Hacker News Reader

Comment by doctor_eval | Hacker News Reader

There used to be a tour of the Airbus factory in Toulouse, where they made A380s, and at the end of the tour we took a bus across the tarmac and were able to walk around and go inside a Concorde. It was amazing.

It is a much bigger plane on the outside than you might think. That wing is huge.

View on HN

The Airbus factory has had a museum nearby since 2015, Aeroscopia [1]. It hosts two Concordes, among others (like the Super Guppy [2]). It has a pre-production Concorde (F-WTSB), used for test flights, and an Air France one (F-BVFC). It’s worth a visit for any aviation enthusiast.

You used to be able to go inside the test flight one, but it’s a cramped space, so things might be different while covid regulations are in force.

[1] https://www.toulouse-visit.com/aeroscopia-museum

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy

If you like that, you should definitely go to the Dayton Ohio AF museum where they have a Valkyrie. You can’t go inside it, unfortunately.

part of the reason for the Concorde's decline was the fairly tight cabin, which was likened by some to be almost bus-like.

With the advent of lie-flat business class seats in the late 90s and early 2000s, Concorde became much less appealing since one could just fly a redeye to London and have a comfortable sleep than be cramped for a shorter period of time.

Go to Seattle's aviation museum and see for yourself. I'd call it "swanky bus", but yes, buslike.

We went on the tour maybe 10 years ago so my memory is a bit vague but I think the aisle was actually raised so you would have to step down into the seats. Could that be right?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com