Andrew Godden 945 Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Suffice to say, the five days on Santa Maria with Bianca and Naomi went far too quickly and it was once again time to take to the skies. Earlier in the day I had seen a sight for sore eyes, the "Concorde", and in a retro Air France livery, on approach into Santa Maria (LPAZ). Now, other than the fact the "Concorde" had been retired for 10 years, this wasn't unusual, as LPAZ was often used for refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas. I remember seeing this beautiful, graceful bird up close on the ramp at Sydney (YSSY) in 2000 and I was amazed how low the outer wing trailing edge drooped, such that I could actually reach up and touch it. I couldn't resist seeing it again and headed out to the airport. There was a hive of maintenance activity around the aircraft, LAMEs and pilots engaged in excited levels of conversation in French and with plenty of gesticulating. As far as I could make out, one of the fuel pumps on the centre line tanks had failed. The 92 passengers had paid a small national debt to once again relive the experience of an around the world supersonic flight and hadn't got very far. A replacement fuel pump was en route from Paris, but also inbound was the latest tropical storm for the 2013 season and it was heading straight for Santa Maria. Tropical Storm "Sharon" was increasing in intensity and it was going to be here before the fuel pump. Naturally, the Captain didn't want to risk being caught in the storm and was arguing with the maintenance guys about the release of the aircraft. Apparently his plan was to do a series of shorter legs, within the now reduced fuel capacity of the aircraft. With that, the First Officer told the Captain he was crazy, and stormed off, the Captain abusing him as he left and stating he will never fly for Air France ever again. An opening, I thought to myself and never being one to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, I presented myself to the Captain. OK, it took a well presented argument, but I convinced him he had a replacement First Officer and either we made a decision about a morning departure tomorrow or deal with the consequences. I offered to talk to the head of maintenance and, with a little persuasion, I secured the release of the aircraft. You have never seen a happier Frenchman and he was so excited he didn't even ask how I did it. With the two smaller centre line tanks out of the equation, this left a reduced planning capacity of about 36,000 lbs of fuel. However, some judicious flight planning and economic climbing would leave enough reserves for the 2,000 nm flight to Bermuda (TXKF). All I had to do now was wait until tomorrow morning to live a dream. How can you not get excited when greeted with this. Soon I was living the dream of piloting the Concorde. Settling in to an economic climb profile, fuel burn was better than planned. We were soon at our cruise altitude and passing through Mach 1 and then Mach 2. TOD, it was time to head earthwards again and after 2,000 nm in just under four hours we were safe on the ground at Bermuda (TXKF) and this dream was over. Cheers Andrew Link to post Share on other sites
rosariomanzo 545 Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 What an aircraft! Very nice shots. Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Nice Andrew mate. I hope the ladies didn't wear you out too much. Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 When I was younger the BA midday concord flight would go over my parents house, having just taken off from Heathrow, you could set your watch by her. Mum and sisters complained it was too loud. dad and I just gawped! Great leg, and fantastic aircraft, nice one! Link to post Share on other sites
DaveLeafNiles 0 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Love that Concorde! Nicely flown, Andrew (and written about!) Kind regards, Dave Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,316 Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Reminds of when I used to do some roofing near JFK, you didn't need to look up to know when the Concord was in the air. Thanks for the memory and for the well written flight synopsis. Link to post Share on other sites
Kasper 14 Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Great flight Andrew - you have a nack of flying some of my favourite planes with on beautiful legs. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Wow flying first class, I love it, nice destination too! Link to post Share on other sites
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