RAeS lecture: Training Aircrew for Concorde

Captain John Eames (retired)

Senior Flight Engineer Roger Bricknell (retired)

On Tuesday evening 8^th March 2011, at Royal Aeronautical Society London there was an excellent presentation by Cap. John Eames and Senior Flight Engineer Roger Bricknell on 'Training Aircrew for Concorde'. There were some real insights from those two experts. Here's what I noted plus some other stuff I added in to make the picture complete.

Concorde consumes 3.5 tons of fuel per circuit when crew training (the only time she flew circuits). Circuit height was 2,500 feet, but most rookie pilots reached at least 3,500 feet in their first attempts before they got the lightweight climb stopped and the aeroplane level. As an aside, one guy told me he used to ‘get it turning early on the climbout - that cooled things down a bit!”

On subsonic aircraft there is there is a rearward movement of the Centre of Lift (I'll use the abbreviation CL here, though it's usually term for co-efficient of lift) of a few inches between minimum and maximum flying speed. On Concorde, it’s about 7.5 feet, occurring mostly around Mach 1 (less so above Mach 1 because the wing twists to compensate for it at the higher speeds). That’s in the transonic regime it requires a similar shift in CG (Centre of Gravity) by moving up to 11.2 tons of fuel aft to tank 11 during acceleration, and back during decel (some of this decel fuel goes straight into the collector tanks rather than the trim tanks, and there is then further trimming from the trim tanks to the collectors and some very careful handling of transfer between the collectors at the end of the flight to prevent CG run-away at high incidence angles).

Subsonic CG is at 55% (of wing chord). Supersonic is 59%. You cannot fly subsonic with a 59% CG – you will lose the aeroplane as the CG is way aft of permissible. The Mach meter shows, for the current CG, the actual Mach speed and the allowable speed range; the CG meter shows, for the current speed, the actual CG and allowable CG range.

The fuel feeds the engines, moves the CG, trims the aeroplane in roll and pitch, cools the wings, cools the engine oil, and cools the air-conditioning for the passengers.

Ozone is present in large quantities at 60,000 feet and is very toxic. But the incoming cabin air from the engine compressors is at 400 degrees C, which renders the ozone harmless so there’s no problem for the pax. (By the way, have you seen those vents on the undercarriage doors? Ozone destroys tyres, so ozone-free cabin air is vented through the undercarriage bays and out to atmosphere to protect the tyres in cruise).

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She consumes 40 gallons of fuel per mile at 160 knots, but just 4 gallons per mile at 1,160knots. (She's all about speed!)

Minimum drag is at 320 knots, so she's on the back of drag curve below that and therefore unstable in pitch (She's all about speed!)

1,500 tons of thrust is required to maintain level flight at min drag speed; 2,500 tons is needed at 120kts (She's all about speed!)

Total fuel consumption at take off is 80 tons/hour. At Mach two it’s 18 tons/hour (She's all about speed!)

Fuel transfer for trimming (as well as to move CG for CL shift) is entirely manual. There is a 'do it partially automatically' switch, but the FEs were trained not to use it. The B1 bomber, which BA FEs watched very closely, had an auto-fuel shift CG / CL sync system; the day it failed was the day they lost the aeroplane. So it stayed manual on Concorde.

One degree of difference between the port and starboard elevons, if not corrected by a lateral fuel transfer, will increase fuel consumption by 0.5%.

At 2 degrees incidence, the wing produces no lift (so cross-wind take-offs are a doddle – no need for into-wind elevon). At 3 degrees to 5 degrees the wing produces normal lift. From 5 degrees onwards it’s into vortex lift which, as it propagates backwards at higher angle of attack reaches the elevons and can be felt through the stick as a ‘burble’.

Mach one is achieved at 29,000 feet at 400 knots.

Flight Engineers had be to capable of multi-tasking; systems control was a non-stop task no matter what else was happening (emergencies etc). Roger at one stage had to cope with decel checklists, descent checklists, fuel checklists, and an emergency checklist all concurrently in one incident! Not everyone hacked this in training, and BA allowed failed FEs to go back to their original jobs with no trace on their record of having failed the Concorde course. You either took to it relatively easily… or you just couldn’t keep up with it. There was no in-between.

One incident Roger related shows how the engineers had to understand the aeroplane. They couldn’t get the main undercarriage to lock down (on a training flight) and the emergency checklist said retract the main wheels and land on the nose wheels and engine nacelles! Roger decided not to do this, and the gear remained extended during the subsequent landing, though each main leg was canted in by 7 degrees; any more than 9 degrees and the gear would have collapsed!

