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Concorde - 24 October 2003

BAA staff

Kelly & Sarah

A BA Jumbo lands on the north runway

The grandstands begin to fill

Concorde Bows Out in Style.  The world’s only supersonic passenger aircraft bowed out in style today.  Three Concordes landed at Heathrow airport in rapid succession just after 4pm, watched by cheering crowds.  The final Concorde to land was the celebrity-packed New York flight which touched down on the north runway at 4.05pm.
Source: The Scotsman (UK)

Concorde Landing Brings Supersonic Era to a Close.  Concorde flew home to Britain on its last passenger flight on Friday to an emotional welcome from thousands of aviation enthusiasts mourning the passing of the supersonic era.
Source: Reuters (UK)

A Concorde begins to taxi to the runway

The sun cuts through the clouds to brighten the shot

The aircraft was a considerable distance away from my camera!

Stewards and BAA staff checking lists of invitees

Champagne and tears greet Concorde.  To tears and cheers from thousands of aviation fans, the needle-nosed jets touched down at London's Heathrow Airport in a carefully choreographed curtain-call.
Source: Reuters (UK)

Witnessing history in the making.  As the last ever Concorde flight landed at Heathrow Airport on Friday afternoon, a wave of applause followed by a huge cheer went up from the thousands of people gathered there for the historical event.
Source: BBC (UK)

The grandstand begins to fill up

Concorde's last take off from Heathrow with passengers: a pleasure flight over the Bay of Biscay

Farewell to era.  The Concorde bowed out Friday with a spectacular triple-landing finale, closing an era of supersonic passenger travel and leaving the skies to the slower, cheaper jets that proved to be the future of air travel.
Source: Canada.com (Canada)

The last departure takes off

And heads off in the direction of Windsor

A sad day for some spectators

The stands continue to fill as normal air operations continue

Concorde goes out with clink of champagne glasses.  Applause and clinking champagne glasses lifted Concorde into the stratosphere on Friday for a cocktail party crossing the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for the final time.
Source: New Zealand Herald (NZ)

Crowds awestruck as Concorde touches down for last time.  Just as it had begun 34 years ago with the awestruck applause of a gaping crowd pushing up against an airfield fence amid the swirling roar of twin Olympus engines, so it ended.  Many simply looked skyward in silence as the bent beak of the plane swooped in and out of the clouds one final time over Heathrow. One man took a reflective bite of his sandwich and pressed closer to the barbed wire while other people, such as Sheila Fogarty, shed a tear as they raised their hands to applaud.
Source: The Independent (UK)

A British Airways jumbo lands on the north runway

TV crews move among the crowd

The crowd wait expectantly

Concorde flew over Heathrow into cloud

And out the other side

End of an era.  Concorde flew home to Britain on its last passenger flight yesterday to an emotional welcome from thousands of aviation enthusiasts mourning the passing of the supersonic era.
Source: Gulf Daily News (Bahrain)

'It just goes very, very fast'  Of the passengers on board, I seemed to be the only person who had not flown Concorde before. Many had flown hundreds of times.
Source: The Telegraph (UK)

Heading north across Harlington

The first of the three to arrive approaches

And moves closer yet

Almost close enough to see detail

One giant leap backwards.  Jeremy Clarkson mourned the end of Concorde yesterday and said: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap backwards for mankind."
Source: The Sun (UK)

Concorde grounded after 27 years.  In what's being hailed as the end of an era, the supersonic airliner Concorde has made its last commercial flight after 27 years in operation.
Source: ABC (Australia)

Almost there

The wheels almost are almost down

As the second Concorde continues to Heathrow

The second aircraft gets closer

And closer

For Concorde, Economics Trumped Technology.  Imagine a world where Porsche came out with its 911 series shortly after Henry Ford invented the Model T, only to take its sleek roadsters off the street because they became expensive to maintain and appealed to only the most elitist of drivers.  That is essentially what transpired when the final Concorde flight touched down here at Heathrow International Airport.
Source: New York Times (USA)

Touchdown, as the person in front waves to Concorde

The eagles have landed, welcome them.  They came in one after the other... expensive, inefficient and ancient - but my goodness, they were still beautiful.
Source: The Mirror (UK)

The lowered nose is clearly visible

Aviation enthusiasts bid Concorde farewell.  The last regular passenger flight from New York arrived with every seat filled, a feat that had become increasingly rare for a plane that was a technological marvel but a commercial flop.
Source: Contra Costa Times (USA)

Thundering past the crowds

The final Concorde makes its final approach

Closer yet

Time machine's final trip leaves an empty sky.  The sky seems a little lower this morning; a cathedral without a spire, a mountain without wolves. Yesterday Concorde, the Anglo-French sky goddess, drooped her nose for the last time in commercial flight, coming in to land among commonplace Boeings and Airbuses at Heathrow airport.
Source: Guardian (UK)

At 4.07pm, one of the world's most exotic birds became extinct.  Concorde, as graceful and remarkable as any creature that ever took flight, landed on a cold, afternoon at Heathrow for the last time, and, with it, went every idea that the improbable was possible.
Source: The Independent (UK)

The end of an era is seconds away

Crowds awestruck as Concorde touches down for last time.  Just as it had begun 34 years ago with the awestruck applause of a gaping crowd pushing up against an airfield fence amid the swirling roar of twin Olympus engines, so it ended.
Source: The Independent (UK)

Save the bird. The internet was buzzing with websites and chat rooms bemoaning the demise of Concorde yesterday, showing just what an icon it has become. If you tuned in to the television coverage or turned up at Heathrow to watch, you could see why. One of the great engineering triumphs of the past century is now reduced to the status of a curiosity. But it was eye-catching to the end and it was a perfect autumn day as, one by one, the three Concordes followed the glistening path of the Thames before landing. This time, the famous drooping nose cones looked rather sad.
Source: The Telegraph (UK)

Touchdown - over and out

The day the future flew into the past. When we were younger we thought ourselves the first of a generation when everyone would fly faster than the speed of sound. But it was a false dawn. We were to be the last, not the first. Yesterday the sun set on supersonic civil aviation. This — British Airways Flight 002 from New York to London — was Concorde’s final passenger flight, and I was privileged to be part of it.
Source: The Times (UK)