Concorde Flight Tutorial

In the location menu select the parking position next to the New York JFK airport reference point, you may need to zoom in to see it. It’s on the south-eastern side of the apron.

Next to the thrust levers you can find the brake handle.

• Pull the BRAKES lever back to the PARK position to set the parking brake

• Set all four reheat switches to the center position, that should already be the case in the default taxi configuration
• Rotate the transponder mode (ATC) to TA/RA

Scan the overhead panel and check that these switches are set correctly (which they should already be)

• Passenger seatbelts and no smoking sings ON
• ROOF beacon light ON
• Anti-collision light ON
• Navigation lights ON
• Pitot static heaters ON
• All probe heat switches ON
• Throttle masters all on MAIN
• Auto ignition switches all ON
• Auto throttle switches all ON
• Engine rating mode all TAKEOFF

On the autopilot panel

• Set on the flight directors 1 and 2
• Set an initial climb airspeed of e.g. 220kt or 250kt
• Rotate the selected heading to the planned runway course (316° for our runway)
• Rotate the selected altitude to set the initial climb altitude. We’re setting 40,000ft for now but you can also set 60,000ft
• Set the RAD/INS switch to INS so that the HSI displays our planned route direction and lateral offset.

From the parking position near the tower of JFK we make two consecutive left turns and follow the taxiways to the holding position for runway 31L.

As always, before crossing a runway check that both directions are clear of traffic.

Let’s test the flight controls before we start the taxi. In the front panel you will find a set of needles underneath the landing gear indicators

• Deflect the elevator up and down and monitor a response from all six elevons (inner, middle and outer elevons for each side)
• Deflect the ailerons left/right and check for a response from all six elevons
• Check the rudders left/right

Let’s start to taxi to runway 31L.

• Set the nose to 5° down if you haven’t done so yet
• Set on the taxi lights in the overhead panel
• Release the parking brake
• Add a bit of thrust to start rolling
• Perform a short brake test

We’ve received clearance for takeoff

• Turn on the landing lights in the overhead panel
• Check that the anti-collision light is set to on (rear overhead panel, shown earlier)
• Line up with the runway centerline

• Push the white button above the engine instruments to arm the takeoff monitor function
• Count down 3. 2. 1. NOW
• Start the chronometer by pressing the lower right button on the timer
• Apply full thrust on all four engines
• Verify all engines are spooling up simultaneously
• Engine fuel flow should advance to the pre-determined takeoff fuel flow position of about 2100-2200kg/hr

At 60kt the airspeed indicators should come alive.

• Maintain the runway centerline with rudder inputs
• Check the engine instruments

The takeoff monitor checks all four engines and if an engine fails it automatically engages contingency thrust on all remaining engines, provided the engine reheat switches are not in the off position.

• Check that there is a green “good-to-go” light illuminated for each engine before reaching 100kt
• Callout “Takeoff thrust set”
• Callout “100 knots” once that airspeed is reached

• At about 165kt you can initiate the rotation

Initially the nose may take a bit of effort to lift off but once it has come off the ground it becomes much easier to lift the nose further.

• Gently pitch up to about 13 degrees.
• With positive rate of climb retract the landing gear
• At 400ft initiate the left turn to turn away from the residential area in front of us

When you are above 200kt and 2000ft or at 1min on the chronometer (whichever comes first)

• Callout 3. 2. 1. NOISE
• Turn off the reheat switches
• Reduce engine thrust to about 100% N2
• Pitch down to about 8-10 degrees
• Disarm the takeoff monitor function by pulling the takeoff monitor knob
• Keep turning left onto a heading of about 210°

Our departure route takes us away from the coast as part of the noise abatement procedure.

We’ve set the HSI to the INS source earlier, now we can see where the navigation route is taking is to on the HSI.

• Follow the INS route guidance laterally
• Accelerate to 250kt and maintain that airspeed

• Check that the flight directors are switched on and that the selected altitude is above the current altitude
• Push the INS button on the autopilot panel
• Push the VS button on the autopilot panel
• Rotate the selected airspeed knob to 250kt
• Click the auto-throttle (AT) switches to turn them on
• Push the IAS ACQ button to tell the auto-throttle to maintain speed
• Follow the flight director commands on the attitude indicator and once they are centered:
• Turn on the autopilot (AP1)

In the overhead panel we can now change the engine rating from takeoff to flight.

• Push the crash bar to set the engine rating switches to flight.
• Check that CLB light in the engine rating annunciator (left of the engine instruments) is now illuminated.