One reason Concorde is so complex to operate is that it is two aircraft – a subsonic aeroplane, and a supersonic one!

John mentioned that Autothrottle introduces pitch instability; normally, if the nose drops in cruise the speed builds up, the lift increases, and the nose rises again - a stable situation. With Autothrottle engaged, when the nose drops, the speed rises so the Autothrottle reduces power, and the nose drops even more! So careful pitch control by the pilot, especially during the approach, is vital.

During approach, at 40 feet the Autothrottle is disconnected. At 20 feet ground effect comes into play and the rate of descent reduces and causes a nose-down pitch moment which must be countered by the pilot pulling back slightly to MAINTAIN the pitch attitude at 10.5 degrees (at 14 degrees nose-up the tail wheels would hit the runway!). At 15 feet the power is gently bled off completely and more back pressure applied to hold 11 degrees pitch-up, whereupon she should touch down perfectly and the nosewheel can then be landed (it’s a long way off the ground)!

On take off V1 (go/no go decision speed on the runway) is typically 160knots. After V1, the aeroplane is committed to flight and the FE takes over the throttles from the Captain, who holds the stick neutral (so no lift yet from the wings). At 220 knots, the stick is eased back to the pre-selected pitch attitude on the Attitude Indicator (AI) where it is held – don’t forget it’s unstable in pitch at this speed - (the natural horizon is out of view below the windscreens) and the aeroplane rotates and lifts off.

There were some interesting photos, too, taken by John. He showed the view out of the cockpit at circuit height with the visor down and nose at 5 degrees, then the approach to Brize Norton with the nose at 12.5 degrees (I was lucky enough to see the latter myself back in 1999 on my Concorde jump seat flight), but on approach to Paris CDG!). The pictures showed how effective the droop nose was. He also showed one taken at Oshkosh, with Concorde at low level and banked to about 70 degrees in a very sharp turn; “I had 100 passengers on”, he said. “And only one was sick!”.

Roger confirmed that the aeroplane has been barrel rolled many times, especially during air tests, one of which he was on! Also that BA nearly lost a Concorde on an air test when it inadvertently went out of the back of the flight envelope; they recovered it just before control was lost!

Regarding the ending of Concorde services, it's commonly thought that the sole Concorde accident (at Paris, in 2000), the subsequent 18 months out of service for the post-accident modifications to be completed, followed by the terrorist action at the World Trade Centre in New York just as she came back into service (with consequent drastic reduction in US passenger numbers) were the factors that brought about Concorde's slightly early demise. But her demise was in fact imminent even before the Paris accident, as Airbus had made it known to British Airways and Air France that they wanted to cease support of the aeroplane late in the 1990s.

When 'Paris' happened, there was a desire to see the aeroplane fly again as it would have been negative in the extreme to finish it at that point. So it's entirely possible that the tragedy in Paris actually extended the aeroplane's time in service.

Vince

Praise indeed!

Here is an entry from the 'Heritage Concorde' site about our Concorde at Manchester

http://heritageconcorde.com/

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Concorde G-BOAC at Manchester, something very rare!

Following my latest visit to Manchester yesterday, the latest news is that Manchester has the best Concorde exhibit on display in the UK, and possibly the world!

G-BOAC on display at Manchester

If you would like to visit a Concorde within the UK, then head for Manchester. Concorde G-BOAC, the flagship of the BA Concorde fleet, is now located inside a wonderful hangar, at what can only be called the Flagship Concorde museum of the world.

There are many Concordes on public display, but this one should really be number one on your hit list. The staff are both well informed and very helpful, G-BOAC itself looks ready to take-off and still has the feel of a in-service Concorde. There is not a single spot of dust or mould anywhere to be found within the aircraft, and that’s a credit to the staff at Manchester, and very rare among the Concorde exhibits that I have visited.

Since the closure of “Concorde at Filton” last year, Manchester has the only British Airways Concorde on display that was in passenger service during 2003, the last year of Concorde operations.

Want to see a Concorde looking the way she did during 2003 at Heathrow? Then head to Manchester and see something very rare!

The link below will take you to their website, I recommend the “Concorde Technical Tour”

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/Content/ConcordeTours

A different sort of train driving........

Several people I know though my volunteer work at Styal Mill are keen railway modellers and one of them, Mike Hunter, told me of this weekend's model railway exhibition by the New Mills Railway Modellers at Chapel-en-le-Frith High School. I decided to go along, and found it an extensive display of the art of modelling railways, filling many large rooms and classrooms of the school.

Mike's 'High Peak Tramway' layout was in one of these classrooms, and Mike invited me to 'have a drive'. It was great fun! The copy-and-paste from the group's website below explains what the layout is about, and Mike showed me how to drive trains, change points, and couple and uncouple rolling stock.

