In 2003, A Man who was filming his son accidentally captured one of the world's fastest civilian Aircraft , The Concorde, in the Frame as well

[u/Alternative-Dot-34]

🎥🎬: Concorde (1976–2003)

The Concorde was the world’s first successful supersonic passenger airliner, developed jointly by Britain and France. Entering commercial service in 1976, it revolutionized air travel by cruising at more than twice the speed of sound (Mach 2.04), allowing passengers to fly from London or Paris to New York in just over three hours—about half the time of conventional airliners.

Powered by four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus engines, Concorde flew at altitudes of around 60,000 feet, high enough for passengers to see the curvature of the Earth. Its sleek delta-wing design and distinctive drooping nose became symbols of luxury, technological innovation, and prestige. Although tickets were expensive, celebrities, business executives, and world leaders often chose Concorde for its unmatched speed and exclusivity.

Despite its engineering success, Concorde faced challenges. High operating costs, limited seating capacity, restrictions on supersonic flights over land due to sonic booms, and rising fuel prices made it difficult to operate profitably. In 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. Although the fleet returned to service after safety modifications, passenger demand never fully recovered.

In 2003, both British Airways and Air France retired Concorde, bringing an end to the era of commercial supersonic travel. Even after its retirement, Concorde remains one of the greatest achievements in aviation history and continues to inspire efforts to develop a new generation of faster passenger aircraft.

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[u/Ambassador-613]

"Accidentally"

[u/MisterRobertParr → u/Ambassador-613]

It flew the same route every week. I lived north of Dallas in the late '70's and it would fly overhead twice a week.

[u/Pristine-Excuse-9615 → u/MisterRobertParr]

I grew up under its flight path, I remember how the sound of the Concorde at 11:25 everyday at school meant that it was almost lunch time as my ears would send my stomach the "time to be hungry!" signal.

[u/Talented10th_ → u/Pristine-Excuse-9615]

You got Pavlovian conditioned by a Concorde??

[u/r3tromonkey → u/Pristine-Excuse-9615]

My in-laws lived in Hounslow, and the first time I visited them in early 2000s I saw it go overhead. Amazing sight, and sooooo loud.

[u/Mysterious_Hunt_505 → u/Ambassador-613]

Was thinking the same...

[u/the-number-five → u/Mysterious_Hunt_505]

I grew up near one of the airports that it flew to and saw it countless times

[u/AdMedium688 → u/the-number-five]

Is this near an airport because it seems pretty low?

[u/Fuckin_Hipster → u/AdMedium688]

No fooling you

[u/AdMedium688 → u/Fuckin_Hipster]

I was being serious! lol. Yeah, I realize now that was a really dumb question.

Edit: some words

[u/ImNrNanoGiga → u/AdMedium688]

Having a not fully formed thought and blurting out a question is much better than condescendingly answering said question, so don't feel bad

[u/Indy2561 → u/the-number-five]

Good for you 🫡

[u/MilkImpossible4192 → u/Ambassador-613]

one of the

[u/RespecDawn → u/Ambassador-613]

Also, we very much do have lots and lots of footage of the Concorde. It was not a cryptic..

[u/SharkByte1993 → u/Ambassador-613]

The man says "this is it." So was clearly expecting the concord and it was noticed accident lol

[u/notanyimbecile]

And that kid, David Beckham.

[u/PayaV87 → u/notanyimbecile]

That kid? He is Shakira.

[u/inorite234 → u/PayaV87]

Shakira? That's obviously J-Lo

[u/NonCreditableHuman → u/inorite234]

It's Shakira, those hips tell the truth.

[u/blokia → u/NonCreditableHuman]

I think thatlod might be the alien in a wig

[u/FuckThisShizzle → u/blokia]

Why did I read this in Brian Glovers voice?

[u/LA-SKYLINE → u/notanyimbecile]

Maybe an extra in Bend It Like Beckham. David Beckham was already 2 World Cups deep at that point lol

[u/notanyimbecile → u/LA-SKYLINE]

Come on, let's pretend!

