having flown flown on concorde, both in the cabin & cockpit & worked with concorde engineering at BA i suppose i may be slightly biased lol but i've also flown 1st in a QS/BA 744 & its very nice too, but very different.infact the 2 are so totally different, they're almost the complete opposites of the jet age, you can't really say which is better or worse.concorde is a relic of the good old days of flying, its a high class affair & people dress up smartly to fly & the experience is so totally different from any other flying you'll do. the aircraft itself is similar, if somewhat comical if you knew anything about how the engineering/maintenance departments worked (i.e. buying bits from museums in the last couple of years).the 747 has come to represent the modern aspects of flying, which we all know. the aircraft is a triumph of modern engineering & marketing & thats undisputed.both have their good & bad aspects, but what should be thought of is that the human race has less capability now that we had 30 years ago, normal people can't cheat time by flying faster than the earth spins, man can't land on the moon.don't forget though, that each time aircraft fly its causing more pollution, aircraft like the A380 are all very well but airlines are going to do away with the duty free shopping, gymnasium etc. onboard & pack them full of seats, like many did with the 747.what is needed are econmical, quiet aircraft (like the dreamliner is supposed to be, but we'll wait & see). i can go on & on about how we're actually still living in the same century of aviation as the wright bros. aircraft today are just aluminium tubes with wings out the side, the same as the earliest aircraft.the next decade will see some exciting changes in the aerospace industry. now studying for my masters in Aerospace systems engineering, i've seen all sort of ideas floating around & i know airbus & boeing are now looking very seriously at the blended wing airliner. should be fun!

AHHH WOW somebody responding. That is the first time that has happened to me.Well I must recant what I wrote. I don't think that the aviation industry will get to that age. Infact I believe the affects of the War in IRAQ, wwould have trigerred a chain reaction with dept of natural resources throughout the nations, dependent on the oil. Prices in Maui Hawaii for instance, is $3.00 per gallon right now for regular unleaded. Hawaii has had a second look on alternative fuels already.Imagine electric cars on the road within the next two decades, coupled with new public transportation methods. I beleive that will happen in our life time, and higher taxes on fossil fuels to finance the alternatives. I envision, super nuclear powerplants, in desolate places of developed nations-instead of building over existing powerplants, consideration will be given for making the powerplants, underground, or in deserted region,-and instead of huge pipelines for the conveyance of oil the will be powerlines. and large areas of land that are barren san become thousands of acres of solar panels for future power.Airlines are commodities it seems, and as in the past they all can be written off so easily, and literally liquidated. I think air travel will evolve to what it began as. A priviledge for those whom may afford its use. My father recalled the early flights of the Pan Am Clippers in Kaneohe Bay. It was first class for all that rode it. I think superairports are going to be the norm. It seems when they built denvers international airport, it was the start of something new. And possibly regional airports are more common, or Maglev technology for high speed train service transcontinental will be ideal. I certainly think it is time for that technology. Maybe you will help design them. The consume less and are comfortable inside, and offer great parking lots for those using it.Traveling by air is a priviledge, and thats why it cost more to do, and is limited for daily use, unless of course you are a pilot.Well I hope to ride the Airbus A380 oneday, perhaps on Virgin Atlantic, because it will have all the amenities all the time until another catostrophic incident takes it away from us all. God forbid it.Thank you for the illustrious history and home work you included in the response to my flabergasted attempt at a rhetorical response to titles of airworthy vessels.Sincerely;Ikelaela Kalua

You say the 747 represents the new age of aviation. I say its the old age. When Concorde started flying everyday man believed all airliners would fly that way soon and people would be living on the moon by the new milenia.Comparing the 747 and Concorde is like comparing a new age turbine power, medium sized hydro-planing fast ferry to a huge iron conventional ferry or passenger liner. The fast ferry costs you more, costs more to run and gets you there in half the time. It destroys wild life on coast lines and kills people in high seas on shores and peers. It burns more fuel and turns seals and sholes of fish into a pink roaster tails of spray.If they decommision those ferries in the aim for more efficent ferries, that carry more people, polute less, but take a lot longer to get to their destination, is that an advancement or a retardation of human achievement?That is the main question I believe and a very phylosphical one too.Concorde was the first in it's generation. How many generations of sub sonic Jet liners have brought us to the quiet, efficent cattle class carrying jumbos today? Many, many, many genrations. To go forward we need to combine the two and build efficent, quiet, cattle class carrying supersonic jetliners. In the next 50 years we could all be flying sub-orbital, but with the unrest in the world, with terrorism and the imposed terror of terrorism, we are going back, not forward. Its a shame.BTW there are reasons why you pay $3.00 a gallon and I'm sure reasons why you think it's expensive. America and the middle east have always had a love/hate relationship, a marriage of oil and Arab investment and I'll stop there. Now the world is rising against the US for its pollution and fossil fuel use/abuse and its not listening, the chevy V8 still runs the country, domestic cars have 4 and 5 litre V8 engines and weigh 3 tonnes. You think $3.00 a gallon is expensive? I am about to go and put 2.00GBP in my motor bike. 2GBP is rougly speaking between $3 and $4. It will not even half fill the 1 gallon tank. We pay 79 pence per litre. Thats roughly 5 pound per gallon, about $8.00. Dry your eyes.

