| Aircraft Number 203 | |
| Current registration | F-BTSC |
| Production Model Number | 100 |
| Maiden Flight | 31st January 1975 : Toulouse, France |
| Registration and Ownership history:- | First Registered as F-WTSC to Aerospatiale |
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28th May 1975 aircraft re-registered as F-BTSC by Aerospatiale |
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6th January 1976 aircraft leased to Air France |
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8th December 1976 aircraft returned to Aerospatiale. |
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11th June 1979 aircraft re-leased to Air France |
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June 1980 Aircraft converted to Type 101 |
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23rd October 1980 aircraft was purchased by Air France |
| Current Useage | Crashed with loss of airframe and everyone on board : July 25th 2000 Remains are stored in a hanger at Le Bourget Airport, awaiting judicial inquiry |
| Notes | F-BTSC(203), being originally a model 100 (that would have been converted to a model 103 for Pan-Am), was the heaviest Concorde of all the Air France fleet: it was just under one ton heavier and two years older than the lighter and youngest F-BTSD (213). After taking part in the route proving flights in 1975, she was leased to Air France in 1976 for use until their other aircraft were delivered. In 1977 she took part in a mid-east sales tour , where they was interest in a purchase from Iran. After featuring in the Concorde disaster movie in 1979 she was stored until being bought by Air France for 1 Franc in 1980. She was re-stored, along with F-BVFD, on 1st Nov1982 when the airline were only operating 7 flights a week to New York. F-BTSC came back into service on 28th April 1986, when other Air France aircraft were due to undergo engineering checks. She was out of service for the D check between June 98 and Nov 99, where the keel beam was replaced due to corrosion, at a cost of £4M The D check involved visual, radiographical and ultrasonical checks. The work total 60,000 hours of checking, piece by piece. After which three weeks of ground tests took place before two flight tests were performed. The aircraft then returned to Service on 1st Nov 1999 On July 25th 2000 the aircraft was written off in a crash outside Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris.
In 1978-79 this Aircraft was the one used in the film "Airport'79 : The Concorde". There are some grabs from the film at the bottom of the page. On 2nd May 1989 this Concorde carried Pope John Paul II. |
| Clicking on thumbnail brings up full picture |
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F-BTSC with it's nose lowered at 12.5 degrees comes in for landing at at Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris Picture courtesy of Laurent Passet |
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F-BTSC approaches Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris Picture courtesy of Laurent Passet
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203 seen under tow in Paris in June 2000. Notice the nose is fully up but the visor is still retracted. | Picture courtesy of Miguel Snoep
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F-BTSC at Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris, France in June 2000 | Picture courtesy of Miguel Snoep
|  F-BTSC was delivered in the Original Air France livery. 203 is seen here At Rio in 1976 | Picture courtesy of Helio Mendes Salmon
|  203 was returned to Aerospatiale on 8th December 1976, where she was re-liveried and used for many sales functions and also the Concorde movie as shown below. | Picture courtesy of Helio Mendes Salmon
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203 was oringinally registered as F-WTSC before being used for route proving in 1975. |
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203, as F-WTSC during the mid 1970's. |
|  F-BTSC on the ground at CDG in 1978 during filming of the 1979 Movie: "Airport'79 : The Concorde"
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Aircraft 203 was leased from Aerospatiale for the 1979 Movie: "Airport'79 : The Concorde" | Grab courtesy of Todd Frizzell
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A close up of the tail or 203 during the movie clearly showning the registration as F-BTSC |
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F-BTSC at JFK Airport, New York in June 2000 | Picture courtesy of Brian Stevenson
|  203 shown here at CGD in March 1976 before entering service with Air France in the original livery. | Picture courtesy ofJean-Francois DENIS
|  F-BTSC boarding at CGD in May 2000 for a chater flight | Picture sent to me by Jean-Francois Magd The following 4 pictures were taken by Jean Luc Panouillot in August 1999 during F-BTSC's 'D' check
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For more photographs of the aircraft and the accident site please see the pictures sub-section
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