CTP at Mach 2.0

[Vimal Anandharaman 1350492]

Any Concorde pilots attempting this weekends CTP event? From what I can observe departing at around 1600z (from LHR) seems to be optimal to avoid most of the slot bookings but also arrive fast enough to join the very front of the pack

I fly the Concorde often but this year would be the first year I actually attempt to do it during CTP.

[Trent Hopkinson]

There are quite often some concorde operators flying during cross the pond. This year both Heathrow and New York Kennedy are event airports.

 

Given that there are usually very few people operating Concorde (maybe 10 or less) any given Cross the Pond, the historical fixed track is generally available with minimal holding or re-routes and available throughout the usual block altitudes of the Concorde. The only issue is the whole "taxi behind the 92 other aircraft ahead of you" thing (and the usual OOM factor with 32 bit sims).

 

Have fun up there twice as high and fast as anyone else :p

[Vimal Anandharaman 1350492]

Hey Trent!

Im gonna avoid the m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ive mash of planes arriving into JFK by heading towards Washington Definitely going to be fun!

Might sacrifice some p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]engers for more fuel incase i do need to join a long queue.

 

 

Hope to see you in the skies for CTP!

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

Dang it! I have to go to a funeral on Saturday so I gave up my slot. My TOT would have allowed me to depart, but my ETA at Dulles with the B777 I had planned to use would conflict. I didn't want to takeoff and then disconnect en route over the Atlantic to get ready....so I gave up my slot to be fair.

 

If I had seen this post earlier or just been thinking of alternatives I could have flown the Concorde and made it to the services with time to spare. I have a perfectly functioning SSTSIM Concorde for FS2004 and it always works with sliders maxed out and never an OOM

 

Too late now.

 

Randy

[Jonathan Fong]

Absolutely! I'm certainly taking my Concorde for a spin on CTP day - all my CTPs (bar one) have been with Ol' Pointy. I will be departing earlier though (hopefully 12-13z) to arrive around 16-17z due to my timezone (16z is midnight my time, i.e. UTC+8; I can't really stay up till 4an).

 

My advice is to load as much fuel as possible - for CTP, I always load a full 95T of fuel - and not to load too many pax or too much cargo (you decide how much you want/how much margin you want). You will need to be wary of fuel consumption on the runway - there will be a LOT of traffic, so you may have to shut down your inboard engines while holding short to reduce fuel consumption (not sure if that was ever done IRL, but it certainly works in-sim - just use the same procedure as Concorde used when landing inbound).

 

Hope to see you in the skies!

[Charan Kumar]

Just remember to leave a few hours into the event if flying Ol' Pointy....she might arrive well before the controllers are scheduled to be at the receiving end. That said, have fun at 50K ft

[Don Desfosse]

Randy, a couple of choices I thought of, depending on funeral/family plans/timing, of course.

 

Leave early, although depending on how early you leave you may not have ATC in the US by the (quick) time you get here...

Leave late, although depending on how late you leave you may not have ATC on the early end, although most US facilities are trying to staff until at least 9pm if not later (e.g. KATL will be open until at least 2330L).

 

Sorry to hear it (both missing CTP and the funeral), and best of luck.

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

Thanks for the advice Don. Living in the Mountain Time Zone of the US, early is not really an option if I want to stay awake during the funeral, a family friend's...the father of an old flame I would dearly love to see again. I know, sounds like the funeral scene from the movie "Wedding Crashers", doesn't it? The funeral is at 1900Z (1:00 PM local) and 50 miles away, which means leaving at about 11:30 AM local to get there and get seated. My TOT before I dropped my slot was at 1259Z which would have put me in to Dulles at around 1900Z, so you can see why I had to drop.

 

Flying the Concorde I probably could have landed around 11:00 AM local USA MDT not counting any delays I may have encountered so I guess even that was not an option really. Eastbound is usually never an option because it always seems to occur right in the middle of my annual Fall elk hunt with my boys and grandson.

 

I'm [Mod - Happy Thoughts]uming I won't get back to the house until 5:00 PM or so...maybe later, who knows...so even late is not an option I fear. Guess I'll just have to fly by myself on Sunday...

 

I'll keep tabs on everyone's progress and posts up until it's "get ready" time.

 

Randy

[Robert Shearman Jr]

I may well be misinterpreting your posts, Randy, but if you decide to fly the Concorde, surely you know that you shouldn't need a slot for that. Your speed will destroy any scheduled space for you in traffic -- traffic you'll be fifteen thousand feet higher than anyway.

 

My sorrows also for your friend's loss, but, hope to see/hear you on Saturday if you manage to make the schedule work.

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

Thank you Rob. I understand I could take the Concorde out, even as early as 1100Z and arrive at 1500Z (0900 Local in my timezone), but I would rather not take the chance on having something out of my control delay departure or arrival. I see no point in beginning a flight, even for such an auspicious event such as CTP, if I cannot be reasonably [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ured of finishing it.

 

I know, there are countless OOM's during the event as well as CTDs of another sort or FS2004/FSX/xPlane/P3D freezes and I would be one of many who could not finish a flight for one reason or another. Just not fair to others, though, when that happens so I think sitting out and flying Sunday is the best option.

 

I will be watching when I can, though!

 

Randy