... and May 'Deliver' It Again

One of the newest Concorde pilots flew one of the last Concorde missions.

Last month, Air France delivered one of its five Concordes to Washington's Reagan National, as another gesture of French friendship. That bird will never smoke again.

The pilot on that historic flight was Gerard Feldzer, who now flies A340s and A330s on long-haul flights, and started his commercial flying career (20,000 hours of it) in Caravelles. After he had also flown 707s and 747s, he moved into the Airbus line, and was one of the few who has flown the fastest civilian airplane.

Can you spell, "VIP?"

That last Air France Concorde flight was billed as a "VIP Special." How special? Captain Feldzer noted that "The past five Air France Presidents, every man who was president during the Concorde's service, was on that airplane. There were 60 passengers in all."

Keep a Concorde Flying

Captain Feldzer is also the President of the Aero Club of France, which has teamed up with the Royal Aero Club (Great Britain), and these clubs are trying to keep at least one concorde flyable. "We could run the engines once a month, and keep the hydraulic and other systems current," Gerard told us, "until we had enough money for a flight."

"We are calling on Concorde enthusiasts around the world, to keep one alive," Gerard explained.

There is at least one certified Concorde flight simulator still in operable condition, in a museum in France. It, too, is in danger. Feldzer said, "We are trying [to keep it working], but it is idfficult. We hope so, though. The instruments and technicians are the problem." Not only are many of the instruments rare, the technicians to service and calibrate them are rare, as well, and asking for so much of their volunteer time may prove to be the biggest obstacle the simulators face.

How to Raise Money? Think!

One way the Aero Club of France is planning to raise money, is to sponsor, well, not really an air race, but a... poker run. "We will race from Paris to Moscow to Beijing," the smiling Captain said, "for cards."

We hope he draws four aces.

FMI: www.aeroclub.com