Technical flight report Concorde, Thursday April 3, 1986.
Performed by Marc ALIDIERES, instructor at C.R.N.A / Nord.
Marc ALIDIERES and Philippe RENAULT were among the very first to be actively involved in the recovery of SA, between 1986 and 1988. As such, we decided to publish on our website this flight report, written 24 years ago by our friends for their fellow air traffic controllers from CRNA / Nord. (Centre Regional de la Navigation Aérienne - Athis-Mons).
The text is transcribed on our website in full, we have reused the illustrations from the original edition.
To make the text easier to read, Philippe RENAULT has added a few remarks which will appear below in BLUE, those in RED are from Pierre GRANGE president of the association APCOS (Association Des Professionnels De Concorde Et Du Supersonique) pilot having flown 1373 h 22 min on Concorde and who has been kind enough to bring to this text his technical remarks.
MACH 2 EVERY DAY
Or
SPECIAL TECHNICAL FLIGHT REPORT
Beneficiary:
Name: ALIDIERES
First name: Marc
Qualification: Team Leader
Function: Instructor
Center: C.R.N.A. / NORTH
Airline offering the flight: Air France
Flights flown: PARIS - NEW-YORK - PARIS
Flight number: AF 001 / AF 002
Thursday April the 3rd, 1986 – 09:10 local time.
I go to the PPV of Roissy to meet the Air France crew for the flight AF001, PARIS - NEW-YORK.
The Commander Gilbert JACOB, Commander Chief Pilot Concorde greets me very cordially and introduces me to;
Mr. Bernard MARCHAND First Officer) and
Mr. Pierre BATY OMN (Flight Engineer).
Detailed briefing: weather, study of the tracks, calculations of the fuel quantities alternate airport, everything is meticulously calculated and checked.
The commander tells me that he welcomes me in the flight deck for the entire flight but invites me to follow the passenger circuit for the various formalities to be completed.
I board ten minutes before the passengers and find the crew very busy and methodical. The final checks and Check List before start-up are well underway.
The Concorde we boarded, registered F-BTSD is the thirteenth airframe out of the 16 built. To date, he has accumulated 4,555 hours of flight time: this is a new aircraft. In comparison, the first Air France Boeing 747-100 series has some 60,000 hours of flight time so far.
The four turbojets that will propel us to Mach 2 are ROLLS-ROYCE / SNECMA "OLYMPUS" 593 each of them delivering 17,260 kg of thrust. (With Afterburner).
When the purser announces to the captain "APARTMENT OK" (translate, with a little note of humour "BOARDING OK" passengers on board and installed), the latter requests on the ground frequency the authorization for start-up and push-back.
Check Lists: Before engine start up
Check Lists: after engine start up
10h56
Engine n°3 is started the first; when the parameters are stabilized I wrote:
N1 = 40 % (Low pressure stage) *
N2 = 60 % (High pressure stage) **
EGT =195°C (Exhaust Gas Temperature)
FF = 1100 kg/h (fuel flow)
AJ (% AREA) =90 (% area of the primary nozzle)
P7 (Primary nozzle exhaust pressure).
Concorde is flown using fuel flow and P7 parameters. Engine n°2 is then started.
Note: N1 and N2 are expressed as a percentage of the maximum continuous speed.
* The low pressure stage consists of the low pressure compressor at the inlet of the engine, connected by a shaft to the low pressure turbine located at the outlet of the engine (before the afterburner channel).
** The high pressure stage consists of the high pressure compressor, placed before the combustion chamber, connected by a coaxial shaft to the high pressure turbine placed after the combustion chamber.
10h59
The push-back is carried out, and engine n°4 and n°1 are started in this order.
11h03
With the engine parameters stabilized and checked, we start taxiing to runway 27. Taxiing will be quite long (10 minutes) and relatively uncomfortable from the cockpit.
The explanation that can be given is as follows: to avoid bringing the brakes to the temperature of 220 ° C, which would prohibit take-off if an acceleration-stop were to be considered before V1, (The Aerospatiale does not certify the duplicated braking distance above this temperature) the pilot accelerates and decelerates the engine speeds *** creating a phenomenon of fairly unpleasant vertical oscillations (close to motion sickness) due to the 18.7 between the nose gear and the flight deck.
Note: *** Let the aircraft accelerate and brake only when necessary (before a turn or not to exceed 20 knots)
Check Lists: taxing
The SD is aligned on the 27. Excellent weather, good visibility, light wind, dry runway.
The nose is lowered to 5 ° and the visor is retracted.
The take-off card indicates:
V1 = 153 kt (decision speed)
VR = 195 kt (rotation speed)
V2 = 219 kt (35 ft safety speed)
FF = 20,4 t/h (fuel flow)
P7 = 40,1
Take-Off mass = 176.110 kg
At this setting Concorde would burn 82 tonnes of kerosene / hour !
