Joyriding in the Concorde - Pattern work, supersonic style!

Pattern work is about circuits; up and down, round and round, in and out, and back to where you started on the airport. But I noticed a funny thing, the faster the plane, the longer it takes. With the Concorde, one circuit takes about an hour, as it turns out.

It was the last century, and I was just starting as a flight instructor in San Diego. Some Admiral decided (and good for him!) that it was time to put San Diego on the map with an international airshow - a big one! So they committed to ticket sales and marketing, and found people from around the world to bring interesting aircraft. Only the best.

To staff the event, they recruited pilots and flight instructors from the region - free access to the shows, in exchange for running crowd control on the ramp, handling radio calls on the hand-held as needed, and keeping small children from being sucked up by jet engines on the taxiway.

That's how I found myself on Concorde duty. My job? Look official, and keep the crowd to the edges of the taxi way and beyond, meaning I had the best view possible. The promoters sold tickets for rides on the Concorde, about $1,000 a seat, for a departure from Brown Field (SDM) halfway to Hawaii, getting their picture taken by the mach-meter while sipping champagne, and turning around back to Brown for a landing, all within the hour. They had lines of people waiting to go, and ran joyriding light all day!

Going halfway to Hawaii worked out well, when they cracked the sound barrier, they were safely out over the Pacific, nobody was bothered by the sonic boom.

I had mixed feelings watching the comings and goings. I would have loved to take the ride, but if I had the $1,000 disposable cash (which few young flight instructors possess) I would have sooner converted it into 12 hours of Multi-Engine time. Those passengers were looking very happy as they deplaned, though!

Thinking back, the most striking aspect was the sound. The whole process and watching the takeoffs and landings was fantastic, but it was other-worldly to hear the power in the thrumming high speed shriek of those engines, moving the plane along the taxi-way then roaring to life for the takeoff. To stand next to it, 40 feet away, was to be awed by the power and potential of those engines. Truly a memorable day!

(And I'm glad I found all my old flying slides in the box at the back of the garage)!

Onwards & Upwards,
Rob Bremmer

"Blackbird Singing in the Middle of the Night"

So here's the full story. When I lived in San Diego and ran my little flight training business, I accidentally came into a situation where I could and did, perform a favor for the US Navy. Here's how it unfolded: 


One day, while flying my Aeronca out in the back country, I got into some low level lift with some hawks and followed the lift, being mindful of the chaparral hillside close below. Suddenly a metal shape loomed up from the hillside - a green oblong cylinder. I dropped a little lower and made a second pass. It was obviously military and I guessed a fuel drop tank, it didn't look like any typical guided explosives. On a hunch I circled up a few thousand feet for a better look. Yup! Sure enough, I was on the extended center line for Miramar, but many miles up into the back-country. I took two sight lines and estimated it's position. 


Later that weekend, I told my neighbor, who I knew as  Master Chief at Miramar. He listened to my story with a smile and said 'That's interesting!"


The next day was Monday. At work in El Cajon I heard several large helicopters, and stepped outside for a look. There were two Navy choppers, heading in formation to roughly where I'd flown that weekend. 'Coincidence.' I thought, and went back to work.


That night my neighbor came over all smiles and exuberant. "I have permission to extend a special 'thanks' to you!" He said. Turns out, I found a Navy drop tank they'd accidentally released on a landing at Miramar coming in from the east, and they had no idea where it was. "We hoped we found it before a hiker did." he told me. They were glad it was found by a pilot and not some kid hiking in the wilderness. 


My reward was wonderful - half a day spent flying the F-14 full motion sim and the full dome sim (A big deal back then) and some time flying the E2-C, which flew just like the twins I knew, just with more power. I got an escort through the sim area, and an official Navy flight jacket with my name on the leather patch and the title 'Instructor',  and I got this photo.


Now, about the photo. It was relatively fresh, taken from the forward turret camera of an F-14 flying cover for the refueling mission. I was told the image was shot from many miles away, and it is IR enhanced - that's why the odd colors, and the glow on the SR-71 nacelles is engine heat. The optics and tracking capabilities are amazing when you think the target aircraft must have been flying at least 250-300 mph, and the camera plane, much faster than that, flying towards them and looking down at an angle, and tracking the target ship through cloud cover as well!


Our pilots do amazing things, things most of us will never know. Here is just one hint at the edges of what they do or did, in daily life. 


Onwards & Upwards,
Rob Bremmer