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American Morning

Concorde Test Flight: Textbook Takeoff

Aired July 17, 2001 - 10:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A British Airways Concorde jet today made its first supersonic flight since a deadly Concorde crash in France last year. The plane took off from Heathrow Airport earlier this morning for a three hour, 40 minute flight over the Atlantic.

And joining us now by phone to talk some more about the flight is CNN's Richard Quest, who witnessed the takeoff almost from ground zero there -- Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Leon.

It was a textbook takeoff, Concorde reaching 250 miles an hour on the runway before Captain Mike Bannister lifted the aircraft into the air. Concorde Alpha Foxtrot has now been airborne for just one hour. So she's probably flying supersonic and will be heading up towards Iceland, where the three-hour flight will take place, prior to returning to a Royal Air Force base in the U.K. for further tests.

This is a verification flight to make sure what comes, the changes, the modifications, the adaptations, to make sure they work -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Richard, we were sitting there watching it and we -- as we watched the plane right before it took off down the runway we saw some vehicles approach the plane and from the vantage point where our camera was situated, we thought perhaps they were going to stop it. Were they putting themselves in position for observation there or whatever? Have you learned anything about that?

QUEST: Yes. It certainly, it was entirely normal that there were lots of emergency vehicles. There were other vehicles near Concorde when she took off. The reason is simple. The plane doesn't have an airworthiness certificate at the moment. This is a special flight. The authorities have to give special permission for it to take -- in fact, Concorde can't even land now at a civil airport like Heathrow Airport. Once in the air, it has to go to an RAF base.

But everybody I spoke to here said it was a textbook takeoff. Captain Mike Bannister, one of the most experienced Concorde air pilots, who we'll be hearing from once the plane has landed in two or three hours time, basically took the plane into the air in perfect fashion.

HARRIS: All right, fascinating. Perfect report there, Richard Quest. We thank you much for that and we'll be talking with you later on this morning.

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