Tag: airplane

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Eight Years of Concorde Testing

Once considered the future of aviation, the Concorde is now a notable part of flying history. However, it doesn’t stop the fascinating impact it had on air travel. Over on YouTube, the Imperial War Museum channel has a great video going over the history of the Concorde’s testing phases. The video interviews some of the original engineers of the airplane. Originally it was supposed to need a year of testing. It ended up taking eight before it was ready for commercial use. In that span, the cost and environmental blowback led to only Air France and British Airways taking their…

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Man Can’t Fly, Lands Plane Anyway

Straight out of “My Time To Shine” or “Oh Crap” depending on your comfort level comes this story about a passenger turned instant pilot. Darren Harrison was on a small plane when the pilot become unresponsive. Harrison, taking control of the situation, hopped into the pilot seat and got down to business. After leveling out the airplane he radioed Palm Beach Airport for assistance. It was in that tower that one of the controllers walked him through the entire landing procedure. Controller Bobby Morgan is a flight instructor and was able to verbally guide the plane to the airport and…

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First Class All the Way

In one of the more interesting things to do with a retired aircraft, this story from CNN talks about a super-unique project. Suzannah Harvey, the CEO of Cotswold Airport near Kemble in England purchased a retired 747 for £1 (around $1.30) in October 2020. The goal was to convert it into a party space people could rent out. The project is nearly complete and while she may have scored a bargain for the plane itself, the job to transform it into its new role was a different story. The makeover has cost nearly £500,000 ($671,000). However, Harvey points out that…