An hour into British Airways flight BA001 from London to New York, the journey is almost half over. The aircraft's captain, Adrian Thompson, speaks softly over the public-address system, telling passengers in a calm, cool and collected voice not unlike that of supersonic pioneer Chuck Yeager.
'Ladies and gentlemen, I thought you might like to know that we are now flying faster than a speeding bullet, flying on the very edge of space ... flying so high that if those of you with a window seat care to look, you can actually see the curvature of the Earth. You are riding a rocket, that's the only way to describe it,' Captain Thompson tells the 100-odd lucky passengers onboard, including myself.
A rocket is not what we are riding. Yet a quick glance at the speedometers conveniently placed in the front of the two passenger cabins - they read mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, at an altitude of more than 18,288 metres - confirms that this is no ordinary jetliner either, which is perhaps why its pilot sounds so much like Mr Yeager.
Another glance out of the small, grapefruit-sized windows reveals a view that few earthbound humans will ever see: down below are pillowy clouds and the blue afternoon sky, while stretching above is the inky darkness of space. The windows are warm to the touch and the wings have turned purple - both effects of friction - as 'the rocket' hurtles through the outer reaches of the atmosphere. Its fuselage has been stretched almost 45cm by the immense heat.
Despite all this, the flight is smooth, since turbulence is something experienced only by lesser aircraft that have to fly much closer to the surface of the Earth. For the passengers, there is no sonic boom. That is something for the landlubbers far below.
This is the Concorde, known to air traffic controllers by its 'Speedbird' call sign, which for the past 33 years of its operational life with British Airways (BA) and Air France has represented the epitome of luxurious air travel, the domain of wealthy celebrities, bankers, captains of industry and socialites. Sting is a regular passenger, as are David Beckham and his wife, Victoria. Barbra Streisand joked that it was her nose that inspired the aircraft's famous 'droop nose'. And nearly all members of Britain's royal family have flown it. The late Queen Mother celebrated her 85th birthday sitting in the jump-seat of the Concorde's cockpit. Queen Elizabeth II travelled on Concorde in 1992, during her tour of the United States.