High Peak Tramway. Hazel Grove and District Model Railway Society. Scale 7mm/ft 1:43.5 Gauge 16.5mm

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The gauge of this award winning layout is a scale 2ft 4¼in. It is set in the foothills of the Derbyshire Peak District and portrays a line built to transport stone from the quarries to an arm of the Peak Forest Canal. The period is around the 1930s when it would still be very active moving stone, while retaining a passenger and general goods service.

Nothing comes ready made in this scale/gauge combination so all the locos, rolling stock and buildings have been made from scratch or kits. The rolling stock is modelled on examples which ran on various Narrow Gauge lines in the UK such as the Glyn Valley and Lynton and Barnstaple Rlys, plus those that were found on the quarry and trench tramways of the First World War.

Bugston Road is the newest part of the layout. Its station building and road over bridge are based on those which still exist at Irton Road on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in the Lake District. Bugston Road also features a small plateway system for horse drawn wagons. We have not as yet produced any horses small enough to make this a working section!

Some of the buildings of Bugsworth Station are being replaced as they are between 10 and 15 years old. Our policy is one of continuous improvement, as they say in various industries. Wagon loads of stone are represented by small chippings. These are loaded into empty wagons at Bugston Road by a conveyor. The wagons are then transferred to Bugsworth. Here the loads are automatically tippled into a narrow boat in the canal basin (the load actually drops through the baseboard into a receptacle for return to the conveyor). Hence loading and unloading is achieved with out the use of out of scale hands (usually).

The whole layout occupies an area of 8’0” by 13’ 3”. However, Bugston Road can be operated separately from the main part of the layout, using a hidden four road sector plate when exhibition or operating space is at a premium.

A scene at Bugsworth station including some of the new buildings.

The boss, Mike Hunter, performing some unknown activity. Perhaps he is praying for divine inspiration, or maybe he has managed to super glue his hands together!

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The layout is divided into two operating 'areas', Bugsworth and Bugston Road (the trans-shipment shed at Bugsworth is a copy of the one at Whaley Bridge basin at the end of the Peak Forest Canal). There are two operators, one for each 'area', and each has a small hand-held controller with 'direction of travel' switch and a speed control knob. There are operator panels on the back of the layout facing the operators (who stand in the 'U' shaped space between Bugsworth and Bugston Road on the diagram) which have track plans on them, with switches where each point is (to control the point) and further switches to allocate areas of the layout to the control of either operator. There are also push-buttons to operate small electro-magnets between the rails which can uncouple rolling stock.

So a stone train might be waiting at Bugsworth to go to Bugston Road, and a passenger train to do the reverse trip. The Bugston Road operator will take control of the stone train and drive it to Bugston road, whereupon the Bugsworth operator can take control of the passenger train and drive it to Bugsworth.

When the stone train arrives at Bugsworth Road the loco and brake van are detached. The brake van is parked in a spur, then the loco runs around the train to propel it forward into the stone shed where, one waggon at a time, it is loaded with stone chippings. The train is then withdrawn from the stone shed and propelled forward into the spur to pick up the brake van. The entire train is then ready to be driven back to Bugsworth where the stone will be trans-shipped into a narrow boat on the canal.

Meanwhile, the passenger train at Bugsworth is parked in the platform while the loco runs around ready to make the return journey to Bugsworth Road.

Mike let me take the position of Bugsworth Road operator for a session and it was great fun! The group do have a timetable they run to, but on this occasion we just 'made it up as we went along' with the stone train, the passenger train, and a quarrymans' train.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a 'model train driver' and if Mike and his merry men are ever short of an operator, they know where to find a willing helper!

The Chipmunk has its 'Annual'

Every year aeroplanes have to have a major service, called the 'Annual'. Every third year, it's a mega service called the 'Star Annual' (which used to be known as the 'C of A', or Certificate of Airworthiness check). Our Chipmunk has her Annual in February every year; it is done by Ravenair Engineering at Barton airfield near Manchester, where the aeroplane was based from the birth of our Group in 1979 until a few years ago. So the engineers at Barton know the aeroplane well, which is why she goes there for the Annual.

It was a lovely day today, so I decided to ride to Barton on the Bonnie to see how the Chippy was getting on.

As ever, please click on an image twice to see it full size.

My Bonneville at Barton today, outside the club house


The Chipmunk on jacks in the Barton hangar


The undercarriage legs have been removed so the mountings can be x-rayed for cracks, as they have to be every year


The Gipsy Major engine, 4-cylinder air-cooled, inverted, 145 bhp at 2,000 rpm from just over 6 litres!


