Last Air France Concorde flight to New York leaves Paris NEW YORK (AP) =97 Flying into blue skies and history, the last Air France=20 Concorde to go on a commercial flight from Paris to New York landed Friday,= =20 an emotional end to a pioneering chapter in aviation. The white,=20 needle-nosed supersonic plane took off with a roar from Charles de Gaulle=20 airport, north of Paris, at 10:38 a.m. (4:38 a.m. ET). In New York, the JFK= =20 Airport operations desk said the Concorde landed at 8:10 a.m., 10 minutes=20 ahead of schedule. On Saturday, in its last ever commercial flight for Air= =20 France, the Concorde will speed back to Paris from New York and then go=20 into retirement. "It's very emotional. Concorde is a story of joy, of=20 emotion, of technical prowess," said Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, an Air France=20 staffer, before the flight departed with 58 passengers, three pilots and=20 eight cabin crew. Chief pilot Jean-Francois Michel was at the controls. Air= =20 France and British Airways, the only carriers to operate the aircraft, are= =20 both retiring their Concorde fleets. The last British Airways flights are=20 scheduled for October. The Concorde's demise follows the July 25, 2000,=20 accident over Gonesse, France, that killed 113 people, including four on=20 the ground. The aircraft was taken out of service until November 2001, and= =20 refurbished based on findings by investigators. They determined a stray piece of metal on the runway punctured a tire=20 during takeoff. Rubber chunks then punctured the fuel tank, triggering a=20 fire. The Concorde was fixed with sturdier tires and a fuel-tank liner, but= =20 things were never the same. Flying fears after the Sept. 11 terror attacks= =20 took a toll on airlines around the world, making it harder to keep the=20 fancy flying machine, with its costly maintenance, in service. Concorde's=20 demise ends an era of Champagne at twice the speed of sound. The menu for=20 Friday's flight included caviar, foie gras in puff pastry, lobster and beef= =20 filet. "We work in exceptional conditions, with an exceptional clientele,=20 in an exceptional plane," said Jean-Charles Principeaud, a Concorde flight= =20 attendant. "To be able to serve a glass of Champagne while flying at Mach 2= =20 was something that seemed impossible a few years ago. Now we are aboard the= =20 most beautiful plane in the world. It will remain an unforgettable dream." The rich pampered themselves with supersonic trans-Atlantic travel.=20 Concorde also served on-the-go diplomats like French Foreign Minister=20 Dominique de Villepin and executives making deals on both sides of the=20 Atlantic. Another category of supersonic clients certain to feel wistful=20 are neither rich nor high-powered, just faithful lovers of the Concorde,=20 including the aircraft's specially trained crews. The luxury aircraft began= =20 regular service in 1976. With a cruising speed of 1,350 mph, it crosses the= =20 Atlantic in about three hours; because of the time change, westbound=20 passengers arrived before they left. The idea of a supersonic passenger=20 plane gained momentum in the 1950s, after Chuck Yeager's 1947 blast through= =20 the sound barrier. Manufacturers in Britain, France, the Soviet Union and=20 the United States all worked on designs. In 1968, the Concorde's first=20 prototype rolled out at Toulouse, France. It lifted off 13 months later,=20 three months after the Soviet version made its first flight. But Air France= =20 says the aircraft is now too expensive to maintain and announced with=20 British Airways in April that Concorde was being retired. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************