Concorde

Concorde, the world’s first (and so far, only) supersonic airliner, was retired two decades ago in real life. However, in the skies of VATSIM, she lives on in the hands of some nostalgic pilots. Keflavik (BIKF) in particular was an occasional charter destination for Concorde in real life, and indeed, one may occasionally still find virtual pilots flying virtual Concordes into BIKF on VATSIM.

For the most part, controlling Concorde is not unlike controlling any other civilian IFR aircraft. However, because of Concorde’s unique design and high-altitude, high-speed regime of flight, some unique considerations should be taken into account.

Flight Planning and Clearance Delivery

Below is an example of a Concorde flight plan routing from BIKF to EGLL:

RIMUM/M200F430 DCT C/61N020W/M200F450F600 DCT 5230N01500W LULOX/N0566F350 DCT TACQI DCT BAPHU DCT OCTIZ DCT SIRIC

Some waypoints are prefixed with “C/," and have two sets of flight levels listed for said waypoint. This indicates that Concorde will perform “cruise climb” at those waypoints within the levels listed, which means that its autopilot will automatically perform gentle climbs and descents in order to achieve the most optimum cruise level for the aircraft.

E.g., "C/6120N/M200F450F600" means the aircraft will cruise climb beginning at 6120N at Mach 2, between FL450-600.

When issuing an oceanic clearance, it is generally not required to ask for Concorde's Mach number, since Concorde's supersonic cruise speed is always Mach 2.00. Additionally, Concorde typically cruise climbs in the block FL450-FL600.

Euroscope’s MACH field only allows Mach numbers of up to 1.00, and the CFL/RFL fields do not support block levels. Therefore, DEL controllers should input 1.00 into the MACH field, and note the flight's actual Mach number and block level on the scratchpad (for example, "M200 F450-F600.")

In terms of navigation equipment, Concorde was not equipped with a modern FMS, but rather with an INS. While an INS does provide limited RNAV capability, it does not provide the RNAV1 capability required to fly modern RNAV SIDs. Hence, DEL and APP should coordinate to clear Concorde via an Omnidirectional (at BIKF) or radar vectored departure.

An example of a typical Concorde clearance is as follows:

🎧 BAW Concorde 9035, oceanic clearance to London Heathrow, via the OMNI 4A departure, RIMUM, 61N020W, 5230N01500W, initial climb 5000ft, Mach 2, squawk 4307.

Aircraft Characteristics

Ground

In terms of ground handling, Concorde may be handled more or less the same as any other commercial airliner.

Subsonic

As mentioned prior,

Supersonic