Though Audrey Hepburn didn’t actually deliver that line in her 1954 film Sabrina, it’s widely attributed to her, and having lived in Paris for three years, I couldn’t agree more. To this day, I never need an excuse to go. I’d happily hop the pond to La Ville-Lumière for the opening of an envelope.

But on one day in April 2000, Paris became a great idea, an incredible idea, une très, très bonne idée—no, that’s not hyperbolic enough. On one April day, Paris became the best idea ever, as I booked myself on Air France Flights AF001 and AF002 aboard Concorde for a round trip from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG).

To say a flight on Concorde (not “the” Concorde) was unlike one on any other commercial aircraft is an understatement. The delta-winged Concorde was a truly unique airplane and an extraordinary feat of aeronautical engineering, especially for its time. Incorporating groundbreaking technologies like fly-by-wire, it was as stunning and graceful as it was swift, scorching the stratosphere at altitudes high enough to make a flat-earther blush. On my particular flights, we got up to FL580 and Mach 2.02—faster than a bullet and high enough to plainly see the curvature of the Earth.

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From its first flight a few months before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon to its first commercial flights in 1976—G-BOAA, London to Bahrain and F-BVFA, Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar, Senegal—to its final flights 27 years later, Concorde captured hearts, minds, and dreams around the world. Coincidentally, F-BVFA is also the airplane I flew on from New York City to Paris. It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 

Tuesday, October 24 marks the 20th anniversary of the final scheduled commercial flights of Concorde. On that day, British Airways Concorde G-BOAG, as BA002, took off from JFK, with chief pilot Mike Bannister at the controls, and landed at London’s Heathrow Airport (EGLL) a scant few hours later, but not before “Alpha Golf” formed up with two other Concordes for a low formation pass over London.

Alpha Golf is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. On its way to retirement—because of course it did—G-BOAG set a New York-to-Seattle speed record of 3 hours, 55 minutes, 2 seconds, flying supersonic over Canada along the way. As one would expect, Concorde holds many speed records, including the fastest Atlantic crossing and New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds.

The final scheduled passenger flight for an Air France Concorde came earlier in 2003 on May 31. That morning, Concorde F-BTSD, as AF001, departed JFK at 8:15 a.m. and landed at 4:30 p.m. local time in Paris. That airframe is on display near Paris at the National Air and Space Museum of France, located at Paris Airport-Le Bourget (LFPB) .

There are just three Concordes on display in the U.S. In addition to the two mentioned earlier, British Airways G-BOAD is preserved at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

I recently caught up with both Bannister and John Tye, another British Airways Concorde captain, and asked them both what they thought about this anniversary. 

“I was fortunate enough to fly that last flight from New York to London,” said Bannister. “Every time I go to Brooklands [Museum near London] and look at the stylish lines of our Concorde there, she still looks like she was designed only a few years ago, very 21st century. I also still find it difficult to get my mind around just how technically advanced she was—an aeroplane that could carry 100 passengers 1,350 miles per hour across the Atlantic in great safety. We did something then that can’t be done now.

“When we look at Concorde, there is nothing like it today. It’s amazing to think that the last flight was 20 years ago. It seems like yesterday, both literally and metaphorically.”

Tye wasn’t flying any of the final flights.

“I was at a beach bar in Barbados, rum and coke in hand and tears streaming down my face as I watched Mike land that last airplane,” Tye said. “On October 24, there will be a big crew reunion at Brooklands. All flight crew, cabin crew, ground staff, 196 people coming together. Concorde is an aluminum tube. It’s the people who brought her alive, made her so special. We were just the privileged ones who got to fly Concorde and get paid for it—absolutely astonishing.”

Look for more in 2024 from FLYING Media Group on Concorde. I will detail not only my own experiences flying on the airplane but also bring you along as we meet the pilots who flew Concorde and get into the weeds with them about what she was really like to fly.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post October 24 Marks 20 Years Since Final Scheduled Concorde Flights appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The flight, identified as AF447, was enroute from Rio de Janeiro to Paris the night of the June 1, 2009, accident. 

The aircraft was flying through an equatorial storm when the pilots allegedly became confused by the airspeed readout and did not realize the aircraft was in a stall as it entered an uncommanded descent. The crew of three—with approximately 20,000 hours of flying time among them—kept the aircraft in a nose-high attitude for approximately 4 minutes until it hit the ocean.

The aircraft went down in deep water, and it took two years for remote submarines to locate the aircraft’s flight data recorders, the so-called black boxes.

Like most equipment flying for the major airlines, Air France aircraft are equipped with an aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS), which enables them to transmit data messages to their home base. On the night of the accident, there were several transmissions about confusing airspeed indications as the three independent air data systems were not in agreement, making flying very difficult.

Upon review of the recorded information, it was determined that the aircraft’s speed sensors had iced up during the flight. The autopilot disconnected, and the flight crew became confused and did not respond correctly to the aircraft’s stalled condition, according to Reuters.

During the trial in Paris, it was revealed that France’s BEA, the French government agency that investigates aircraft accidents, revealed earlier discussions between Air France and Airbus over problems with external pitot probes.

According to the report in Reuters, a Paris judge said Airbus was suspected of responding too slowly to reports of speed incidents stemming from the introduction of the updated probe.

Airbus blames the accident on pilot error, while Air France argues the pilots became confused and overwhelmed by conflicting data and alarms in the cockpit.

Reuters notes relatives of the victims “brushed off the maximum fine of 225,000 euros ($220,612) each could receive—equivalent to just two minutes of pre-COVID-19 revenue for Airbus or five minutes of passenger revenue for the airline.” There have been larger, undisclosed, out-of-court settlements, according to the report.

During the trial some of the relatives of the victims were openly hostile to Air France chief executive Anne Rigail and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury when they expressed condolences during opening statements.

The trial is expected to run in Paris Criminal Court until December 8.

The post Manslaughter Trial Underway for Air France Crash appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

During a final ILS approach Tuesday, pilots flying Air France Flight 11 to LFPG from John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) told air traffic controllers that flight controls did not respond to their commands. 

(1/2) Serious incident to the @BoeingFrance #777 @AirFranceFR registered F-GSQJ on 05/04/22 at @ParisAeroport #CDG / Instability of flight controls on final, go-around, hard controls, flight path oscillations / @BEA_Aero opens a safety investigation.

— BEA (@BEA_Aero) April 6, 2022

Moments after the incident, pilots regained control and executed a go-around, before landing safely on their second landing attempt.

In a recording of the incident posted on YouTube by AirLive, the pilots can be heard making an initial ILS approach to Runway 26L with light winds at 8 knots. Conditions appear normal, until flight deck alarms sound and the pilot—breathing heavily—says, “Stop, Stop!”

ATC then is heard in the recording directing the pilot to abort the approach at 1,500 feet and go around. 

“We went around following an issue with commands,” the pilot says after executing the go-around. “The airplane didn’t respond.”

After holding at 4,000 feet, the pilots then requested and received permission to use Runway 27R for its second landing attempt.

As pilots know, a go-around is a common maneuver performed thousands of times a year at airports worldwide. 

BEA said the incident involved “instability of flight controls on final” and “flight path oscillations.” A tweet on the agency’s Twitter account said information from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder would be analyzed and it would have no further comment until after a full safety investigation. 

The twin-engine widebody airliner, registered as F-GSQJ, was manufactured by Boeing 17 years ago, according to FlightRadar24. When asked for comment, a Boeing spokeswoman referred FLYING to BEA.

The post ‘Serious Incident’ During Air France Approach Under Investigation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.