in the supersonic aircraft's actual simulator that is now based at Brooklands
We are in the Concorde simulator, part of Brooklands Museum’s Concorde Experience, including its own Concorde,
G-BBDG. More than 30 per cent of the aircraft, including the tail assembly, was made at Brooklands and the original agreement to build the aircraft was signed there.
This is a real Concorde flight deck, turned into a simulator by Link-Miles, with electrical systems from Redifon Flight Simulation. It cost about £3 million, went into service in 1975 and was originally perched on six hydraulic jacks, which simulated pitch, roll, yaw, heave, sway and surge. The vision system received a £3 million revamp in 1987, with a convex mirror giving pilots 165 degrees of vision. Over 28 years, 134 British Airways pilots and 57 flight engineers were trained on the simulator, with a full course lasting 76 hours.
"Co-pilot? That’ll be Captain Mike Bannister, chief Concorde pilot and owner of the sauciest laugh that ever escaped a man with gold braid on his sleeves. It was Capt Bannister who piloted Concorde at 300ft up The Mall in formation with the Red Arrows in 2002 for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. “I could see Her Majesty standing on the balcony,” he says, “it was astoundingly emotional.”