[u/beticanmakeusayblack → u/notanyimbecile]

That kid’s hair is the wikipedia image for 2003

[u/centurio9 → u/notanyimbecile]

It's the Kinder chocolate kid

[u/Opulantmindcaster]

It wasn’t accidental. He was out specifically to film concord. Shit post. Shit caption.

[u/PeterDTown → u/Opulantmindcaster]

Yeah him saying “oh, here it comes” kind of confirms that 😅

[u/westberry82]

Breaking news!!! Man who lives by airport films jet! More at 11!!

[u/isaacMeowton]

Chills.

Pre internet (atleast we didn't have interenet in my house back then) I had an encyclopedia gifted to me. It had a planes section - and seeing Concorde there - I assumed this would be some futuristic plane.

I was in awe to learn that this plane was from the 1960s.

[u/AdMedium688 → u/isaacMeowton]

Dang, here I was thinking it was an ‘80’s thing.

[u/LaMelonBallz → u/AdMedium688]

When we talk about hypersonics now like it's some crazy thing, the key thing is, we've been shooting hypersonic missiles since WW2. What actually makes it crazy is the amount of control these things have. Same goes with supersonic planes, missiles, etc. It's not the speed that's hard, it's the agility and survivability/viability.

The conversation around the hypersonic race is ridiculous because of this. You can slap that label on all kinds of things that techbically go that fast but are actually nowhere near the frontier we mean when we discuss "hypersonic".

[u/str8ballin81 → u/isaacMeowton]

Have far we've fallen as a country form the 1960s... Labor unions and support for the middle class no longer exist, technology only comes to market if a profit can be turned from it, no longer are the days where you made a product that would last a lifetime. Civil rights came a long way but in the last decade seem to be going backwards too.

[u/johndepp22]

thing is going like 30mph

[u/biorod → u/johndepp22]

Yes, but that’s 1960s speed. If you account for inflation, that’s about 831 mph in 2026.

[u/johndepp22 → u/biorod]

truetruetrue

[u/OldNefariousness7899 → u/biorod]

That's how it works. A horse and cart in the year 1500 went about 3mph. That's £3,247.29 in 2026

[u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

There’s lots of footage of the Concorde, this title makes it sound like it was a rare sighting.

[u/EvanD2000]

That’s nothing. We lived in Canarsie 76-99, and twice a day the Concorde took off over our house. By the time it reached us it was an explosive streak.

[u/Freak_Out_Bazaar]

“Accidentally”. He was obviously out there to capture the Concorde and his son just happened to be outside playing

[u/Sinreh]

Doesn't look very supersonic to me. /j

[u/r1Rqc1vPeF]

One of the fastest civilian aircraft?

[u/BadahBingBadahBoom → u/r1Rqc1vPeF]

I mean the Russian Tupolev Tu-144 did go ~150mph faster so technically the Concorde was one of the fastest not the fastest commercial aircraft.

But then that did only complete 100 commercial flights before being retired after less than a single year of service so 'commercial' is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

[u/duck4129]

"Accidently"

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[u/SOLID_STATE_DlCK]

I thought this was the Blair Witch Project.

[u/johndepp22 → u/SOLID_STATE_DlCK]

filming skills 3/10

[u/MarkusMannheim]

Until that moment, the man had no idea he lived next to an airport.

[u/maryshellysnightmare]

In the 80s we would hang out on Jones Beach and watch them come and go from JFK.

[u/Verbal-Gerbil]

It wasn’t just any flight. Wasn’t it the final one? I saw it from Waterloo bridge. Didn’t have a camera then though.

[u/Inevitable_Weird1175]

I've got a better video for you

[u/lagrange_lounge]

That child is now Christiano Ronaldo

[u/SeaLow-HawkRider]

In the mid-nineties I was working at a pub near Heathrow. We were under the flight-path for landing planes.

The Concorde would fly over the pub pretty regular (maybe daily or a few times a week) at the same time each time. I would try and time my smoke break so I could sit out the back and watch it come in to land.

It was glorious...

