Concorde: The thrilling account of history’s most extraordinary airliner

Product Information

Above all it is a thrilling, revelatory, intimate and insightful account by the man who knew her best. I proceed to yell with such excitement whilst glued to the window “Concorde, look Grandma Concorde” that everyone, not just the other children on board stared and marvelled at her. This non-fiction account of Concorde (and Mike Bannister’s life story too, which is just as impressive and interesting) is, in a word, fascinating.

Mike has offered a fresh perspective, and this is an all-round good read that is highly recommended. America, envious because its own civilian supersonic project came to nothing, initially blocked British Airways and Air France - the aircraft was a joint Anglo-French project - from flying Concorde to the USA. His character shows through his book, one which to me embodies what I believe to be the perfect pilot; assured, fair and passionate about what he does but humble enough to admit his mistakes. Mike also provides a novel glimpse at what it meant to be an airline pilot in the glory days of post-war air travel. But that perhaps is what makes it interesting - yet if you are looking into deep insights into the background of Concorde’s design and build, you aren’t going to get it.

Another option would have been to sit there and burn fuel until they'd got their weight down to the performance-limited weight figure. What is of somewhat shocking interest is the large volume devoted to the real story of the crash of Air France 4590. It was Concorde's only crash in 27 years, but it forced the grounding of the BA fleet while new features - including stronger tyres and Kevlar fibre lining in the wingborne fuel tanks - were introduced. I’ve been captivated by her my entire life and so couldn’t be more thrilled to be publishing Mike’s wonderful book.

With no passengers or baggage, the aircraft weighed 120 tonnes, but she could carry 65 more tonnes, so we had 65 tonnes of excess thrust available - that's a lot of power. The author makes a convincing case that Concorde was already on fire due to a wheel modification Air France, unlike British Airways, had failed to make, before it hit a piece of metal belonging to a Continental Airlines DC10 which had just taken off, and also that the plane’s fuel tanks had been overfilled, leaving no space for the energy of impact to be absorbed which then caused a fire to ignite, that the crew hadn’t taken account of a headwind and the aircraft was overweight, with the result it took off at a speed which was too slow which ensured it couldn’t reach nearby Le Bourget airport for an emergency landing and evacuation.

The opportunity to fly the supersonic plane came when he was in his 20s and he was a fully qualified Concorde pilot while still in his twenties. But the brilliant cross-Channel avionic collaboration first forged in 1962 was tested to the limit when one of the French aircraft crashed shortly after take-off in Paris in 2000, killing 113 people. This is important for the reader to understand just how much of a technical achievement Concorde was, especially in the age it came from as well as the political achievement it represented for Britain, France and their respective Airlines. Our 25 metre pool is ideal for you to enjoy a whole range of activities, whether it's for fitness, learning to swimor our fun family swim sessions. We are proud to be associated with both Brooklands restoration and the Le Bourget Conservation team so the pool of knowledge is immense.

The Concorde Experience runs every day the Museum is open and requires both a Museum admission ticket and an additional Concorde Experience ticket to be purchased. Add to this the entire list of anecdotes obtained from his experience as Concordes Chief Pilot and you arrive at a book, that tells the story of this magnificent machine from a technical, but also emotional perspective.Now he shares the inside story of this unique and awe-inspiring aircraft for the first time, including his role in the investigation to uncover what really happened when Concorde fell to earth on 25th July 2000. The Paris crash is a big part of the second half of the book and it was interesting to read again what happened and the various investigations. The book isn’t overly heavy on acronyms or jargon, Mike explains it all very simply to the non-flyer too. I don't mean this as a criticism but the real subject of this book is the relationship between the author and Concorde which, fortunately for a non-flying reader with little interested in the politics of getting the whole project going, starts once she is already flying.

Our varied timetable includesLes Mills favourites BODYCOMBAT™, BODYPUMP™ and BODYATTACK™ and traditional classes like Pilates, Aerobics and Step. Concorde is an enthralling personal account of what it takes to fly planes faster than the speed of sound, and of the events that lay behind 114 needless deaths- the 113 victims of the crash and, ultimately, Concorde herself. For over 10 years he was extensively involved as an expert witness and lead technical advisor in the 'Air France Concorde Trial. They claimed to object to the noise but Boeing’s SST would have been just as noisy if it had been built.Flying over Windsor Castle, she once remarked: "I can see my sister's home - the Royal Standard is flying. I throughly encourage those who read this to listen to the audiobook so that the man himself can regale you with his and Concordes story in a level of depth both aviation professionals and non professionals will enjoy. While the first part wasn't what I was reading for, it was instrumental in laying a foundation for the reader who may be a lay-person in aviation. In the cockpit, the baffling array of dials and switches looks ready to burst into life and stir from slumber the four mighty Rolls-Royce Olympus engines that were once capable of taking these stunning aircraft to Mach 2 - twice the speed of sound.