What it was like to pilot the supersonic Concorde jet

daydreamer · 2026-01-24T09:42:12Z

This article on CNN will be interesting for all you aviation enthusiasts...... I'm looking at you, @PeterRS.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/what-it-was-like-concorde-pilot

PeterRS · 2026-01-24T10:55:11Z

1 hour ago, daydreamer said:

This article on CNN will be interesting for all you aviation enthusiasts...... I'm looking at you, @PeterRS.

Ha! Sadly I am not a pilot and would not have a clue how to fly any aircraft. I assume you refer to the one time I was upgraded from a business class ticket. I managed to get seat 3A as I did not want to be close to the engines and assumed that the back would be a lot noisier. The service on board was excellent but business class nowadays in some airlines is way better, certainly in terms of having tons more room and flat bed seats - Concorde was cramped and the seats would not even be as good as premium economy nowadays - and often also in terms of the food. Being able to board direct fron the Concorde lounge was certainly a major benefit, as was the guarantee that bags would be on the carousel at JFK not later than 15 minutes after reaching the gate. I could not complain about the free limo into Manhattan either!

I suppose my only gripe was that try as I did I could not see the curvature of the earth! I can only assume that I probably over-imbibed in the Concorde Lounge and on board that my eyes played tricks on me! But that thrust on take-off was amazing as was the steeper angle of ascent.