It is so pleasant to see that the majority of postings in this most serious of subjects, from both points of view, are being conducted sensibly and honestly.
I would respectfully disagree with Frangible, regarding French bashing, generally it is about the highly questionable engineering and operational standars of a certain Europian airline, at least as far as the Concorde operation goes, not French bashing sir. There is 27 years of 'previous convictions' here, and this is FACT. As far as the state of the AF A/C goes, I would suggest that the way you look after your aircraft speaks volumes about your engineering standards. On visits to AF in CDG, I and others were truly HORIFIED at the state of their A/C, not just about the agreed terrible state of the paintwork etc, but externally filthy and repair patches everywhere. (I remember in one case a HUGE patch over the main passenger entry door; lovely first impression for the passengers). But tattyness was not just confined to the exterior of the A/C; one of the DC power switches was twisted and bent, and the F/D had a distinct air of looking 'knocked about'. As far as the mechanics of what happened, I re-iterate that in the history of Concorde, this was the ONLY skin rupture (Approx the same size as an A4 sheet!!) caused by soft material only, blown OUTWARD; every other case was one of metalic debris causing relatively small fissures. (Nonetheless these of course must be and always were treated as serious). So what was so different here? Arguably the size (mass) and velocity of the tyre segment released when the tyre was destroyed, due to the previously posted conditions, and of course the condition within the tank.
We should all maybe consider what the motive is of a certain individual here, who seems personally obsessed with casting as much negative energy towards the aircraft as he possibly can. As soon as someone says something remotely positive about the A/C he seems to pounce, with the enthusiasm of a wild cat, coming out with the same 'recording' every time. He seems to know more about everything than those with 27 or more years experience. I will not engage here any more with responses to his jibes. (But as a matter of interest to all, the reported rudder and elevon panel failures (Eventually remedied by modifications and brand new units) caused no aerodynamic or control problems whatsoever. If something like this happens to a Boeing, it never even makes the back pages, but that's life I guess).
Last edited by M2dude; 5th Feb 2010 at 18:18.