Note: The takeoff rating switches return to the takeoff position automatically when the landing gear is extended.

Reaching 250kt * Push the IAS HOLD button on the right side of the autopilot panel. * When you are above the water and away from the city you can turn off the auto-throttle and increase thrust again to 100% * Set the nose and visor lever to the up position to retract the nose and raise the visor, streamlining them * Turn off and retract the retractable exterior lights to reduce drag * You can keep the Taxi/Turn lights on until reaching 10,000ft

After reaching 10,000ft we can finally speed up further.

• Rotate the airspeed knob to set the maximum allowed airspeed on the airspeed indicator (380kt in our case)
• Adjust the selected heading to match the current INS course to the next waypoint
• Push the MAX CLIMB button on the autopilot panel
• Turn off the seatbelt and no smoking signs switches in the overhead panel as required In the MAX CLIMB mode the autopilot will pitch to maintain an airspeed close to the maximum operating airspeed or maximum operating Mach number (VMO/MMO).

At about 27,000ft and at or near VMO we’ve almost reached the speed of sound of Mach 1.0. Until now we’ve been climbing using maximum dry climb thrust without engine reheat. To push through the sound barrier we need a bit of extra thrust we get from activating the reheats (afterburners). We keep the reheats on during the acceleration from Mach 0.95 to Mach 1.7 where we can turn them off and keep accelerating thanks to the engine intake ram air effect.

• Increase the selected altitude to 60,000ft
• Use the MAX CLIMB mode to let the autopilot accelerate
• Turn off the auto throttle and apply 100% thrust (if not already set)

Turn on the reheat switches. In the real world we would turn them on in pairs, first the inner engines 2+3, then the outer engines 1+4. For simplicity we’ll turn them all on at once here.

• Right click the bar above the engine reheat switches or on mobile tap the bar to bring up the green circle highlight and pull the green center down
• Check the engine instruments, the lowest row for the engine area should now show an increase in nozzle area as the reheat kicks in

Near Mach 1.0 we can observe some fluctuations on the airspeed, vertical speed and altimeter. These are caused by the airflow going supersonic near the fuselage which creates shockwaves that hit our air data static probes and pitot tubes.

• Keep accelerating until reaching Mach 1.7
• Turn off the reheat switches by pushing the bar above the reheat switches down

We can now accelerate the rest of the way to our targeted Mach 2.02 cruising speed without the help of the reheat (afterburners).

When the Mach indicator reaches Mach 2.02

• Set the auto throttle switch to on
• Push the MACH HOLD button on the autopilot

Above 50,000ft we’re approaching the cruise altitude and can now change the engine rating to the cruise rating.

• In the overhead panel click the crash bar to set the engine rating from CLIMB to CRUISE.
• To the left of the engine instruments the engine rating should now show CRS for cruise engine rating.
• Turn off the seatbelt signs and no smoking signs (if not done earlier)

We’re about 280NM from our destination London Heathrow and need to start our descent. The other way around, approaching New York we could wait another 60NM or so before we need to descent.

• Select a lower altitude to descent to. We’re selecting 10,000ft for now
• Turn off the auto-throttle system
• Gently reduce thrust to 50%
• Push the V/S button on the autopilot to engage vertical speed mode
• Use the rocker switch in the pedestal to set a vertical speed of -1000ft/min or grab the vertical speed needle directly (which is not possible in the real aircraft but much more convenient for us)
• Decrease airspeed to about 350kt.

As you are descending through 50,000ft

• Set the engine rating mode from cruise back to climb by clicking the bar in the overhead panel
• Turn on the seatbelt and no smoking signs as required

There are two methods for controlling your descent. You can either keep the autopilot in vertical speed mode with auto-throttle in airspeed mode or you can use the autopilot airspeed hold and manually control thrust and therefore descent rate.

1) Method with A/T and VS

• Set on the auto-throttle switch
• Push the IAS hold button on the auto-throttle side
• Select an airspeed of 350 or 330kt and push the IAS ACQ button
• Manually adjust the vertical speed to change the rate of descent

2) Method IAS HOLD and manual thrust

• Keep auto-throttle off
• Push the IAS HOLD button on the right side of the autopilot panel
• Use your throttle input to adjust the desired rate of descent

Reaching 12,000ft you should be about 45-60NM from your destination. If you are too high you can use idle reverse thrust on the two inner engines to increase drag as sort of an airbrake replacement, which the Concorde doesn’t have. Idle reverse is permitted in flight as long as you are subsonic (below Mach 0.95). If you are too low then reduce the descent rate to zero until you reach less than 60NM but keep your speed up for now.

