Last ever Concorde flight

摘要

In what can only be described as a very sad day for the world of aviation, the last ever flight of a Concorde took place on November 26, when the final airworthy British Airways (BA) example, G-BOAF, came home to its birthplace at Filton for preservation. 'Alpha-Foxtrot' took off from Heathrow at 1130hrs in the hands of Captain Les Brady, along with co-pilot Paul Douglas and Senior Engineering Officers Warren Hazelby and Trevor Northcot, with BA chief Concorde pilot Mike Bannister also on the flight deck for the last time. Also carrying 100 BA cabin crew members and pilots, the aircraft flew out over the Bay of Biscay for one final supersonic flight before heading for Bristol-Filton, where it arrived at 1250hrs to make an initial flypast over the airfield at 2,000ft (610m). It then made a brief tour of the local area, passing over the nearby Clifton Suspension Bridge and Downs, Bristol Airport and flying along the Bristol Channel to pass the seafronts at Weston-super-Mare, Portishead and Clevedon, enabling as many people as possible to see the final flight. Finally, at 1305hrs, the aircraft touched down at Filton, where it was estimated that more than 20,000 people were gathered on or around the airfield to mark the end of the supersonic commercial transport era. Taxiing back down the runway, the crew hung Union Jacks out of the cockpit windows and stopped at several points to pose for photographs in front of the huge crowds, raising and lowering the nose in salute, before finally shutting down the engines for the last time. HRH Prince Andrew formally welcomed the aircraft at the Airbus UK Filton facility and Captain Mike Bannister symbolically handed-over the aircraft's technical log. Later in the day, the aircraft was moved into the Brabazon hangar, where it had originally been built in 1979, for decommissioning and being made safe for public display before it is officially handed-over to the custody of Airbus.