Concorde

[mik]

I thought we had a Concorde thread? Maybe it was on the old forum?

Anyway - watched this rather excellent analysis of the Paris crash tonight and learned quite a few things I wasn’t previously aware of. Scarey stuff.

[Jimmy Choo]

He's really good, isn't he and has some fascinating videos. He's made me decide that I'm never flying with an airline that I've not heard of!

[drcarlos]

I remember that crash well. I was working the BAE trade stand (I ran the IT for the marketing department for a couple of years) at Farnborough 2000 when the news came in. We had to totally shut the trade stand as BAE were the developers (what was left of BAC became BAE) and involved in maintenance, the mood turned from one of fun to sombre, we still had the public days to go as well certainly took the shine off the show for us.
I must be a curse at airshows as I was working Paris Le Bourget in 1999 and an Su30 bounced off the runway while practicing the day before the show started, fortunately both crew ejected and as it was over the runway no one was hurt.

[mik]

I remember that crash well.

It’s pretty memorable in general, but for us - we flew out of CDG the day before this crash - I was excitedly pointing out Concordes to the kids (I think we saw 3 there?)….

[tim]

He's really good, isn't he and has some fascinating videos. He's made me decide that I'm never flying with an airline that I've not heard of!

I have sight of a number of high profile airline's cabin/crew reporting. Just don't fly, ever. lol

[scotta]

I saw a concord pilot give a talk about the flying the bird at the museum of flight. He touched on the crash. Mistakes were made. It was recoverable.

[mik]

Not a Concorde image I have seen before.

This is apparently a result of an in-flight issue relating to the toilet service panel.

[mik]

Also sharing this, as it's pretty CAF. Bloke on the Lotus forum has several items of Concorde memorabilia.

"A Terence Conran cutlery set. After the Air France accident, the type was grounded (don't get me started about that), and eventually modifications were mandated to return the aircraft to service. BA saw this as a rebrand opportunity, and revamped pretty much everything onboard, with Terence Conran designing the new crockery and cutlery. This design flew only once. On its first post-modification proving flight, full of staff testing the new service, the aircraft was forced to turn around mid-Atlantic and return to Heathrow. The date was September 11, 2001. Thereafter, metal cutlery was banned on all commercial flights until well after Concorde's final flights."

[Mito Man]

Not a Concorde image I have seen before.

This is apparently a result of an in-flight issue relating to the toilet service panel.

Now that’s a skid mark.

[GG.]

Not a Concorde image I have seen before.

This is apparently a result of an in-flight issue relating to the toilet service panel.

Now that’s a skid mark.

Merde!

[teacherboy]

I thought we had a Concorde thread? Maybe it was on the old forum?

Anyway - watched this rather excellent analysis of the Paris crash tonight and learned quite a few things I wasn’t previously aware of. Scarey stuff.

Thats the most in depth analysis i've seen

[tim]

I have a lovely set of fine bone china British Airways First Class bowls made by William Edwards, that I bought in an auction a few years back.

[mik]

Thats the most in depth analysis i've seen

Careful - that video got me kinda hooked on his channel. I think he does an excellent job, but.... there are a lot of vids

[mik]

@tim I nearly bought this the other day....

[teacherboy]

@tim I nearly bought this the other day....

That just fell into my watchlist - perfect for an xmas or birthday pressie from a family member that my wife will just happen to suggest to them

[dinny_g]

[IanF]

I saw a concord pilot give a talk about the flying the bird at the museum of flight. He touched on the crash. Mistakes were made. It was recoverable.

We are all clever with hindsight but we also all learn from previous mistakes (hopefully!) so the analysis after any hull loss or flight excursion is thorough, typically well documented, and dispersed amongst all pilot groups/companies in the aftermath.

But yes, mistakes were made. Don’t ever take off with a tail wind without calculating it (Esp when heavy weight), don’t shut down an engine producing thrust whilst close to the ground and there’s issues with another engine, jettison fuel immediately if more than one engine has issues (especially with performance issues ~2T/min would have lost 4T), more than one eng issues on ground past V1: stop anyway - a 80-100Kt crash is more survivable than a 220kt one), speed is more important than height; consider shallow descent to achieve V2,.. sadly the list goes on. AF have had three large jet hull losses due pilot error… the only recent ones by a western carrier (other than BA’s 777 at LHR and there the pilots did well); I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions regarding AF and its pilots.

Interestingly, we tried to buy Concorde but BA had the spares plus the tooling required to build more parts. They wouldn’t sell the spares and the tooling was dismantled so we had to walk away.. we’ve invested in several start ups trying to get another supersonic jet since then but nothing happens quickly.

One sits rotting away at the threshold of 27L at LHR, a waste of what is still a great looking aircraft.

[scotta]

May I recommend this as a listen.



Absolutely great.

[Simon]

I saw a concord pilot give a talk about the flying the bird at the museum of flight. He touched on the crash. Mistakes were made. It was recoverable.

We are all clever with hindsight but we also all learn from previous mistakes (hopefully!) so the analysis after any hull loss or flight excursion is thorough, typically well documented, and dispersed amongst all pilot groups/companies in the aftermath.

But yes, mistakes were made. Don’t ever take off with a tail wind without calculating it (Esp when heavy weight), don’t shut down an engine producing thrust whilst close to the ground and there’s issues with another engine, jettison fuel immediately if more than one engine has issues (especially with performance issues ~2T/min would have lost 4T), more than one eng issues on ground past V1: stop anyway - a 80-100Kt crash is more survivable than a 220kt one), speed is more important than height; consider shallow descent to achieve V2,.. sadly the list goes on. AF have had three large jet hull losses due pilot error… the only recent ones by a western carrier (other than BA’s 777 at LHR and there the pilots did well); I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions regarding AF and its pilots.

Interestingly, we tried to buy Concorde but BA had the spares plus the tooling required to build more parts. They wouldn’t sell the spares and the tooling was dismantled so we had to walk away.. we’ve invested in several start ups trying to get another supersonic jet since then but nothing happens quickly.

One sits rotting away at the threshold of 27L at LHR, a waste of what is still a great looking aircraft.

A-ha - you must fly for Virgin?

[dinny_g]

Ian never goes all the way…