• Turn on the seatbelt and no smoking signs in the overhead now (if not already set)
• Switch to vertical speed mode (VS button) on the autopilot panel (if not already set)
• Set on the auto-throttle and push the IAS ACQ button (if not already set)
• Decrease the selected airspeed to 250kt
• Reduce the rate of descent by either using the rocker switch in the pedestal or by dragging the vertical speed needle directly. You can increase the rate of descent again when you get close to 250kt and the auto-throttle starts feeding in more power.

• Click the bar in the overhead panel to set all four engine flight rating switches to TAKEOFF
• Turn on the landing/taxi lights
• Decrease the selected altitude to the final approach fix altitude, in our case 2500ft
• Keep descending at 250kt and a vertical speed of around 1200-1500ft/min with autopilot in VS mode and auto-throttle in IAS HOLD or IAS ACQ mode

We should be passing 10,000ft at 250kt at a distance of about 30-40NM from the destination. If you are already closeer than this you need to increase the descent rate. If you are too far away you can stop the descent and resume it when within about 35NM.

• When passing 10,000ft set the nose to 5 degrees
• Switch the HSI source from INS back to RAD to be able to see signals from radio navigation receivers
• Set the ILS approach frequency and course (110.30Mhz and 093°)
• Monitor the localizer and glide slope needles on the attitude indicator, they should start to show a deflection really soon

• Move all four reheat switches to the middle REHEAT position.

This arms the reheat for a potential go-around. We’re approaching our destination quickly and are about 15-20NM out at an altitude of about 2500-5000ft.

• At 15NM DME distance from the localizer decrease the selected airspeed to 210kt
• If both the LOC and G/S needle on the attitude indicator have no more OFF flags push the LAND button on the autopilot panel
• Ideally you should now be at 2500ft but not higher than 3000ft (if you are too high consider dropping the landing gear for extra drag and increase your descent rate)

The Concorde can land fully automatically which is also implemented in Aerofly FS. If we don’t want to perform an automatic landing we should push the GLIDE button instead of the LAND button.

The autopilot now captures the localizer for us. This can be seen on the autopilot panel when the VOR/LOC button illuminates.

• Decrease the selected airspeed to 190kt

When the autopilot captures the glide slope you should see a green annunciator above the attitude indicator showing LAND 2.

• Select the landing gear down
• Set the second autopilot (AP2) on as well.
• Change the selected altitude to the go-around altitude, e.g. 3000ft
• Decrease the selected airspeed to the final approach speed, in our case 165kt
• Set the nose to the landing position to down
• Verify that the landing gear is down with four green lights and that the nose and visor indicators show down as well
• Extend and turn on all landing lights

After touch down, when flying manually, you can apply maximum reverse thrust right away. During an autoland we recommend waiting until the nose has touched down before applying reverse thrust.

• Select reverse thrust on all four engines
• Monitor how the blue lights above the engine instruments are blinking at first and then remain steady, showing the full deployment of the reversers
• Applying brakes is recommended below 100kt but if the runway is short you may have to use manual brakes earlier
• Before reaching 60kt reduce the reverse thrust to idle reverse
• Then cancel the reverse thrust and use wheel brakes to slow down to taxi speed

• Disconnect the autopilot with the takeover button on the yoke. If the autopilot disengaged on its own that button also cancels the aural warning sound.
• Use tiller inputs to turn off the runway. Without a tiller assigned you can use your rudder input
• When you vacated the runway turn off the landing lights
• Turn off the auto-throttle switches
• Turn off both flight directors

To avoid overheating we are now turning off the heaters for the static and pitot probes.

• In the overhead panel switch off the probe heat switches
• Turn off the anti-collision light
• Set the engine auto ignition switches to off

Turn off the transponder (ATC)

• Rotate the transponder mode to standby

When reaching the parking position retract the nose and visor.

• Use the lever in the cockpit or your flap menu or flap key/button assignments

Turn off the external landing and taxi lights and retract them

• Click the bars to set them all off at the same time.

When you have come to a complete stop

• Set the parking brake
• Set the passenger seatbelt and no smoking sign switches to off

We hope you liked flying with us at twice the speed of sound and we welcome you to try the next flight from London back to New York.

Or maybe you want to fly the Concorde manually for a bit, then you can just position it back on final approach for a manual landing or back onto a runway for takeoff to your next destination.