Concorde RIP
23 October 2003, 01:48 AM
#62
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Why won't the gov't step in and either save concorde themselves or compel BA to let Virgin have a go- still from the people that brought you the millenium dome....
23 October 2003, 09:41 AM
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Nat........still does'nt make it right, after all We the taxpayer paid for it so I think we should have a say in what happens to it.
Cheers
Colin
Cheers
Colin
23 October 2003, 10:31 AM
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Nat
BA insiders claim that Airbus were quite happy to carry on the maintenance as its good business for them. I suspect its BA cutting costs and nothing more.
BA insiders claim that Airbus were quite happy to carry on the maintenance as its good business for them. I suspect its BA cutting costs and nothing more.
23 October 2003, 10:34 AM
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Is todays final landing at 4pm going to be on the web at all does anyone know? Would love to be at Heathrow to see it land but apparently the police are already expecting massive congestion plus I have to be at work. Watching on the web isnt ideal but at least will see it!
23 October 2003, 10:48 AM
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Managed to see her yesterday at Manchester Airport, watched the landing then they parked her in front of the aviation viewing park, amazing sight, great atmosphere. Got some really poor quality video of the whole thing for posterity 
23 October 2003, 12:36 PM
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My timetable last night.
17-11. Parked up next to the piano keys on 09L just as Speedbird 002 touchdown. Piled in the Landrover and chased her all the way to T4, along with God knows how many LandRovers and Police vans, all snapping away. At 18-30 I was, and i still cant believe this, sitting in the pilots seat! Died and gone to heaven springs to mind.
17-11. Parked up next to the piano keys on 09L just as Speedbird 002 touchdown. Piled in the Landrover and chased her all the way to T4, along with God knows how many LandRovers and Police vans, all snapping away. At 18-30 I was, and i still cant believe this, sitting in the pilots seat! Died and gone to heaven springs to mind.
23 October 2003, 07:14 PM
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Hi Tracey ...I was there from 11.00 until 12.00 lots of cars blocking the A38.just saw 2 RAF pumas passing at high speed over the runway..had to pick the kids up ,so didnt know what we were doing there?(lots of plane buffs there, so something was going on)..
jon
jon
23 October 2003, 07:30 PM
#81
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So who pulled up in an S Reg Silver wagon on the bridge that crosses the M25 on the old A4 at colnbrook this evening to have a nose at Concorde coming in from Cardiff
Get yourself a SS zaust
Get yourself a SS zaust
23 October 2003, 08:08 PM
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Just saw her go over for the final time heading outbound to NYC. 
Hard to believe I'll *never* see that sight or hear that wonderful racket again. It's sunk in now just what BA have done to this country's pride. I'll never fly with them again.
UB
Hard to believe I'll *never* see that sight or hear that wonderful racket again. It's sunk in now just what BA have done to this country's pride. I'll never fly with them again.
UB
23 October 2003, 08:12 PM
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Dont be too hard on the BA staff, from what i saw at LHR last night ( lots of tears ) they're just as sad as everyone else. Its the top bods who have done this, I thought Bob Ayling was a w**ker, but this aussie Eddington guy has no soul. What a tw@t.
[Edited by FlightMan - 10/23/2003 8:53:26 PM]
[Edited by FlightMan - 10/23/2003 8:53:26 PM]
23 October 2003, 09:53 PM
#85
Pontificating
I have been a customer of British Airways for over 19 years in the cargo sector and they have always been nothing short of a joke airline still trotting out the same old BS when they fail to load our cargo "sorry no one to take it to the aircraft" time after time, everytime they have a shake up they get rid of those that knew how to do the job and leave the overpaid under trained uninformed management to run the show, I complain to our sales rep who is the BA cargo sales manager and his reply is "dont use us then", WTF!!! the idiot prefers kissing corporate **** on the golf course. So I can see why the management at BA have made this decision, they are f*cking clueless, what a **** shower for our national airline.
On the otherhand I use Virgin to JFK everyday over all three of their flights and they have never failed to load anything, what a great airline, you just know that id Blair had the ***** to make BA sell the Concordes to Virgin it would have been a sucess.
Nat I was always under the impression BA had their own staff fully trained up by Aerospatiale and had all the parts at LHR, they dont fly down to the south of france for a service thats for sure its done at LHR - correct me if i'm wrong, things may have changed after Paris but I do recall seeing the BA crew in the local newspaper detailing what they had been doing on Concordes lattest refit and it mentioned that their was a crack team at BA who worked solely on maintaining Concorde.
For the record my old man worked at RAE (Farnborough) down in the wind tunnel and did all sorts of developement on Concorde and again at Rolls Royce working on the Olympus engines, he's be spinning in his urn now knowing that he and hundreds of colleagues pain staking work is to be stopped just like that, for financial reasons, no skilled engineer will ever accept that.
Its amazing to think that this country co built this extraordinary machine, is there anything left of Great British Engineering ?? nope we closed it all down flogged it off cheap and got everyone into IT.