Note: the decision speed is the speed before which, in the event of an engine failure, take-off must be interrupted. If the failure occurs after V1, take-off will be continued, the remaining runway length no longer making it possible to safely stop the aircraft. The speed of rotation is the speed at which the pilot pulls the stick for take-off.
Check Lists: Before take-off
11h14
The four paddles controlling the reheat are armed and the throttles quickly brought to the front stop. The engine parameters are standards, the top is given “at the slamming of the throttles”.
Let's go!!
The acceleration is very lively. We will accelerate from 0 to 400 km/h in 30 seconds! The noise level in the cockpit is quite high. 25 seconds after releasing the brakes we leave the ground and take a 3 GTR* attitude of 13.5 °
It always pushes very hard. The vertical speed indicator and the airspeed-machmeter have some trouble to follow.
Note: * attitude adapted for a thrust with only three engines running.
Check Lists: Take-off
Check Lists: After take-off
I write the settings at the afterburner cut-off :
N1 = 95 %
N2 = 100 %
FF = 10t/h
EGT = 700°C
11h22
Eight minutes after taking off, we pass EVREUX, stable at flight level 280 and Mach 0.95, and take the track 317 °. The noise abatement procedure requires acceleration on this axis, between 6.5 and 25 Nm of Evreux. Accelerating earlier would make us breaking the sound barrier before the coast, later, the grouping of the shockwave while turning west would have spread a nice bang all over the southern coast of the UK!
The engineer then begins the transfer fuel toward the rear of the aircraft.
Passing from subsonic to supersonic, various aerodynamic phenomena occur, one of which is the displacement of the center of pressure backwards, hence the transfer of fuel to compensate for the imbalance between the center of pressure and the center of gravity. The opposite phenomenon occurs when we go from supersonic to subsonic the fuel transfer is then forward.
The oceanic clearance is given to us:
"Track SM2, FL 590, Mach 2.02 via Delta. Kilo, SSC".
11h26
Check-list before transonic acceleration
The reheats are engaged on the two inboard engines, then the two outboard ones. The heaters will remain in operation until M.1.7, approximately for 11 minutes. *
Note:* Their operating time must not exceed 14 minutes.
We overfly LHO (Le Havre)
Note: These cards charts are from 1993 and of course relate to another theft flight. Handwritten times are indicated in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). We note the overfly of Evreux at 9:27 am or 11:27 am loc.
We note with interest the three supersonic tracks available: Sierra Mike is the Minimum Time Track, the other two (Sierra November and Sierra Oscar) are load shedding tracks, available in the event of the simultaneous presence of Concorde British Airways on London / New -York.
11h27
Only 13 minutes after we reach Mach 1 at flight level 310. The indicated airspeed indicated is 400 kt. No particular sensation when passing the "WALL", except for a slight increase in the noise generated by the four afterburners. The visor is raised and does not affect the visibility which remains excellent; on the other hand it considerably reduces the noise level in flight deck. ***
Note: ***The nose AND the visor are raised just after takeoff (generally at 500 ft ground); this wording suggests that the visor is raised only at the time of acceleration. FYI, the landing gear is raised as soon as the rate of climb is positive.
11h30 - Mach 1.2
Vi = 440 kt (indicated airspeed)
N1 = 100 %
N2 = 100 %
EGT = 700°C
Incidence = 4°
Attitude = 5°
Note : Vi is the speed displayed on the anemometer. True airspeed, (Vp) is obtained by applying a correction coefficient which is a function of altitude, temperature and density of the air. A convenient approximation gives: Vp = Vi + FL / 2. In this case, approaching the FL 400, we have a true speed of around 440 + 200 = 640 kt.
11h34 - Mach 1.4
We overfly the DELTA waypoint (about 20Nm North of CHERBOURG) at flight level 400.
Vi = 460 kt
Vs = 780 kt (vitesse sol)
11h37 - Mach 1.7
We cross LANDS END (western tip of Cornwall). Afterburners are cut. Concorde will now fly to New York with dry thrust, but the 4 throttles will remain at the high stop until the start of the descent. Since take-off 23 minutes ago, the Concorde "OLYMPUS" have already burned some 13 tonnes of kerosene! As for fuel flow since the shutdown of the heaters, they went from 10 tonnes/h to 7 tonnes/h.
We pass the flight level 440 (around 14,000m) and begin the upward cruise (function of fuel shedding) which will bring us to flight level 590 (18,000m) 600 km before the American coast. The rate of climb is low. I note the ground speed 1000 kt. We leave the English Channel and now fly over the North Atlantic. After passing SSC we take heading 285°.
