Explore Concorde cockpit controls and instruments, from flight gauges and throttles to the engineer's fuel, intake and hydraulic panels.
Concorde’s cockpit combined conventional pilot controls—control columns, rudder pedals, four throttles and analogue flight instruments—with specialised systems for Mach 2 flight. These included intake, reheat, fuel-transfer, centre-of-gravity, droop-nose and visor controls. A captain, first officer and flight engineer shared the workload across three operating stations on the densely packed flight deck.
How was the Concorde cockpit laid out?
Concorde had two forward pilot positions and a flight engineer’s station on the right side behind them. For our Aviation & Real-World Flying readers, the crucial distinction is that this was a three-crew analogue cockpit, not a modern two-pilot glass flight deck.
| Panel area | Main equipment | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Captain and first officer panels | Flight, navigation and landing instruments | Flying the aircraft and monitoring its flight path |
| Central instrument panel | Four-engine instruments, warnings and shared indications | Monitoring thrust and engine condition |
| Glareshield | Autopilot, flight director and autothrottle controls | Controlling the automatic flight systems |
| Centre pedestal | Four throttles, reverse controls, radios and navigation equipment | Engine control, communication and navigation |
| Flight engineer’s panel | Fuel, hydraulics, electrics, intakes, pressurisation and air systems | Managing Concorde’s major aircraft systems |
Overhead and side panels carried additional engine-start, lighting, anti-icing, warning and system controls. Exact arrangements differed slightly between British Airways and Air France aircraft, and equipment changed during their service lives.
Which flight controls did Concorde's pilots use?
Concorde’s pilots used recognisable airliner controls, but they operated a slender delta-wing aircraft without conventional flaps.
- Control columns: The captain and first officer used columns to command the wing elevons, which combined the functions of ailerons and elevators.
- Rudder pedals: These controlled the rudder, with toe braking available for ground operation.
- Four throttle levers: One lever controlled each Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engine. Associated controls managed reheat—Concorde’s term for afterburning—and reverse thrust.
- Nosewheel steering: A steering control allowed accurate taxiing despite the aircraft’s length and restricted forward view.
- Airbrake control: Airbrakes provided extra drag without using conventional wing spoilers as primary roll controls.
- Undercarriage and brake controls: These included the landing-gear selector, anti-skid functions and brake-temperature indications.
- Droop-nose and visor controls: The crew lowered the nose and retractable visor for taxi, take-off and landing visibility, then raised them for normal flight.
A common misconception is that Concorde had a flap lever. It had no conventional flaps or leading-edge slats; its delta wing generated the required lift at high angles of attack. An incidence indication helped pilots judge that nose-high attitude during approach.
Its flying controls were hydraulically powered through three independent systems. Fuel transfer also helped trim the aircraft efficiently, but it did not steer Concorde or replace immediate pitch control: it changed the centre of gravity so large, drag-producing elevon deflections were unnecessary in cruise.
What instruments did the captain and first officer see?
Each pilot had a mostly analogue set of primary flight instruments, supported by shared engine, navigation and warning displays.
| Instrument group | Typical indications |
|---|---|
| Attitude and flight director | Pitch, bank and flight-director commands |
| Speed and Mach | Indicated airspeed, Mach number and speed-limit information |
| Altitude and vertical flight path | Barometric altitude, radio altitude and vertical speed |
| Heading and navigation | Heading, course, VOR/ILS, ADF, DME and inertial-navigation guidance |
| Approach information | Localiser, glideslope, radio altitude and aircraft incidence |
| Engine indications | Engine speed, exhaust temperature, fuel flow, oil condition and warning states for four engines |
Concorde used inertial navigation systems for long-range guidance rather than the integrated flight-management computers found in later airliners. Weather radar, radio-navigation receivers, transponders and communication radios completed the navigation fit; individual units varied with operator upgrades.
The automatic flight controls provided autopilot, flight-director and autothrottle functions. These reduced workload, but the crew still had to monitor Mach, temperature, intake behaviour, fuel balance and the aircraft’s centre of gravity during supersonic flight.
What was on the Concorde flight engineer's panel?
The flight engineer managed the systems that required too much continuous monitoring for two pilots using 1960s-era instrumentation.
- Fuel system: A large schematic represented Concorde’s 13 fuel tanks, pumps, valves and transfer paths. Quantity and centre-of-gravity indications showed where the fuel was distributed.
- Centre-of-gravity control: Fuel was transferred aft during acceleration towards supersonic cruise and forward again during deceleration. The engineer followed defined limits rather than simply trying to keep every tank balanced.
- Air-intake system: Controls and indicators covered the variable intake ramps and spill doors that slowed supersonic airflow before it reached each engine. Automatic control performed normal scheduling, with monitoring and backup provisions available to the crew.
- Hydraulics: Pressure, quantity and controls were provided for the independent Green, Blue and Yellow hydraulic systems.
- Electrical system: Generator, bus, battery and power-distribution controls allowed faults to be isolated and supplies reconfigured.
- Air and pressurisation: The engineer monitored pneumatic supplies, cabin pressure, temperature control and air conditioning.
- Engine support systems: Fuel feeds, fire protection, starting and related warning indications were grouped around the other system panels.
The fuel panel is often mistaken for a simple bank of quantity gauges. Its real purpose was active fuel management: supplying four engines, preserving balance and moving the centre of gravity as the aerodynamic centre of pressure shifted between subsonic and supersonic flight.
Which controls mattered during each phase of flight?
The crew’s focus moved between different panels as Concorde changed configuration and speed.
- Before start: The flight engineer configured electrical power, fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems while the pilots prepared navigation and flight instruments.
- Taxi and take-off: The crew selected the required nose and visor configuration, checked flight controls and engaged reheat according to the take-off procedure.
- Transonic acceleration: Engine and intake indications became critical, while fuel transfer moved the centre of gravity aft within its permitted range.
- Mach 2 cruise: Mach number, engine condition, intake status, fuel balance, centre of gravity and aerodynamic heating required close monitoring.
- Descent and landing: Fuel moved forward, the nose and visor were lowered as required, and the pilots used incidence, ILS and radio-altimeter indications during the nose-high approach.
Why did Concorde's cockpit have so many gauges?
Concorde displayed most systems through dedicated switches, warning lights and electromechanical gauges because integrated glass displays and centralised electronic warnings were not yet available when it was designed. The radar screen and numerical navigation displays were exceptions, so the cockpit was mostly analogue rather than entirely analogue.
For comparison, our guide to the A320’s display-based cockpit shows how later aircraft consolidated flight, engine and system information onto a handful of screens. Concorde spread those functions across the main panel, pedestal and a complete flight engineer’s station.
How accurately do flight simulators reproduce the cockpit?
Concorde simulations range from visually convincing aircraft with simplified systems to detailed models that reproduce fuel transfer, intake control and the flight engineer’s workload. A cockpit can look complete while many switches remain decorative.
Our systems-focused examination of a detailed Concorde simulation illustrates the separate fuel, hydraulic, intake, engine and pressurisation panels that a high-fidelity model must represent. Older packages, such as this legacy BA Concorde panel and aircraft for FS2002, can still help identify the throttle unit, fuel panel and visor controls, but their functionality should not be treated as a complete technical reference.
When assessing a simulated Concorde cockpit, check whether it models centre-of-gravity movement, automatic and backup intake functions, reheat logic, the droop-nose sequence and all three hydraulic systems. Those features distinguish a systems simulation from a conventional jet flight model wearing a Concorde exterior.