Originally Posted by
jcjeant
That demonstrate they where full aware of the danger represented by the problems in case of fuel tanks puncture ...
Hate to break it to you, but the Kevlar liners were *designed* and fitted *after* the Gonesse crash as part of the return to airworthiness programme applied to Concorde. EADS, being the parent company of Airbus - which at the time held assets of the former Aerospatiale and BAC - would therefore be the logical supplier.
The redesigned tyres actually made the Kevlar liners redundant, but they'd been front and centre of reports into the work done, so they were kept as an extra safety layer.
I've kept my mouth shut on the wonderful Concorde thread in Tech Log, but some of the invective here really upsets me, so forgive me if I repeat what has already been stated but I want to make a few things clear.
Assertion : The court found no blame attached to any French organisation -
FALSE.
As has been stated, EADS (as the parent firm that subsumed Aerospatiale and part of BAC) were found partially responsible.
Assertion : There is still reasonable doubt as to whether the titanium strip was the first link in the chain -
FALSE.
Every test run indicates that the logical progression of events starts with the strip piercing the tyre. Every potential alternative cause (including the wheel spacer) was run and the chain of events did not fit.
Assertion : Concorde's design was fundamentally flawed -
FALSE
Concorde was designed in the 1960s, and indeed was one of the first airliners to have aspects of systems safety incorporated into the design (see the Tech Log thread) - the airframe was as safe, if not safer than any other aircraft of that vintage.
I'm deeply saddened that some of the comments seem to have been written without even a cursory read of the findings, seemingly based on prejudice against the French justice system and French aviation. This feeds into the conspiracy bumpf and doesn't become a forum that prides itself on the professionalism of the pilots and crew that have made their home here.