Although it was delayed after a rejected Take-Off (caused by a re-heat failure) and a subsequent aircraft change at Heathrow, the north American tour flight to Boston looks set to enter the record books as the fastest transatlantic passenger crossing going from East to West.
Concorde Alpha Delta, flown by Captain Mike Bannister, SFO Paul Griffin, SEO Liam Copper, along with Captain Adrian Thompson, landed in Boston on Wednesday in a record London-to-U.S. time of three hours, five minutes and 34 seconds, according to airline spokesman Jeff Angel.
The old record to Boston of three hours and nine minutes was set in 1974 o,n a flight from Paris to Boston, before the aircraft entered service on one of the development aircraft, Concorde 02 (F-WTSA), with specially invited guests on board as passegners
The outright East-West record for a civil aircraft is still held by Concorde 101(G-AXDN): Delta-November, flew from Fairford to Bangor in 2hrs 56 mins in 1974 during a test flight with no passengers on board.
Concorde is visiting Boston as part of its North American farewell tour, which includes stops in Toronto last week, Washington next week. the aircraft was towed to a new hangar at the airport, where a VIP reception was held, before Alpha-Delta ferried the following day to New York to operate a BA004 (JFK-LHR) on Friday 10th October.
British Airways (and Concorde G-BOAD!) now hold both the East-West and West-East transatlantic records, with the JFK-LHR record of 2hrs, 52mins and 59 seconds being set on the 7th of February 1996, by Captain Leslie Scott and his crew.
Aircraft | G-BOAD(210) |
Crew | Captain Mike Bannister SFO Paul Griffin SEO Liam Copper Captain Adrian Thompson |
Departure |
London LHR - 19:56 |
Arrival |
Boston Logan International 18:01 |
Flight Time |
3hrs 5mins 34sec |
Flight Path |
TBC |
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