Yep it’s a superb book, definitely read/listen to it. (there’s a new book out by John Tye too, another Concorde pilot.)
And if you’re in the UK, visit Brooklands Museum where you can go on one where they’ve replicated some the noise, movement, displays etc. in the passenger cabin.
Also, only place in the world with a working Concorde flight simulator.
Bannister supports the museum and occasionally gives lessons in the flight simulator.
Is this written by AI or what? "One of main differences that instantly stands out is the additional bank of control panels on the right-hand side" -> "This was not uncommon at the time"
I think its nice illustration of simple-easy-complex-difficult dichotomy. On one hand it appears super complex. But I suspect it is also conceptually very simple; each switch, button, dial, and indicator is most likely directly coupled to some one specific functionality. In comparison in modern aircrafts, with their sleek glass cockpits, lot of the same functionality might be hidden somewhere ten levels deep in menu hell and might have all sorts of weird modality etc built-in, so they are in some regards conceptually more complex. In similar vein in Concorde the controls and indicators were probably very directly coupled to their respective elements, again being simple in that regard, whereas in modern aircraft everything is done with impossibly complex computer systems that pilots (or even engineers) would have difficult time understanding.
It's the perfect symbol of peak boomerist individualism and failed nationalism. Burn as much fuel as you can. Make as much noise as you can. Who cares about the atmosphere and trying to live peacefully below it. It's an absolute engineering masterpiece. Six times the fuel per mile as a 747, uh, anyway, whatever it's loud and fast that's so cool!
It was just a sign of the times. People just didn't realise the impact as the negative effects hadn't started yet and the benefits were huge in lifting most of Europe out of poverty.
Soon after the oil crisis happened though which was really the start of climate and environmental awareness.
The Oil Crisis was 1973-74. Commercial Concorde flights began two years later in 1976. I've never heard a connection between the Oil Crisis and the beginning the climate awareness. The crisis was considered a crisis specifically because we couldn't get enough it to burn.
Of course the Concorde was being designed long before that. Since the mid-60s. It was still a product of a care-free age.
At least in Holland the oil crisis definitely kicked off a moment that questioned the constant availability of cheap natural resources. Suddenly what was "on tap" was no longer there.
The climate part came later (but the environmental movement started around that time) but in my view it was the first chip in the belief of oil as the foundation of a long-term prosperous future.
Your ageist take is unfortunate and certainly an odd one. The last 30 years(around the same time of the last Concorde flight in 2003), we have witnessed an explosion in private jet travel by the wealthy and elite. Would that be "peak millenial", "peak-genX", "peakest Boomer"[1]? The Concorde sat between 92 and 128 passengers, four abreast. I'm not sure how that qualifies as "individualism." It was practically a sardine can. The Concorde also had very limited service and routes. It also wasn't allowed to fly supersonic over land.
According to Wikipedia, the Concorde was agreed on in 1962 and had its first test flight in 1969. One usually counts the Baby Boom as starting in 1945. How many 17-year-olds were authorized to sign off on such expensive products in 1962? And how many 24-year-olds were aeronautical engineering leads in 1969?
I'm not so sure about the nationalism--it was a joint British and French project.
