Non-fiction 18 Apr 2005 02:00 pm
Flying Concorde
Flying Concorde
Brian Calvert
Written by one of the first pilots to fly the Concorde, this book has everything you ever wanted to know about the aircraft. From the early days of its development, through all of the political problems it had, the long battle to get it into New York, to a chapter detailing the events of the accident in 2000; everything is there, often told from a first-hand perspective.
It also contains lots of technical information about actually flying the Concorde: what is different compared to “regular” airliners, what happens at any stage of the flight, how it is controlled… it even helped me take it off the ground correctly in Flight Simulator! One of the chapters has an almost step-by-step description of a typical flight, from going through the take-off check-list to turning the engines off at the destination.
The first edition of the book was published in the early 80s, and it was updated after the accident what a new chapter on what happened on that day and the long process to take the planes back to the air. It has no information on the retirement of the aeroplanes, soon after; I believe the book was published before this happened.
In short, an amazing book for anyone interested in aviation and in this very special airliner. Excellent read.
