Cunliffe
Concorde had a large wing surface area containing fuel immediately above the undercarriage and a very high tyre rotation speed, so any debris thrown off was travelling more rapidly than on other aircraft.
In addition, the Concorde wing produces essentially no lift until rotation, so the downward component of the control forces rotating the aircraft increases the load on the tyres just as they reach maximum rotation speed.
At the last count, Concorde suffered at least 57 incidents where tyre debris hit the airframe. I don't know if that number includes the Gonesse crash.
Last edited by Feathers McGraw; 14th Jul 2010 at 14:19.
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