Paul,Let's agee that the Concorde is a great airplane. The 747 is also a great airplane. Your question was who is the Queen of the skies? The 747 is still flying, while the Concorde has been retired. Sad but that's the it's fate as of today:-(

I totally agree to you paying $8.00 per gallon. I thought a gallon of gas was only 7.6lbsAnd speaking of ferries, do you like Boy George or Colin O'Farrell.I have a video of the Concorde landing in Hawaii at Honolulu International Airport. They were all winners of a tobacco companies contest for an around the world adventure, in the mid 80's. I thought the aircraft was impressive and loud.It reminded me of the F-4 Phantoms out of the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air base. I use to have a friend that had a father enlisted in the service, and he and I would go onto the base-at that time there was no high threat watch's-to a beach in a hidden area behind some bushes, and you know what we used to do, we would watch the F-4's depart from the field from behind a bush that was not even 10ft from the RWY. Well you may have had the priveledge of being next to an afterburner before, but I swear the flames would shoot out 15ft from the tailpipe's, and it was loud.My point is the Concorde was a very impressive aircraft, and at lift off from Honolulu International Airport, RWY 08R, the aircraft roared into the air, with the noise and rumble of two F-4's, and climbed faster than anything I ever saw, and banked further as well. I got a woody just watching it. But when your 14, things like that do that to you. One Concorde now resides at Boeing field in Washington State, and it looks like a ferrari interior style for a small fry, and I don't regret not flying on it. I like big toys for the big boys. The 747 suits me just fine except for that upper level. It's so stuffy and the air rarely circulates it seems.Some of that air pollution seems to protect the earth from harmful UV light and cools the earth so it can recycle her self all over again, with another ice age.Well have fun and hope to see you all on the A380, I will probably fly one one day, and no I am not a terrorist.

The truth about the concord it that it's systems are the ones that are outdated! The new 747 is "much more advanced" system wise. I heard pilots call it a dinosaur ;D although a very fast Raptor! I believe in about 60-70 years at our current useage rate we will run out of oil for fuel. Will be interesting to see what we will use to power our aircraft then??? Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/Animation1.gifCaution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

> I believe in about 60-70 years at our current useage rate we>will run out of oil for fuel. Will be interesting to see what>we will use to power our aircraft then???Just imagine what would happen then, if we did not have a fuel to replace oil. Mass chaos world wide. :(

Choice between the Concorde and the 747.In Christchurch I got to see the concorde twice, even though it came about a dozen times, and even lost part of it's tail leaving NZ once, but I digress.We still get the 747's here, as well as the 340-500 (yet to see) 777's and the 767's.Ok - none of these are going to be as big as the 380 - but then again I think I'll have to go to Australia just to see the 380.But in reality it's going to look like a big 777 - just bigger - but the 747 looks different, and is the one plane I love to see at the airport - I look on her with awe - total awe, how beautiful, graceful she leaves the ground, and will shed a tear when the day finally arrives I don't get to see them.The 747 still has a place at our airports. - Mainly it can land where it's not going to be possible for a fully laden 380 - which is going to be a bitter pill for some airports.I'm not going to enter the airbus/boeing debate, I'm just a sucker for a beautiful lady, and the grace of the 747 would thrill me more than the fast and the furious Concorde.

Well I must say that the Subject of this forum has been a real turn on for me. I recently went to a website to review specifications of the A380, since that is my favored aircraft, and found that it is higher and wider than a C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The dimensions of the A380 cabin's width is about 5 feet wider. Meanwhile, the 777 aircraft is about the same width of the 747 at 19 feet. I guess the 777 looks bigger because of the fact that the body is a near perfect circle. Although I must say that the walls of the C-5 look wider from the floor level up from the ramp, and maybe that is due to its pear shape rather than the graceful curviture of the 747.Here is that weblink for interested buffs of the C-5.http://www.air-attack.com/c5/c5specs.htmlI think the Airbus A380 will look larger as well because of the Body shape especially for the upper deck, which coincedently is the same width of the 777.Question how big is the Christchurch RWY's? I was more concerned with length. And how far is it from Christchurch NZ to Wellington or Foxton?Well gang if you didn't know it by now there is a huge gallery for the production of the A380, as well as news, at www.airbus.com. Lastly, I must say that the Concorde maid a special charter arrangement in Hawaii once or twice. It took it's riders to and edge of space altitude, and than fly from Honolulu International Airport, to just overhead of LAX and returned to Hawaii in a little over three hours. I must say that the Concorde's speed was always impressive. It took only 1hour and 50minutes from LAX to Honolulu nonstop. I am thinking that it took 30 minutes to slow down and descend. I didn't know that when the Concorde uses it's reverser buckets to slow the plane like flight spoilers, for descent and reduction of speed. You know this plane was desined for speed.Maybe someday someone can rip apart those letters that condemned the Concorde and maybe oneday she could be back up just for those seeking the edge of space journey's.For the 747 buff, I hear from a pretty relible source at Boeing here in Washington State, that they have considered plans for streching the 747 to compete with the A380, both in Pax and Cargo configurations. So not to fear, for she will be around for a long time.Aloha;