Concorde - A Flight of Fancy

One of our blog visitors, Carl Moore posted his comments to one of our recent posting about the Concorde Visitors Center at the Barbados airport.

Carl's view is shared by many of those on the island. One of the most important aspects of travel is seeing the view from those who live in a particular destination - versus the tourists view. 

While visitors to the island (including myself) used to marvel at the sight, and thunderous sound of the Concorde approaching the island, I have to ask myself, what would my thoughts have been if I lived on the island, especially close to the airport.

The Concorde was not permitted to fly across the U.S. because of the thunderous noise, however the island of Barbados had the distinction of being the only island where Concorde could land.

Even if the Concorde had been allowed to leave from Chicago, I would not have been able to afford the price.

And for that price I would not have wanted to be cramped into those uncomfortable seats, along restricted carry on luggage due to no overhead storage. 

Why did travelers pay the price? For the opportunity to ride on a super sonic flight which provided a quick trip to anywhere in the world, first class service, and great meals.

At least that's what I was told by visitors from Britain - and another interesting fact is that you could see the curvature of the Earth from your window. I actually hate to fly, but it's the only way to get to the places I love to visit, and seeing the curvature of the Earth would probably send me into hyper-ventilation.  

Of course those days are over, and the Concorde is being housed at the Grantley Adams airport. Now the new Concorde Visitor's Center is underway, and it is the taxpayers of Barbados who end up footing the bill - and many do not feel it's worth the cost. 

Here's Carl's comments . . .

A FLIGHT OF FANCY

We seem no longer to be having a “Concorde Museum”. By November – not September, as Senator Rudy Grant had told the Senate in June – we are now going to have a “Concorde Visitors Centre” ... whatever that will be.

What is there to see in the cramped passenger cabin of a Concorde? What’s so interesting about its 1960s cockpit? The passenger cabins and cockpits of a Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A-320 are more interesting.

When will be ever face the fact that Concorde was merely a fast, uneconomical passenger plane with a futuristic swept-wing design on which only the rich and famous could fly, as well as those who entertained themselves at the expense of taxpayers?

Meanwhile, can our Government tell us how much it has cost us to keep that technological conundrum in an air-conditioned hangar for the past two years?

From the outset, back in the 70s, Concorde, a vainglorious and unrealistic project, a metaphor of the hubris of two nations, Britain and France, who were left holding the bag after the commercial supersonic idea fell away.

Kevin Myers, writing in The Daily Telegraph two years ago, said: “The economics of Concorde were nonsense from the start, even with the hypothetical ‘hundreds’ of sales. It was far too small, and the trail of destruction left on the ground when it flew supersonic meant that it could only do so over the sea: and the only ocean it had the range to cross was the Atlantic. Really, a 10-year-old could have worked out how inviable this project was: but, of course, 10-year-olds are short on testosterone and high on common sense.”

Now, we here in Barbados are stuck with one of these old planes -- on loan from British Airways -- while the British have four already on display in well-equipped aviation museums in England, the Americans have two on show (one in Manhattan, the other in Seattle), and there are five others in museums and on display across the European continent.

So Barbados must have one too. Why? Because “We were one of the few places that Concorde visited". The fact is that Barbados was one of the few places that it could visit because of the excessive noise and the economic burden of operating it. So somehow we have turned a liability into a virtue; not even an asset!

Forget about Concorde. Give the thing back to British Airways; it's on loan, remember?

Does money grow on ackee trees in Barbados?