Two Concordes once landed simultaneously at Orlando in spectacular parallel landing
- In 1982, British Airways and Air France landed two Concordes planes simultaneously
- They used Orlando Airport for this stunt
- BA and Air France had already tried it once before but failed
Published on Jul 17, 2024 at 3:39 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Jul 17, 2024 at 6:56 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
In 1982, two Concorde airliners landed simultaneously at Orlando International Airport.
Most people would count themselves if they managed to see a Concorde once.
So imagine what it must’ve been like to see two landing together.
READ MORE: Video shows what it was actually like to fly on Concorde
The simultaneous landing took place on October 18, 1982 during an aviation event related to supersonic flight.
The whole thing was arranged by Walt Disney and it was exactly what you think it was: a publicity stunt.
A one-off event
Air France and British Airways, the only airlines that operated Concordes, had already tried a simultaneous landing in 1976 at Dulles International Airport.
They very nearly pulled it off, but there was a 70-second gap between the first and the second plane due to heavy air traffic that day.
They tried again in 1982, this time at Orlando Airport, which has 12,000-foot-long runways that are ideal for this sort of thing.
But Orlando Airport found out the hard way that space wasn’t issue, because something else was.
Concorde was too hot – literally
Obviously you can’t land Concordes on a helipad, but most airports have runways that adequate and long enough for a Concorde.
On one occasion, pilots even managed to land it at Princess Juliana airport in Sint Marteen, which isn’t exactly the longest runway in the world.
So, the length of the runway wasn’t a problem, but there was another issue that Orlando Airport underestimated.
Orlando Airport had not realized that Concorde had engines that produced a lot more heat than any other airliner at the time, and so these two planes literally cooked the runway upon take-off.
They had to close down the airport for over a week to repair the tarmac.
Parallel landing is sometimes necessary
As it turns out, parallel landing and takeoff is more than just a publicity stunt.
Something they do it for safety, and also to maximize efficiency and traffic capacity.
In theory, at least, this isn’t limited to one specific aircraft, so theoretically it could be done with the massive Airbus A380 as well.
A while back, somebody filmed a video of two planes taking off simultaneously at SFO, and it was truly impressive.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