Check Lists: Supersonic cruise
11h47
We cross the 08 W / 49.42 N. The inertial reference unit n°3 gives a wind of 300/40 kt as we pass 45,000 ft. The needle of the machmeter indicates 1.80.
Vi = 525 kt
Vs = 1027 kt
Temperature of the nose tip is + 83 ° C, it starts to heat up. We are under SHANWICK. (Oceanic control. SHANWICK is the contraction of SHANNON and PRESTWICK
12h15 – Mach 2 – 51 000 ft (15 700 m)
The purser enters the cockpit and tells me that the meal is about to be served. The crew having wished me a good appetite, I pick up my sheets and join the seat that has been assigned on the boarding pass.
This is located in the first cabin equipped with 40 very comfortable seats, a kitchen after the cockpit and a cloakroom. The second cabin at the rear of the aircraft is equipped with 60 seats and another kitchen.
The width of the fuselage is 2.63 m for a length of the two passenger cabins of 39 m and a height of 1.96 m. The atmosphere is cosy and the cabin crew reserve a warm and courteous welcome.
I have lunch fairly quickly while appreciating the quality and care given to the service offered. I then join the sanctuary that is the flight deck. I sit back on the jump-seat behind the captain and start to observe and note a whole host of things.
14h01 passing NEWFOUNDLAND
We are flying at Mach 2.02 stable at flight level 585 (17,800 m). The fuel totalizers give the following figures: 18,750 kg of kerosene consumed since leaving Paris and this per engine, i.e a load reduction of 75 tonnes.
The temperature of the front tip now reaches + 112 ° C, for an outside temperature of -59 ° C (ISA-3°C)*. I put a hand on the side window of the flight deck: it is WARM! The expansion due to the heating of the airframe represents 10 cm.
Note: * International Standard Atmosphere. The temperature is 3° below the « standard ».
The sky is deep blue.
The sensation of speed aboard Concorde is not felt, unless you lay your eyes on the CDUs (Control Display Units) of inertial reference units 1 and 2, which give the distances remaining between 2 WAY POINTS.
Example :
On the longest leg between points 49.16 N / 40.00 W and 47.0 3N / 50.00 W, the distance to be covered was 422 Nm (780 km). This leg was covered in 22 minutes, or 19.2 Nm per minute (36 km) or 600 meters per second! Given the wind at flight level 590, the ground speed is 2160 km / h.
Currently, fuel flow indicators give an hourly consumption per engine of 4.5 t. Where are the 20.4 T / h. at take-off?
The primary parameters of the engines give:
N1 = 100 %
N2 = 100 %
EGT= 700°
%A = 70 %
The two independent and fully automatic air conditioning units provide a cabin altitude of 5,500 ft (1,600m) at flight level 590.
Note : On classic subsonic jets such as the Boeing 747, Airbus etc. pressurization gives, for flight altitudes well below, 39,000 feet (12,000 m) a cabin altitude of around 8,000 ft (between 2,300 and 2,500m).
14h15
We are 25 minutes from the American coast. The weather is beautiful. Some bright white cumulus clouds, far below us, spread out over the intense blue ocean. The captain announces Check-List before deceleration.
Check-List before deceleration
The thrust levers are brought to the rear sector. The speed reduction on Concorde is carried out by keeping the aircraft level until a Vi (indicated airspeed) of 380 kt. Before deceleration we had a Vi of 525 kt. The deceleration is very noticeable and the Mach number drops rapidly.
Without waiting, the attitude is lowered and rate of descent drops frankly: - 6000ft/min.
Check-List Descente
14h17
We only fly at Mach 1.6 now, decelerating towards Mach1. The flight engineer start the procedure to transfer fuel to the front to bring the center of gravity at 58% when we had it was at 60% at Mach 2.02.
We pass FL 530 in rapid descent to level 120. The 380 kt indicated airspeed is strictly maintained. Mach 1.3 at 2:18 p.m. and descent rate goes to 7,000. The pressurization follows admirably and no hearing inconvenience is to be noticed.
We are already passing flight level 400. In 3 minutes we have lost 19,000 feet (about 6,000 m).
14h21
We return to subsonic. It is worth noting a specificity of Concorde decelerate more quickly in subsonic and increase the rate of descent, reverses of engine n°2 and n°3 * are used (maximum duration 4 minutes).
Note: * can be The r engines after the level flight of a few minutes at 35,000 ft are reduced and I note:
N1 = 60 %
N2 = 80 %
FF = 1,3 T/H
EGT = 250°C
%A = 39
We pass 30,000 ft with a Vi of 350 kt and a rate of descent of 6,000 ft/min. At Mach 0.93 a new check list. The rate of descent decreases and stabilizes at 3,500 ft/min.
New York control welcomes us cordially and the crew begins starts to prepare the aircraft for the approach. The visor is retracted and the nose lowered to 5 °. The noise level rises markedly in the flight deck.
