Concorde
What caused the Concorde to crash?
We have all seen the news and it was said to be a piece of engine cowl (from an earlier aircraft that had taken off)which Concorde ran over,causing a tyre to explode and parts of that tyre to rupture the wing tanks
Well a programme from National Geographic paints a very differant picture.
Seconds From Disaster: Concorde
The programme claims that Concorde was in trouble way before it got anywhere near the debris from the earlier aircraft,and that the tyre had already exloded
The Concorde had part of the ungercarrage missing,which caused the Concorde to drift to the left of the runway,narrowly missing another aircraft on a taxiway
To overcome the drift and a possible collision, the pilot tookoff way too soon.The concorde was not going fast enough to stay in the air
Keep you eyes open for this one, it will be repeated (they always are)
This programme asks a lot of questions about the way this crash was investgated
http://aviation-safety.net/investigation/cvr/transcripts/cvr_af4590.php
4 Answers
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Rick Lee
Guest
Thanks Tom,
The murky truth always seems to come out long after the event. I find this part of the ASN report especially disturbing :
"Take-off weight was calculated to be 186,9 tons, including 95 tons of fuel, which was one tone over the maximum take-off weight."
Is it common procedure to take- off with as much as a ton over the maximum TOW?
If so, can this result in the aircraft being dangerously close to disaster?
Next time I catch a flight, should I, prior to take-off, look over the pilots shoulder and make sure that we're not over the maximum TOW?
...plus this : "The Concorde certificate of airworthiness was suspended 16-8-2000. Major changes to the fuel tank were ordered before Concorde was allowed to fly on passenger services again on November 7, 2001." , which indicates that failures of some sort were anticipated.
As they say: The question is not "if" but "when" ...
Too scary to contemplate
😳
Rick
I have found the official report
It mentions the missing part for the main gear,but fails to clear up why Concorde was so close to edge of the runway
Its a 16mb pdf file with photos ➡
http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/2000/f-sc000725a/pdf/f-sc000725a.pdf
Read this and try and catch the programme...and make your own conclusions
I believe that a metal stip that fell off a DC-10, was flung up, struck the left wing, beaking a fuel line, then sparks from a disconected wire ignited the fuel.
I can't remember what else happened. But I am pretty sure that's what started the disaster.
If not please inform me.
While our thoughts are still dwelling on the sad demise of the Concorde, here are some statistics, suitable also for the not so technnically minded 
Regards, Rick
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