A Supersonic Trip On Concorde, 1977

Taking a flight on Concorde, Mike Murphy is well fed and gets some golf practice all while travelling at twice the speed of sound.
The RAF airfield at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire is the training base for Concorde pilots. Mike Murphy meets Chief Training Officer Captain Norman Todd, who was the pilot of Concorde’s inaugural flight to Washington, and watches as a Concorde plane lands at approximately 170 mph.
Training pilots to fly Concorde doesn’t come cheap. The cost of each training flight comes in at over £10,000.
On a 90-minute training flight Concorde uses up 23 tonnes of fuel.
Pilot Kitt says of flying Concorde.
It’s a very smooth, very precise aircraft.
Flying by Concorde is no ordinary affair. In the departure lounge, Mike Murphy is presented with a glass of champagne. On board, he is again indulged with more champagne, describing it as,
Undoubtedly, the toughest assignment I’ve been on.
Describing his first impressions on board Concorde, Mike Murphy says it is a little disappointing. While there is more leg room and top-notch service, the windows are smaller.
Originally the designers didn’t want to include windows at all.
A return fair from Dublin to Bahrain of £776 with a flight time of four hours and ten minutes, as opposed to six hours and twenty minutes on a sub-sonic flight.
The silver service catering on board is second to none. The lunch menu includes smoke salmon and foie gras canapes, chilled caviar from Iran, sirloin steak, Marchand du Vin, breast of duckling, and fillets of sole, which Mike Murphy describes as just like the food available in the RTÉ canteen.
During the flight at a speed of 670 mph, the captain makes a special announcement welcoming RTÉ and Mike Murphy on board.
I’d like to welcome on board the Irish television company.
He is surprised on a visit to the cockpit during the flight and how small and cramped it is.
We’re right in the very front of a very sharp aircraft.
Now travelling at twice the speed of sound, at about 23 miles per minute.
We’re travelling faster than the speed of a rifle bullet. It’s quite mind-boggling.
Putting a golf ball on board Concorde while travelling at twice the speed of sound Mike Muprhy calculates that the ball travelled the equivalent of two miles in the four seconds it took to take the putt.
This episode of ‘The Likes of Mike’ was broadcast on 8 March 1977. The presenter is Mike Murphy.

[@Novotny72]

That was terrific, thanks.

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

thanks very much CR bro ❤️☝️🙏 i would imagine that 23 tonnes of fuel 📈🔭🐥 takes up a lot of space ✈️ very extremely interesting 👉📈✅

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

and the flight to Bahrain would have required something like over 52 tonnes of fuel if they weren’t telling any furphys..

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

where did they store it ?🚬🤠

[@jamesbradshaw3389]

Like bluebird, What a beauty to look and to see fly

[@P90X_DVD]

Amazing

[@eprohoda]

yo. well sharin.

[@Thorlongus1175]

I wonder if there was a RTE ,"Barter" account around back in 1977.
Id say the jacks were occupied full time after all that grub

[@rockeee]

3:25 Almost a bird strike 😳

[@whatsdastory]

He never left the ground

[@Luton-Mick]

And someone hacked the speed display while they were wasting very expensive dead time on the ground to film a skit for RTE.

[@faFsman]

I passed under her on M25 at Heathrow on takeoff. She was loud!!

[@malacca1951]

He said the ground vibrated as the plane landed! I really hope not.... when the earth vibrates it's an earthquake. (Surely, the sound of the engines was making HIM vibrate!?) He looks (and sounds) like a young Terry Wogan!

[@seancotter4610]

A bargain… €6k today accounting for inflation 😅

[@derekogilvie6942]

amazing editing - don't believe he went anywhere - the light difference between the passenger footage and his edit doesn't match nor does the seating arrangement with many spaces around him unoccupied - then miraculously full on other footage.

[@Ben-xe8ps]

I find the meal service to be highly suspicious especially, but not limited to, the lack of a tablecloth.

[@MrDastardly]

Mike Murphy, a true pro.
Concorde, a technological marvel but a commercial failure. Only twenty Concordes were built comprising two prototypes, two pre-production aircraft, two development aircraft and fourteen production aircraft.

[@kennyryan625]

Garbage. The Concorde was a symbol engineering excellence at a pivotal period in human development. Its higher revenue more than covered its costs during its 30 years of operation. Otherwise it wouldn’t have remained in service.

[@MrDastardly]

@@kennyryan625
So when I write that ‘Concorde was a technological marvel’, you regard that as ‘garbage’.
When I write that concord was a commercial failure’, you regard that as ‘garbage’.
When I refer to the numbers of Concordes manufactured, you regard this a ‘garbage’.
There are many sources of qualified information available, and if you refer to these, you will read that my contentions are correct.
Mike Murphy was a true pro.
Concorde was a technological marvel.
Twenty airframes were manufactured.
Concorde was a commercial failure.
Open eyes sees more. 🤷‍♂️

[@annyirish6106]

@@MrDastardly And you were also correct in calling Mike Murphy a true pro, that he was.

[@MrDastardly]

@@annyirish6106
The Live Mike was a really great show. Introduced us to Dermot Morgan!!
RTE should be rebroadcasting retained episodes!!

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

@@MrDastardlyi think that you’re both right ☝️ these tweet messages can be misinterpreted at times 👉📝 i think they took to concord out similarly as the hindenburg 😔 it was an insurance job 🙈 it was a revolutionary aircraft ☝️

[@hawkerhellfire9152]

"The noise was quite acceptable" the engines are pretty much ticking over on landing. He wouldnt be saying that if she was taking off. 😂