The Friday Thing #866
Back in Seattle and the sun is out....
The Friday Thing 866 has been on my mind this week after traveling to the UK for work. It was a great week of meeting customers, partners and colleagues to talk about how we're applying AI in the Microsoft Communications Team. I love these trips as I get energy from the wide range of inputs, and I get to road test new material that I honed throughout the week. Sadly, I also got sick along the way so this will be a weekend of rest and recouperation.
During the trip, I got chatting with a colleague about Concorde, regaling him with my knowledge of the aircraft, the altitude it flew at, the reasons it ultimately was canceled and much more. One of the finer details involved me telling a tale about my dad managing to get my brother and I into not one but two different Concorde's in the hangers at Heathrow. Somewhere, there is a photograph of me sat in the pilot's seat of the plane before disembarking by walking across one of those huge wings. Alas, that is as close as I got to fly that beautiful bird before its untimely demise. I remain deeply envious that my pal Ewan got to fly LHR-JFK on one of the last trips the plane made.
All of which reminded me of a fabulous piece of storytelling I came across earlier this year about Concorde that I thought I'd share here. Did you know that Singapore Airlines once flew Concorde on a route between Singapore and London? No, me either. The plane used on the route had a dual colour scheme, with Singapore Airlines livery on the left and BA livery on the right. Brilliant.
I love the whole story on by Andrew on Mainly Miles so hope you do too if you choose to read. It's worth it just to see the champagne list on that route.
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That's all for this week and despite discussion of airflight, I did not use the word Copilot once. Back to that next week ;)
Happy Friday, Music for this week is Coming Back to Life by Pink Floyd.
-Steve
I’m so glad I got to do Concorde LHR - JFK, the fact that arrived before you took off due to the 5 hour time difference and the <3.5 hr flight time was fun. Stupidly in hindsight I elected to come home in normal subsonic first instead of the supersonic return - the very definition of ‘first world problems’ ??
Senior Exec with extensive marketing, sales and technology experience driving strategic engagements through Partner Channels with solutions across all phases of product lifecycle from incubation to mainstream.
3 周What a machine! Liverpool win v Brighton will make you feel better ??
Experienced communications consultant for B2B tech companies, content strategist, mentor.
4 周I was incredibly fortunate to fly on Concorde twice. The first time was on one of the regular 'pleasure trips' that took you out of Heathrow, around the Bay of Biscay, and back again. Just enough time to go supersonic and have some lunch. A great experience. The second time was even more special, though...flying on one of her other less well-known routes, London to Barbados. Many, many stories, but highlights were the lounge at Heathrow being something of a gathering of the UK's light entertainment community, and Concorde doing a full loop of the island to give everyone a view (both on the plane and on the ground) before landing. A bucket list item before I knew what a bucket list was. I lived in Chiswick while she was still flying, and the sight and sound of Concorde on the final approach to Heathrow never failed to give me goosebumps. We then moved to Berkshire, so were on the regular route for take-off, and close enough for the afterburners to still be on. Just incredible.
Programme Manager, ex-Microsoft, flexible on location.
4 周I once flew Concorde from London to Manchester! I still remember the takeoff where the captain was obliged to use full thrust. Happy days.
Marketing, GTM, Growth | Professional Development & Culture
4 周Very much share in the regret of never experiencing Concorde for myself Steve! Life-long aviation geek and Concorde officianado, I have a whole bookshelf dedicated to her! The Singapore Airlines colab was fascinating. BA also collaborated with Braniff in the US, and while they didn't paint the planes in their livery, they did stick US tail-numbers over the UK ones (the deal required a temporary "purchase" of the aircraft and a transfer onto the US register while they flew the domestic (subsonic) legs). Braniff crew operated the aircraft including some of their pilots who had been specifically trained to do so. Whenever I get that question at an icebreaker - "If you could have diner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?" my answer is always Mike Bannister - BA's chief Concorde pilot. Hope you feel better, mate!