On the otherhand I use Virgin to JFK everyday over all three of their flights and they have never failed to load anything, what a great airline, you just know that id Blair had the ***** to make BA sell the Concordes to Virgin it would have been a sucess.
Nat I was always under the impression BA had their own staff fully trained up by Aerospatiale and had all the parts at LHR, they dont fly down to the south of france for a service thats for sure its done at LHR - correct me if i'm wrong, things may have changed after Paris but I do recall seeing the BA crew in the local newspaper detailing what they had been doing on Concordes lattest refit and it mentioned that their was a crack team at BA who worked solely on maintaining Concorde.
For the record my old man worked at RAE (Farnborough) down in the wind tunnel and did all sorts of developement on Concorde and again at Rolls Royce working on the Olympus engines, he's be spinning in his urn now knowing that he and hundreds of colleagues pain staking work is to be stopped just like that, for financial reasons, no skilled engineer will ever accept that.
Its amazing to think that this country co built this extraordinary machine, is there anything left of Great British Engineering ?? nope we closed it all down flogged it off cheap and got everyone into IT.
23 October 2003, 11:50 PM
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Some interesting quotes relating to the first flight after the paris crash:
The Chief Executive of British Airways, Rod Eddington (who would fly on the first flight, in his favourite row 26 seat), explained to the Discovery channel, why they had decided to put Concorde back in service after September 11th:
"September 11th didn't change our belief that Concorde should go back into service, because our customers, the people who use the aircraft day in day out, were still in their hearts, absolutely sure they needed Concorde back in servcie."
Among the 90 passengers on the BA001 were representatives from government, big business, the aviation industry and celebrities. Those on board included the BA chief executive, Rod Eddington, who said his airline had taken more than 7,000 bookings for flights from London to New York and Barbados, with those bookings bringing in £20m. He went on to say that British business leaders had been invited on the flight to thank for their support. "Concorde is back and will be here for at least another decade."
Here is the problem, Rod Eddington is an Aussie and cant fecking count.
The Chief Executive of British Airways, Rod Eddington (who would fly on the first flight, in his favourite row 26 seat), explained to the Discovery channel, why they had decided to put Concorde back in service after September 11th:
"September 11th didn't change our belief that Concorde should go back into service, because our customers, the people who use the aircraft day in day out, were still in their hearts, absolutely sure they needed Concorde back in servcie."
Among the 90 passengers on the BA001 were representatives from government, big business, the aviation industry and celebrities. Those on board included the BA chief executive, Rod Eddington, who said his airline had taken more than 7,000 bookings for flights from London to New York and Barbados, with those bookings bringing in £20m. He went on to say that British business leaders had been invited on the flight to thank for their support. "Concorde is back and will be here for at least another decade."
Here is the problem, Rod Eddington is an Aussie and cant fecking count.
23 October 2003, 11:57 PM
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Sir Richard Branson has just been on Question Time. He said he has now given up trying to buy Concorde from BA, but he is trying to get labour party - heritage minister and BA to a meeting. He wants to keep all Concorde’s in the UK, just flying at air shows. He even stated that the planes could keep the BA colours.
Always thought Richard Branson was a decent chap.
COME ON BA, what is your problem???!!!
I for one will never fly BA again. No problem with the BA workers just the board of directors are stubborn w@nkers
Always thought Richard Branson was a decent chap.
COME ON BA, what is your problem???!!!
I for one will never fly BA again. No problem with the BA workers just the board of directors are stubborn w@nkers
24 October 2003, 08:38 AM
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Eddington was just on BBC1. Seemed to me like someone who did not realise the feeling that this would evoke and probably regrets the decision but arrogrance will not allow the decision to be overturned. When questioned about Branson he said that after this month Airbus would not give a "certificate to fly" (or something), I feel sure Branson would have looked into this before he made the offer to buy them.
The fact of the matter is BA do not make a profit, Concorde does not make a profit. Take out Concorde and the losses are less. BA is not the choice of the majority of people in this country now anyway, other airlines offer better, more competitvely priced services. Unfortunatley they do not have the routes that BA have.
I could go on but must get some work done so I can nip off early to get over to Heathrow.
The fact of the matter is BA do not make a profit, Concorde does not make a profit. Take out Concorde and the losses are less. BA is not the choice of the majority of people in this country now anyway, other airlines offer better, more competitvely priced services. Unfortunatley they do not have the routes that BA have.
I could go on but must get some work done so I can nip off early to get over to Heathrow.
24 October 2003, 09:09 AM
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3times
When the aircraft were fitted with the kevlar fuel tank protectors, they also had a lot of long term maintenance done and I don't believe for one minute that all of them would fail to get their CoA.
Millions were spent making sure the fleet were safe to fly for at least another 10 years and this just a few years ago. That line is Corporate Bull ****.
When the aircraft were fitted with the kevlar fuel tank protectors, they also had a lot of long term maintenance done and I don't believe for one minute that all of them would fail to get their CoA.
Millions were spent making sure the fleet were safe to fly for at least another 10 years and this just a few years ago. That line is Corporate Bull ****.
