Concordeconcordeconcorde

[gfish]

The Concorde destined to become the Boeing Museum of Flight's latest lawn ornament arrived today. It was supposed to land at 15:00, so vixyish and I went down with 45 minutes to spare. After some ATM hunting antics, we had 30 minutes to spare. Plenty of time. So we're driving down East Marginal Way, the main access road for Boeing Field, and we start to see crowds of people.

"Heh," we say to each other. "Look at all the people waiting for the Concorde."

"That's odd," we say. "There is 30 minutes to go, yet everyone is facing the same way. Many of them are pointing or shielding their eyes from glare. And some of them seem to be taking pictures of the empty air above the far end of the runway, as if that particular space contained something of interest."

"Maybe it's just me," one of us says. "But I think I see a large plane on final approach."

"You're right," says the other. "It sure has a triangular profile. It kind of reminds me of the Greek letter delta."

So we swerve across traffic into the nearest parking lot that bordered Boeing Field, come to a screeching halt, jump out of the car and see:


(Image links to a full resolution version, 815K in size.)

In conclusion, yay for the minor mutant superpower of amazing timing.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

When I was going to NYC a lot, I'd see one sitting at La Guardia, looking like a piece of modern art, and I always desperately wanted to fly on one. Drat.

Guess I'll just have to DIY a supersonic jet some day.

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it arrived just early enough that all the children out waiting to see it didn't get to do so. :-/ Those were some disappointed kids on the playground.

[shadowblue.livejournal.com]

From what I've heard, it sounds kind of like flying on some rocket from the 60's space exploration.

I of course would like to do that, too...

But using it for actual everyday transport? That was kind of a crazy idea. Mid-20th-century craziness. :)

[kethet.livejournal.com]

I used to live in a neighborhood that was pretty much under the flight path in and out of Dulles (DC); every day, like clockwork, at 11ish in the morning and 4ish in the afternoon, the air would rumble and groan and a pretty needlenose would be cutting through the sky overhead. I got to see one leave a few times from Dulles, courtesy of my dad. I wanted to see the one going to the NASM annex when it came in a few years ago, but I had to work. I'll happily settle for seeing it on display when the annex opens.

More recently, on the way back from Trinidad in August, we had a stopover in Barbados. It was longer than most, because of the customs procedures et al., so I took the chance to try to doze a little in my seat. I couldn't which was good, because at one point I glanced out the window and parked on the ramp next to us was a Concorde that had not been there when we landed. I managed to get some pictures of it.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I hope we'll see it happen again, actually. There are plenty of really-amazingly-close-to-transonic aircraft on the drawing boards and ramps. I'm hoping that if Fallows is right about the revolution of light aircraft and regional jet service, there will be more of a demand for it, and if NASA's destructive-interference-sonic-boom technology takes off, more acceptance for it.

[shadowblue.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I definitely am not discouraging it, I was just sort of making fun of using the Concorde at this point in technological development. We can do really cool *other* things now, and we should.

I dont' think I've heard about this destructive interference thing before. Oh, I might have. The boom without a boom? I'll have to google for it.

I've been mildly obsessed with flight of late. I mean, I am normally obsessed, but it's been peaking lately. If I have any real income next year I am going to have to do some flying. Or explode.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

Supersonic transport is cool, but what I'd kind of like to see would be a return to big, slow luxury transport. Airships might be cool, though of course you don't get a lot of payload for the overall size of the thing. But my parents have been going on cruises over the past few years, and they really like the convenience of going somewhere new every day or two without having to switch rooms or spend time in a cramped airplane. The problem, though, is that cruise ships only go to ports. Wouldn't it be neat to board some sort of air vehicle in, say, Boston and fly across the Atlantic, and then go anywhere in Europe? Or Africa? Or fly across the US and get to stop over at neat places over the course of a week?