A book that covers the story of an amazing plane, the remarkable career of the author Mike Bannister, and a dramatic investigation and trial into the cause of the tragic crash in Paris.
I really enjoyed the personal tale of Bannister’s rise to Chief Concorde Pilot, telling how he turned his childhood ambition to be a pilot into a driven and focussed progression through the ranks at the precursors to British Airways.
Concorde itself never fails to amaze, with remarkable facts, stats, and records. The detailed technical information is conveyed neatly, and gives a real insight into the complexities of flying this unique aeroplane.
The latter portion of the book concentrates on the crash investigation and subsequent legal trials; the twists and turns at times are thriller-esque, and I realised I wasn’t aware of the actual root cause.
A great read, although my final takeaway from this book is the pang of disappointment that I never experienced supersonic flight on Concorde.
