Originally Posted by M2dude
Oh, and back to the ground stability issue, was Concorde ever sat on its tail by accident? Oh yes, just once to my knowledge.
In May 1977, aircraft G-BOAA was returned to Filton for some modifications that .....
See post #328 for the rest of the story.
In "Concorde - The Inside Story" by Brian Trubshaw there is actually a photo of what is almost certainly the same incident.
But there is another story....
After the first-ever landing at Bahrain, a crowd of Very Important Persons was allowed to visit the aircraft.
Of course they had to see it all, including the rear cabin.
Since the aircraft hadn't been refuelled yet, the inevitable happened... the aircraft started slowly but inexorably tilting backwards.
A very undignified stampede towards the front resulted, just in time, so the aircraft did not actually sit on its tail.
But there was a sequel. The incident had been watched by the airport manager, who promptly decreed that from then on a tractor would have to be chained to the nose gear whenever the aircraft was on the ramp.
Urban legend has it, that from then on there was a new item in the pre-taxy checklist for Bahrain.
CHAIN REMOVED FROM NOSEWHEEL - CHECK
CJ