As part of the Bristol Evening Post's Bring Her Home campaign, reporter Chris Allen had the chance to pilot a Concorde in the safe confines of a hi-tech simulator.

The experience can be enjoyed at Airbus in Filton where the first Concorde was designed, built and tested over thirty years ago.

Bring Her Home is the Post's fight to ensure the return of Concorde 216 to its historic birthplace birthplace in Bristol to become the centre piece of an aviation heritage museum.

Yet having the chance to pilot the world's only supersonic passenger jet would be a dream come true for anybody with a thirst for excitement - and even though it was only a simulator, Chris was raring to go.

He said: "Flying can become a bit mundane after a while. Once the in-flight movie comes to an end, regular trips abroad can often be reduced to monotonously looking out of the window searching for something. At least that's what I used to think!"

The simulator is powered by a £3m computer programme, moving around on giant hydraulic arms projecting life-like images on to a screen inside, which itself acts as the cockpit's 'windscreen'.

Having the choice of almost any airport, Chris and Capt. Les Brodie decided that JFK in New York was the place to embark on their adventure.

Chris said: "Flying the simulator means you can do things which a 'normal' Concorde pilot would never usually be permitted to attempt.

"We dropped low over the city and soon we could see the unmistakable outline of the Statue of Liberty against the grey skyline and, as we flew by, there below us we could see car lights moving slowly on the busy roads.

"We banked round and we could see the Empire State Building in the distance and then Capt. Brodie suggested we head out over Jamaica Bay and across the Rockways and on towards the Verrazano Narrows bridge - the gateway to New York.

"As it got closer and began looming up in front of us, Capt. Brodie turned to me with a smile on his face: 'We wouldn't normally do this, but it's so much fun' he said.

"He dropped us below the level of the bridge, which sits 100ft above the water. Concorde measures just 45ft in height and we whizzed underneath it with ease."

To make the experience as realistic as possible the inside of the simulator takes on the form of a genuine Concorde cockpit with a dashboard full of different aviation dials and gauges in front of the pilot.

Concordes have the capability to reach an altitude of 60,000ft and a maximum speed of twenty three miles a minute. The crossing between London and New York takes approximately three hours and 20 minutes.

Chris said: "I realised that I'd probably need a few more sessions in the simulator before I could even try for my pilots wings.

"Still, just being sat in the world's only supersonic passenger jet - even if it wasn't the real thing - was exciting enough."

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