Note: Concorde is certified for CAT II and CAT III landings.
Check-List Intermediate approaches
Landing informations:
Now everything is accelerating in the flight deck. We are transferred with Kennedy approach. The two flight directors are engaged as well as the two auto-throttles and the n°1 autopilot.
The indices for the Vap (approach speed) and various reference speeds are displayed on the left and on the right. The nose is lowered to 12°5. The visibility is excellent and the control authorizes us for the 04 right. The landing gear is lowered and we are ready for landing.
During final the AP is disconnected.
The weather is superb and the view is magnificent. (Statue of Liberty, Manhattan in the distance ...). The Vap is around 160 kt and we weight 98.9 tonnes.
The flight engineer calls-out the radio altimeter’s height from 700 ft. The attitude is high, around 12°. At 40 feet the auto-throttles are disengaged, at 15 feet the commander JACOB flare the aircraft (without modification of sensitive attitude due to the significant ground effect on Concorde) and lands the aircraft with extreme softness at 2:40 p.m. (a real KISS!).
The nose gear is immediately tackled to the ground and the four reverses passed deployed. The deceleration generated by the reverse thrust on the four engines is strong; braking is extremely effective. The runway is quickly cleared.
14h53
The Concorde SD stops in front of the Kennedy terminal. The ground power unit is connected; there is no APU on Concorde. The four Olympus are stopped. A quick calculation gives 3h26 minutes of flight including 2h54 in supersonic! By Boeing 747 it tooks 8 hours to complete the same route.
I leave technical crew, thanking them warmly for their welcome and the ease which was granted to me to take the maximum of notes.
Here in New York it is 7:53 am, the weather is superb and a new day begins.
WE HAVE CATCHED UP WITH THE SUN.
.
At the airport terminal, I meet Mister TRUDEAU (Air Traffic manager at Kennedy tower) and Mister NATALE (assistant facility manager I am welcomed the american way, a very friendly way.
Second breakfast. Discussions, impressions of about the flight, they ask me many questions, then in an FAA car, Mister NATALE takes me on a tour of the whole platform; photos of airplanes that we never see in Europe, visit of the airport installations, control tower! I give a look at my watch; it is time to think about the return flight. We have spent five hours in the gigantic airport.
The glass of friendship is taken at the Concorde lounge with Mister TRUDEAU and NATALE as well as Mister JACOBY Air France Station Manager in New York. Warm handshakes, thanks, and I go back in Concorde F-BVFB.
Commander Pierre GILLES and his crew are already very busy, but welcome me very cordially. I explain to the Captain that, having made the outbound flight in the flight deck, I would like for the return flight to fully appreciate the culinary services as a normal passenger.
We take off at 1:15 p.m. I decide to stay in the cockpit during the climb to Mach1.7: it's so beautiful! Thirty-five minutes later, I leave the cockpit and reach my seat in the front cabin.
The welcome by the cabin crew is truly remarkable. Friendliness and natural courtesy. Fine and hearty meal, unlimited champagne, distribution of gifts ... In short, the "Concorde Class"!
Discussions with hostesses and stewards on their duty time, fatigue, time zone differences etc. The discussions are going well and it is practically without realizing it that landed at ROISSY CHARLES-DE-GAULLE at 11.35pm local time.
At 1 am I am in my bed and wonder if I have not dreamed.
12,000 km in the day, two crossings of the North Atlantic and all without particular fatigue.
Currently, no other device aircraft in the world is capable of achieving such a performance.
I would particularly like to thank Mister AUPETIT, Principal Inspector, responsible for Air France of the Concorde control, who was kind enough to devote me a long afternoon to make me a full cockpit presentation in a Concorde and tell me about the peculiarities and specificities of this aircraft, as well as the conduct of the flight. Without his clear and precise explanations, I would never have been able to do such a precise follow-up of this flight whose perfect understanding was essential for the writing of this article.
Sources :
DOC AIR FRANCE
DOC AEROSPATIALE
AIRCRAFT PROFILE
MACH 1 traduit de WINGS
Collection : LES DOCUMENTS
Text
Marc ALIDIERES
Philippe RENAULT
Here we remind you once again of our “coup de Coeur”:
"The little encyclopedia of the flights of the French Concordes"
A remarkable work by Philippe BORENTIN, which is an inexhaustible source on the crews and flights of Concorde.
(This book will still be on sale at the Delta Museum as soon as the confinement ends).
In the meantime do not hesitate to visit the site http://lesvolsdeconcorde.com
Our thanks to:
- Philippe RENAULT, for his agreement and his transcription of the text as well as his remarks and explanations.
- Commander Pierre GRANCE for proofreading the text and his professional remarks.
And especially to:
- Marc ALIDIERES, who made this technical flight. He misses us a lot .
