Unparalleled footage from 2003 shows exactly what it was like to fly on Concorde as a passenger

Footage from a 2003 flight between New York and London has been discovered, showing just how exciting it was to fly supersonic on Concorde as a passenger.

The video shows the pilot’s informative pre-flight announcement and the moment that the majestic plane becomes supersonic.

Now the Concorde is sadly retired, this video acts as an iconic time capsule for a machine that’s better suited for the future.

The video comes from 2003, and not only shows the classy on-board experience passengers had, but probably one of Concorde’s final flights.

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‘Supersonic cruise’

Described as a ‘supersonic cruise’ in his pre-flight announcement, the pilot of the New York to London flight on Concorde clearly loves his job.

He gives a good explanation about how the plane used to take off using a unique system of afterburners which gave the plane an extra 20 percent of thrust in comparison to a standard one.

The afterburners caused a very acrid smell so in order to stop it affecting people on the ground in a built up area like New York, straight after take off, the airplane took a very sharp left turn.

In this flight’s case, right around Jamaica Bay.

The afterburners were used 10 minutes later on in the flight to help the plane to go supersonic.

Supersonic means faster than the speed of light and this plane at its fastest reached about 1350mph.

That’s Mach 2, which is twice the speed of sound, faster than a bullet.

Lots of people have tried to recreate the iconic speed of the Concorde, and this ‘son of Concorde’ came extremely close.

A chance to fly on Concorde as a passenger

The video will be very important to people who were lucky enough to fly on Concorde as a passenger and those who didn’t get to experience it when it was pre-retirement.

A lot of people regret that they never got the chance to experience what it’s like to fly faster than a speeding bullet.

Not only is the whole experience unparalleled in terms of speed, but it is also extremely classy, with champagne and caviar being served in flight.

The fact that the airplane flew so fast but didn’t even cause a ripple in the passengers’ champagne glasses shows what a true technological marvel the plane was.

At the end of the flight, the pilot expressed sadness at how the next time the passengers will see the inside of the Concorde will be ‘probably in a museum’.

The plane was retired in 2003 and it’s no surprise that it remains sorely missed.

While this footage shows Concorde’s first ever take off, this is the first time we’ve been able to see one of its last flights, and it’s truly bittersweet.

Come back Concorde, we miss you!