John Tye, former Concorde pilot: “Flying it was the most incredible experience of my life”

John Tye, a former Concorde pilot, shared his memories with CNN from his days flying this iconic aircraft. The first time he piloted it was in Seville, one evening at nine o’clock, when “the sun was just setting, you could see a big ball of fire at the end of runway.” Tye retired in November 2003.

“We got in and started the engines, and to feel those four Rolls-Royce Olympus engines starting up and the airplane vibration for the very first time was just absolutely mind blowing,” Tye recalls.

Once the engines were running, they synchronized their watches with the training captain and the flight engineer. Then they did a countdown and prepared for takeoff.

“It’s ‘three, two, one — now,’ and I pushed all four throttles fully forward in my left hand and I was just shoved back into my seat — an experience I could never describe, the acceleration as you shot off down the runway,” he says.

An unforgettable experience

“That 20 minutes was the most incredible experience in my aviation career. It was just absolutely unbelievable,” Tye adds.

The Concorde was a small aircraft, carrying just 100 passengers, and ticket prices were extremely high. Very few people ever had the chance to fly on it, and even fewer experienced what it was like to pilot it.

The Concorde remained in service for approximately 27 years, and there were more qualified astronauts than British Airways Concorde pilots. Only British Airways and Air France operated this historic aircraft.

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