If you’re strolling along Manhattan by the Hudson River, make sure to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum — a unique place where aviation and space history come to life. One of the museum’s main highlights is the fastest passenger plane in the world — the Concorde, which you can explore on a tour and experience the thrill of supersonic flight.
Concorde History
Only 20 Concorde planes were ever built, and New York is home to the 14th (210 / G-BOAD). This aircraft operated from 1976 to 2003 and set an aviation record by flying from New York to London in just 2 hours and 53 minutes in 1996. It’s also the most flown Concorde in terms of total flight hours.
The Concorde is famous for its records:
- Flight speed: 2,167 km/h and the first passenger aircraft with fly-by-wire technology, meaning electronic rather than hydraulic controls.
- Noise: so loud that local residents protested, leading the US Congress to ban Concorde landings in the United States. Routes were also restricted in Malaysia and India.
- Flight altitude: up to 18,000 meters, high enough to see the curvature of the Earth.
- Fuel consumption and ticket cost: a one-way ticket cost $6,703 in 1997, and the cabin, with its tiny windows, looks modest by modern standards.
- Rarity of photos: over almost 40 years of operation, there is only one photograph of the Concorde in supersonic flight, as nothing else moves fast enough to capture it.
During the tour, visitors can:
- Sit in the Concorde cabin.
- Peek into the cockpit and sit in the pilot seats.
- Learn about the Tu-144, the Soviet supersonic passenger plane, which completed only 55 passenger flights.
The tour includes a brief history of the Concorde and its unique records.
Interesting Facts
- The Concorde was the first passenger aircraft to be electronically controlled via fly-by-wire.
- Despite its record-breaking speed, routes were designed to fly over oceans, not land, to minimize noise.
- The tiny windows were part of the cabin design, optimized for extreme speeds and altitudes.
Visitor’s Information
Cost of the Concorde tour: $12
Address: Pier 86, W 46th St, New York, NY 10036
Website: www.intrepidmuseum.org
