Concorde G-BOAA East Fortune Scotland Facts

Haddington, Edinburgh and Lothians

Airshow & Concorde Break Special Offer 2010

Maitlandfield House Hotel is only 4.5 miles from the East Fortune Airfield where Scotland's Museum of Flight and the Concorde Experience are on display.

The hotel is also well located within walking distance from the picturesque town of Haddington the County Town of East Lothian. You will be spoilt for things to do locally. There are many attractions including monthly farmers Market, Castles, Galleries, Distillery and many historic houses all waiting to be explored. With Edinburgh only 16 miles away the possibilities are endless.

SPECIAL OFFER

Dinner bed and breakfast £65 per person per night sharing a twin or double room

STAY 2 NIGHTS GET A 3rd NIGHT FREE!! To book call reservations 01620 826513

Group rates available on request for parties of 8 or more

Concorde measures 204ft in length - stretching between six and ten inches in-flight due to heating of the airframe. She is painted in a specially developed white paint to accommodate these changes and to dissipate the heat generated by supersonic flight. The wingspan is 83ft 8ins - much less than conventional subsonic aircraft as Concorde flies in totally a different way using "Vortex Lift" to achieve her exceptional performance. The height is 37ft 1ins. The characteristic droop nose is lowered to improve pilots' visibility for take-off and landing.

Power

Concorde's four engines - specially designed Rolls-Royce/ Snecma Olympus 593s - give more than 38,000lbs of thrust each, with 'reheat'. This adds fuel to the final stage of the engine to produce the extra power required for take-off and the transition to supersonic flight. They are the most powerful pure jet engines flying commercially.

Speed

Concorde takes off at 220 knots (250mph) (compared with 165 knots for most subsonic aircraft). She cruises at around 1350mph - more than twice the speed of sound - and at an altitude of up to 60,000 ft (over 11 miles high). A typical London to New York crossing would take a little less than three and a half hours as opposed to about eight hours for a subsonic flight. Traveling Westwards, the five-hour time difference meant Concorde effectively arrived before she left. She travels "faster than the sun".

Service

More than 2.5 million passengers have flown supersonically on British Airways' Concorde since she entered commercial service in 1976. The most frequent passenger, oil company executive, clocked up almost 70 round trips transatlantic crossings a year.

Safety Enhancements

A team of about 250 British Airways' engineers worked tirelessly, together with the relevant authorities, to further improve safety on board. The engineers and manufacturers worked closely together to create and install a new Kevlar-rubber lining for Concorde's wing-based fuel tanks and the addition of specially developed Michelin tyres, as well as strengthened wiring in the undercarriage.