Step inside one of the most extraordinary aircraft ever built, in a Concorde experience adapted for a teen-focused group.
Walk through the only passenger plane that ever flew at twice the speed of sound.
Concorde could land in New York at an earlier time of day than it left London, fast enough to beat the clock across the Atlantic. It flew at twice the speed of sound, higher than any other plane that has ever carried people. Then it stopped, more than twenty years ago, and nothing has been built to take its place. Flying has been slower ever since.
The plane in the hangar is G-BOAC, one of the real Concordes, not a model. You climb the steps and go inside: the cabin and its leather seats, then the cockpit in small groups of four, where the people who look after the plane tell you the stories that go with it. You walk underneath the wings for the closest look at how it was built, and you watch its famous pointed nose tip downwards, the same movement that let the pilots see the runway as they came in to land.
Everything that makes a plane work is right there in front of you, full size: the shape of the wings, the size of the engines, and the decisions that made Concorde brilliant, expensive and short-lived. It runs as a teen-focused group with someone who knows the plane well, built around the questions teenagers actually ask, and a responsible adult comes too, at a reduced rate and inside the experience rather than waiting outside.
Whether a teenager is already into planes or has never given them much thought, they'll come away knowing how Concorde was built and how it flew.
What you will do
01
Start with the story of Concorde: what it was, why it mattered, and why people still talk about it more than twenty years after it stopped flying.
02
Go inside the cabin and flight deck in small groups, with space to look closely and ask the questions that come up when you are standing inside the aircraft itself.
03
Walk beneath the wings and look at the aircraft from the outside: the shape, the engines, the landing gear, the scale, and the details that made supersonic passenger flight possible.
04
Watch the nose droop demonstration and see how one of Concorde's most famous features solved a real engineering problem.
05
Leave with a different sense of what engineering can do, and why even extraordinary machines have to make sense in the real world.
What it connects to
Engineering
Physics
A way into
Engineering, physics, flight, design, speed, materials and the question of why brilliant machines sometimes disappear.
What they take away
A real-world sense of what engineering can do when ambition gets built in metal.
What this is really
A real aircraft that turns engineering from an idea into a thing you can stand under.
Concorde is speed, physics, design, ambition and compromise in one machine. This experience gives teenagers a way to meet all of that without being lectured at.
What this brings to life
Concorde turns forces, energy, materials and design into something your teen can stand inside, walk beneath and question for themselves.
It connects naturally to the science and design ideas teenagers meet at secondary school: motion, forces, energy, materials, aerodynamics, design compromise and the real-world decisions that decide whether an invention survives.
No worksheets. No test. Just the real thing.
Forces and motion
Concorde is a live example of lift, drag, thrust and weight. Why does an aircraft need that shape? What changes when it moves through air at extreme speed? Why is the wing so different from the wings most passengers are used to seeing?
Energy and fuel
Speed has a cost. Concorde's story opens up why travelling faster takes so much power, why fuel mattered so much, and why engineering decisions become business decisions very quickly.
Materials and heat
At supersonic speed, air moving over the aircraft heats the surface. That makes materials, temperature and tolerance part of the story, not an abstract topic in a textbook.
Design and compromise
The famous nose was not decoration. It solved a real problem: pilots needed visibility for take-off and landing, while the aircraft needed a streamlined shape for high-speed flight.
Business decisions
Concorde was brilliant, but brilliance was not enough. Noise, fuel, cost, demand, safety, regulation and changing travel habits all shaped why it stopped flying.
What parents say
The experience was fantastic and my son hasn’t stopped talking about it since! I think his favourite part was the cockpit.
Steve, parent
My son’s favourite moment was being in the cockpit. His second favourite part was seeing the nose cone move. He remembered all the details of the crash and talked to me about it afterwards. I think it’s a great initiative and we’ll look for other events to do.
Sarah-Jane, parent
My son loved sitting in the pilot’s seat and understanding how Concorde worked. Standing under the huge wingspan was the wow moment for us.