Jacks support the front end, while a trestle holds up the tail


Tail cone removed, revealing the two tailplane struts which brace the trailing edge of the tailplane to the rear bulkhead. These also have to be x-rayed after a set time in service as they can corrode internally, and failure of a strut would be fatal for the occupants of the aeroplane. Note also the tail wheel suspension arm between the struts, also braced to the rear bulkhead



The left hand flap removed for checking



Right hand side of the engine. carburetor and intake manifold in black, exhaust pipe at the bottom, silver-painted oil tank bottom left, right hand magneto between that tank and the engine, starter motor above the oil tank


Our Chippy wasn't the only interesting aeroplane in the maintenance hangar. In the other back corner was this lovely Tiger Moth


In Barton's main hangar, next to the maintenance hangar, a twin turbine engined Sikorsky S76C helicopter belonging to Peel Holdings was parked until its permanent home over by the Police Helicopter base is completed



Here's a bit of Barton history! This Cessna 150 used to be on the Lancashire Aero Club fleet back in 1978, when it took me on my first solo flight. It has been privately owned for many years and has always lived at Barton



This Miles Gemini was hidden away at the back of the main hangar, behind some microlights. This aeroplane, too, is no stranger to Barton but has lived elsewhere most of its life



Over in the Harbit Hangar was this other Barton resident, a Pitts S2B. This aeroplane used to be owned by airshow display pilot Brian Lecomber. Brian wanted to leave the fuselage sides clear of the aircraft's registration so his sponsor's name could be applied there (Dunlop Tyres). But the Civil Aviation Authority insisted he use full size characters to display the registration. However, they said nothing about the spacing between the letters so Brian registered it G-IIII which, with minimal spacing, fitted onto the tail!

It was a lovely sunny day today, the first this year when it was warm enough to sit outside in shirt sleeves. So I enjoyed an al fresco bacon butty and cup of tea at one of the garden tables outside the Barton clubhouse and had an interesting natter to some old Bartonians!

It was sad to see the airfield so quiet on such a fabulous day; years ago it would have been buzzing! But that was when Lancs Aero Club held the lease; today it is owned by property giant Peel Holdings. Increased costs and ever-growing restrictions over the decades have taken their toll on UK GA. We old gits agreed that we were the lucky ones - we enjoyed GA in the glory days of the 70s, 80s, and 90s when Barton was our playground, nannyism and 'elfin safety' were pretty much non existent and costs, especially fuel, were far lower.

There's still a lot of fun to be had in flying; but it won't be on Barton's hallowed turf. The future is in modern technology; composite structures and up to date engine technology, and operating out of farmers' fields.

However, those modern designs are light and therefore not stressed for aerobatics. And they can be a bit bland. So maybe while the boring and expensive-to-run old US iron, the Cessnas and the Piper Cherokees, die off there will still be folk aerobatting Chippys and Tiger Moths.

First 'Planet' duty of 2011

The railway at Manchester's Museum of Science & Industry (MoSI) opened for its 2011 season last Saturday, 19th February. Today was my first rostered day as fireman on Planet this year, so I decided to take a few photographs.

The morning was dismal and damp, becoming a little drier in the afternoon.

Click on the pictures below, then click again, for full-size images.

09:15, Lighting up! Diesel-soaked rags (from the bucket; you can see the splashes of diesel oil on the footplate and firehole doorway) on a bed of coal and the first pieces of wood burn in the firebox, before more wood (on the right) is placed on top, followed by a scattering of coal once the wood has 'caught', followed by more coal as the fire gets stronger


'Planet' on the disposal plate where we light her up. The green electric locomotive is used to move the train until 'Planet' has steam up. Beetham Tower in the background


The train is then moved to the inspection pit near the station for preparation


Peter Brown, Matthew Jackson (Railway Officer and today's rostered driver), and Colin Cooper (today's rostered Operations Manager) in the pit working on Planet's cylinders to cure a fault


By 10:00 the fire is looking healthy so we should be ready on time for the passengers at mid day


And here they come, filling the coaches for the first trip of the day


Vital brew-cans keeping warm on the firebox back plate, 85 PSI of steam (she blows off at 90).... Ready to go!


