Concorde

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