Canadian Xpress® Concorde Anniversary Tour
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Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde is a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet airliner. It featured a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04, with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years until 2003. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have entered commercial service; the other was the Tupolev Tu-144.
Concorde was jointly developed and produced by Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty. Concorde's name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type-unusually for an aircraft-are known simply as 'Concorde', without an article. A total of 20 aircraft were built in France and the United Kingdom; six of these were prototypes and development aircraft. Seven each were delivered to Air France and British Airways. With only 20 aircraft built, the development of Concorde was a substantial economic loss; Air France and British Airways received considerable government subsidies to purchase them.
Concorde was retired in 2003 due to a general downturn in the aviation industry after the type's only crash in 2000 and the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 and a decision by Airbus, the successor firm of Aérospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support.
The Canadian Xpress® Concorde Anniversary Tour consists of 18 legs which must be flown in order, starts where the last flight of the Concorde landed 12 years ago on November 26th 2003, at Bristol Filton Airport (EGTG). Filton is closed today to commercial operations, however private and EMS flights still operate from there.
The flight from Filton to Heathrow is a short 80 nm hop, which will require just the crew of 7 with no passengers. It will also require a lot of slow and low flying so the first leg of our tour will be the hardest.
All Canadian Xpress® pilots that successfully complete the tour will receive 25 bonus hours as well as the Canadian Xpress® Concorde Anniversary Tour Award that will appear in their Pilot Details section of the Pilot Roster. To view the current statistics for the Canadian Xpress® Concorde Anniversary Tour Award, click the Statistics link that is available via the Operations menu.
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