Amid clouds of steam and smoke 'Planet' departs the station


Passing the original Liverpool Road station site on the left, 1830 warehouse on the right


Approaching the Ordsall Lane platform where I will get down to change the points. The main line between Deansgate and Salford Crescent is on the left, the gates out onto the main line are ahead


Matthew waits while I change the points so we can reverse down the 'Pineapple Line' adjacent to Granada studios


Propelling the train down the 'Pineapple Line'


Looking back towards the junction we have just left. The line coming in on the left is the one we have just left; from the station to the Ordsall Lane platform


Approaching the end of the 'Pineapple Line', where we will reverse again and re-trace our route back to the station


Heading back towards the junction. Note the third rail to prevent the train coming off the viaduct and falling down the drop to the left if it de-rails


What every fireman wants - an even, thin, intensely hot fire with no holes in it. Keep it like this, firing little and often, and the engine will steam nicely

The last train is run at 16:00 or soon after, then the train is driven forward to the disposal plate where I throw out the fire (which I have carefully managed to be minimal by now, yet man enough to get us this far) and rake the ashes through from the firebox to the ash pan. I keep the blower on while doing this to suck the dust forward through the firetubes and prevent it covering me on the footplate! I also put the injector on to fill the boiler with water for tomorrow's crew.

Once the engine is fully disposed, the electric locomotive is attached and train is moved into the museum's Power Hall for the night. Final 'flight deck' checks are: gauge glasses isolated by their isolation cocks (otherwise, if one cracks, it will fill the power hall with steam), regulator closed, cylinder drain cocks open, injector and blower off, loco out of gear, hand brakes on, scotches (railway version of chocks) in.

Next Friday, I'll do it all again!

Friday Edit: No rain, even more passengers, and I had a few goes at driving this lovely engine.

As one powers though the 1830 station, regulator wide open, hair flying in the wind, exhaust beat barking ever more quickly as 'Planet' lifts up her skirts and flies as she gets into her stride, it is so disappointing to have to shut the regulator and start braking for the stop at the Ordsall Lane Platform. One is tempted to cry "next stop Lime St" and burst though the gates onto the main line! But the catch points would get us before we could do that.

Rolling Ravens...

Our Stockport Walkers walk yesterday from Whaley Bridge in the Peak District took us up high onto the side of Chinley Churn, along Cracken Edge. Several birds were slope-soaring in the rising air generated by strong wind blowing up the hill, among them a pair of Ravens. They were zooming back and forth like jet fighters along the hill face, wings outstretched and unflapping.

Every so often one would croak, then flick over in an instant in a rapid 360 degree axial roll. Then usually flick back instantly the other way!

I wonder if they do this just for fun? It sure looked like it!

RIP Ken Olsen

Ken Olsen, who has died aged 84, drove the second great wave of computing, taking the industry from large mainframes to networks of smaller, cheaper minicomputers that could be used by small companies or scientists and engineers. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which he co-founded in 1957, grew into the world's second-largest computer company, with more than 100,000 employees and a peak turnover of $14bn. In 1986 a Fortune magazine cover story called Olsen "arguably the most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business".

Just six years later, however, he was forced out of the company. The market had moved on to microcomputers such as the IBM PC, launched in 1981, and DEC was rapidly being left behind.

The Guardian, 9th February 2011

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He was our leader when I worked for DEC 1979 to 1982 (I started in IT with Burroughs in 1970). Those were heady times - before the PC and when the industry was realising there was more to IT than the mainframe. Minicomputers were in the ascendant and DEC easily outshone the likes of Data General in that market. We were second only to IBM in the industry, and gaining. It was only a matter of time before we toppled IBM and took the top spot.

I started with PDP11s and welcomed VAX VMS as a world-beater. There was an upstart company called Sun but no-one thought they'd ever come to much (UNIX and TCP/IP? Pah! Student stuff! ISO OSI 7-layer model was the gold standard in comms, and Olsen himself famously described UNIX as 'snake oil'). Then there was that IBM PC; A toy compared to a Vax! As Olsen himself said, it wouldn't come to anything.

In fact, it totally changed the world of IT. It did for DEC, IBM morphed itself into a services company instead of a mainframe hardware supplier (very clever move, that) and poor old DEC ended up being taken over by Compaq; a PC maker! Compaq was later swallowed by Hewlett Packard (HP - never a front runner in the heady days - they made electronic instruments and printers).

I left DEC just before the PC revolution to join a small software house called Systems Programming Ltd (SPL, an offshoot of Manchester engineering company Simon Carves). SPL, an anarchic and fabulously fun place to work, was taken over by Systems Designers (led by Phil Swinstead, pilot and classic car collector and probably not up to running the UK's first stock market listed software house). SD surprisingly took over Wavendon-based Scicon (BP's IT arm, a much respected company with a lot of technical expertise) to become SD Scicon, and that was in turn taken over in 1992 by the then mighty leader of computer services companies, the US company Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

Just after I retired 3 years ago, EDS was itself swallowed by... HP!

Full circle!