Based on this site, Concorde needed to fly 750 hours to prove its airworthiness and be used in regular service. Air France and British Airways flew two Concords (F-BTSC and G-BOAC respectively) on a total of 254 flights, with... 11180 passengers combined! How come there were passengers allowed to be on the plane when it was doing flights to get its airworthiness certificate?
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2$\begingroup$ Don't forget that if the aircraft hadn't been "safe to fly," the crew (who unlike the passengers can make a professional informed judgement about safety) wouldn't have flown it. You don't magically survive an accident better than someone else just because you wear a fancy uniform and they don't! $\endgroup$– alephzeroCommented Oct 28, 2016 at 16:22
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2$\begingroup$ Southwest Airlines is currently conducting similar tests with the 737 MAX with employees and media flying on board. You might find this video informative. $\endgroup$– codeaviatorCommented Oct 28, 2016 at 16:37
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1$\begingroup$ @alephzero I don't know, man. Their uniforms are really quite fancy indeed. $\endgroup$– Williham TotlandCommented Oct 28, 2016 at 18:29
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Bear in mind that these tests weren't to prove the safety of the aircraft per se, just to show that it would work as an airliner. It had to be loaded up with an appropriate complement of passengers and luggage to prove this.
However proving flights may not generate revenue from passengers - they are either selected through an application process or chosen at random, and take part in the proceedings free of charge.
CAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR‘S HANDBOOK (Page 2, point 3)
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1$\begingroup$ I was just wondering, in the Concorde case, was it a random lottery held for marketing reasons (how good would that be!), or "friends of the family", or ?? $\endgroup$– FattieCommented Oct 28, 2016 at 19:29
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3$\begingroup$ @JoeBlow on a few of the very early test flights, the Minister of Technology (one Tony Benn, of all people) managed to get himself invited along - according to Francis Spufford, whose essay on Concord is worth reading, he was utterly starstruck and always brought a camera. He later arranged a flight - one of the later tests before the proving flights proper - for BAC union shop stewards and their wives. I assume they didn't haul the factory staff along when they went to Singapore, though! $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 28, 2016 at 21:33
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