[u/ElectricMilk426]

Can confirm. That kid is definitely rockin the 2003 euroflip hairstyle

[u/NinjaTEK7]

"Says it's coming any second... Hmm!" Is the first line. It's not an accident the kid was maybe an accident tho! Filming the kid surely was.

[u/WakeMeForSourPatch]

It’s not a ufo, it’s a pretty well documented aircraft. Still cool tbh

[u/Sea_Cardiologist9451]

So what?

[u/lastbeer]

Nice trick, Billy. Now get out of the way so I can film this jet.

[u/Jlx_27]

That wasnt by accident, its literally why the dude was filming.

[u/BetMcc]

Man, I'd love to be able to get to Europe in 3 hours!

[u/jaanku]

Who wrote that title? It makes my brain hurt

[u/disterb]

doesn’t seem very fast to me

[u/mr_mac_tavish]

I would sometimes be driving inside Heathrow back in the 90’s when I was a Unix engineer. I always recall it flying over at take off and the yellow cloud descending on my car. Nasty! Sucks I never got a chance to fly on it, I worked over the 2000NY for BA and had enough credit for that to get a flight for 2. But sadly that was the year it all ended.

[u/Figmentdreamer]

Seems very intentional to me

[u/Deaf_MarvinNash]

Bob Ross would not call that a ‘happy accident’

[u/AffectionateCare5280]

Doesnt seem very fast

[u/Traditional-Ad-9000]

Having a seizure filming his kid and then just locked in on the Concorde.

[u/Leather_Bug_]

Doesn’t even look that fast

[u/jch60]

Accidentally looked up when in school in Montebello and Saw it fly over a sky of broken clouds. I think it was an inagural flight or something. I thought, hey that doesn't look like an airline or a fighter jet. Pretty cool.

[u/Electronic_Still2000]

He said “ooo, this is it” then hustles to the spot with a good view, points camera, zooms out (without the kid in frame anywhere) and films nothing but the jet. Yeah, “accidentally” captured it, in frame “as well”. “As well” as what? He seems to have pushed the over and is standing on his back to get a better shot of the jet lol.

[u/narrowdefection]

imagine thinking your dad is just filming your little league game and suddenly there's a Concorde in the background

[u/Substantial_Desk_670]

puts on librarian glasses "What, like it's hard?"

[u/MilkImpossible4192]

one of the

[u/triplealpha]

Fake. Fake zoom in. Fake.

[u/Jag-]

I used to see it coming out of JFK over the Island.

[u/ThanksALotBud]

Lived 13 miles away from JFK airport. Seen plenty of them landing and taking off.

Nothing special about it.

[u/corrrnboy]

I wonder how it felt for the passengers going at that speed

[u/m945050]

That thing was frigging loud.

[u/Derrickmb]

It would be much quieter today

[u/Nearby_Potato4001]

Man who lives near airport captures a regular service predictable concorde.

[u/Accomplished_Sir7729]

I once was coming out of Hatton Cross tube near Heathrow when Concorde took off. Frightened the shit put of me.

[u/FranksHoorHouse]

So... It was a Flight of the Concorde? What do Hiphopapotamus and Rhymenoceros think of this bootleg shit?

[u/TelephoneBrief6221]

Somewhere I have video taken from Richmond of the last three in a row arriving at Heathrow airport. Nice to see them lined up in the sky.

[u/Intelligent_Big6543]

It doesn't seem like it's that fast...

[u/GamerKev451]

And I'm sure nobody has ever filmed the Concorde. This video is a priceless piece of History

[u/Peg_leg_J]

Everyone who lived in London knew it's schedule. It would take off at around 11am, 3pm, 11pm if I remember correctly.

You'd feel the rumble and think - ah it's that time of day again........

[u/Remarkable-Tie-9029]

That was loud

[u/Abe2025]

Didnt look fast to me

[u/The_Best_Yak_Ever]

I remember the loss of Air France 4590. Only Concorde to be lost. Such an amazing plane but ultimately, too expensive and too complex for this world…

And never forget its crazy (technically) older sister, the Tu-144, or the “We have Concorde at home…ski.” Way more uh… “sporting” than the genuine article.