Before an estimated 35,000 spectators, the British Airways and Air France Concorde supersonic aircraft approached from the south and touched down next to each other less than two seconds apart.
The airfield that is now Orlando International Airport (MCO) hosted another aviation event associated with supersonic flight, after having played host to the X-1 rocket plane’s initial test flights in 1946. Two Concorde supersonic aircraft landed almost simultaneously for the first time side by side on parallel runways at Orlando International Airport on October 18, 1982, as shown in the picture and the video in this post.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Walt Disney organized the event, which primarily served as a publicity gimmick to hype the arrival of the sponsors of exhibitions at the British and French pavilions of the recently opened Epcot Center.
A simultaneous arrival at Washington was attempted in 1976 by Air France and British Airways, the two European (and only) airlines that flew the Concorde. But due to the dense air traffic over Dulles International Airport, which prevented the two planes from properly lining up on their approach, they touched down 70 seconds apart.
Orlando provided the best location for the 1982 landing since it had two parallel, 12,000-foot-long runways and had less congested aviation traffic. Before an estimated 35,000 spectators, the droop-nosed British and French aircraft landed next to each other less than two seconds apart as they approached from the south.
A little-known truth about this maneuver, according to AviationHumor.net, is that the airport was not designed to withstand the heat from the Concorde. They damaged the runway by cooking it when they took off, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. For urgent repairs, the airport was shut down for more than a week.
Four Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 engines, each providing 38,000 pounds of thrust with reheat, were the most powerful pure jet engines ever employed in a commercial aircraft for Concorde. The four engines of the aircraft used reheat technology, which involves adding fuel to the engine’s last stage to create the extra power needed for takeoff and the transition to supersonic flight. On February 7, 1996, Concorde made the transatlantic flight from New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds.
Photo by Orlando International Airport (MCO)