Siri, parent
Who runs this
Venue: Manchester Airport Runway Visitor Park
Your session is led by a working pilot, aerospace engineer or aviation specialist with first-hand experience of the aircraft, drawn from the Runway Visitor Park's team on the day. The Concorde here, G-BOAC, is one of only 18 Concordes left in the world and one of just six preserved anywhere in the UK. It flew commercially for 27 years, clocking 22,260 flying hours and 7,730 landings, including four Atlantic crossings in a single day. Its final flight, from Heathrow, landed at Manchester in 2003, and the glass-walled hangar you'll stand in was built specifically to hold it.
Why this is on Foxchaser: This experience gives teenagers access to the real aircraft, other teenagers in the group, and a format shaped around what they are likely to notice and ask.
How this runs
When4 dates
How long2 hours
WhereManchester Airport
Ages10 to 18
The groupA teen-focused group, adults alongside
GroupTeen-focused group. Other teenagers will be part of the session.
Adult modelA responsible adult comes with each booking and stays for the session.
Flight deckFlight deck visits happen in small groups.
InteractionQuestion-led, observation-led and adapted for teenagers, while respecting museum rules.
Museum etiquetteConcorde is a preserved aircraft. Visitors must follow the venue's instructions and avoid touching or moving items unless invited by staff.
AccessThere are 26 steps to board, with handrails on both sides.
What to wearThe aircraft is housed in a hangar, but dress for the weather.
Good to know
Duration: 2 hours.
Location: Manchester Airport Runway Visitor Park.
Parking: included at the venue.
A responsible adult stays for the session.
There are 26 steps to board Concorde, with handrails on both sides.
The experience includes time on board, time beneath the aircraft and the nose droop demonstration.
Everyone's full name is confirmed with the venue about a week before the day.
Everyone leaves with a Concorde boarding certificate from the venue.
Photos are welcome throughout, but audio or video recording of the guided presentation is not permitted. It is protected by the venue's copyright.
Final meeting point, arrival time and access details are confirmed before the day.
If you need to cancel
Cancel 14 days or more before the session: a full refund.
Cancel less than 14 days before, or not attend on the day: the places cannot be refunded, because the venue charges Foxchaser in full at that point.
If we or the venue cancel the session: a full refund. Always.
What does a teenager actually do at this Concorde experience?
They go inside the real aircraft: the cabin, then the flight deck in small groups of four, then underneath the wings for the closest look at how she was built. An aviation specialist leads the session, the questions teenagers ask shape it, and the famous nose droop is demonstrated during the visit.
Is this just a normal Concorde tour?
No. Foxchaser books the group, so your teen joins a teen-focused group with other teenagers, and the session is adapted for what teenagers notice and ask rather than a general museum audience.
What ages is it for, and does a parent have to come?
Ages 10 to 18. Every booking includes a responsible adult who comes along and stays for the session at a reduced price. One adult can bring more than one teenager, including a friend.
How much does it cost?
A teen place is £50 and the reduced adult place is £25, with parking at the venue included. Extra adults are £50 each, where places allow.
Where does it happen?
At the Runway Visitor Park at Manchester Airport. The Concorde here is G-BOAC, which flew commercially for 27 years and landed at Manchester on her final flight in 2003. She lives in a glass-walled hangar built specifically to hold her.
Is it worth it for a teenager who is not already into planes?
Yes. Concorde puts engineering, physics, design and the question of why extraordinary machines sometimes disappear in front of you at full size. Much of the two hours is about questions anyone asks standing under her: why this shape, why that speed, why it stopped.
When does it run?
The dates on sale are listed on this page, with the start time next to each one. Leave your email on this page and you will hear first when new dates are added.
How booking works
1Choose teen placesBook one full-price place for each teenager coming.
2Add the adult coming with themA responsible adult stays for the session at a reduced rate.
3Bring a friend if you likeOne adult can bring more than one teen, so a friend can join the same booking.
4 dates
