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Old 23rd March 2012 | 13:28
  #27 (permalink)  
Feathers McGraw
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Joined: Nov 1999
: Non-Aircrew
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From: In the shadow of R101
The position of the titanium strip, tyre debris, unburnt fuel and soot deposits on the runway from burning fuel is detailed in the BEA report, things were found pretty much where one would expect them to be bearing in mind the way events unfolded. The one thing not clear is how the strip came to be bent in such a way that it would sit edges vertical on the runway surface. One would expect it to fall off the DC-10 reverser in its original shape, but there is no certainty of that.

As for the tank skin and the hydrodynamic failure, how much of it was down to a putative overfill of Tank 5 and how much due to fuel displacement towards the rear of the tank due to longitudinal acceleration is also unclear, the only thing that can be said is that had there been an air space above the fuel at the rear of the tank the hydraulic shock of the tyre impact would have applied a lower force to the wing skin. It is possible that in that case the tank would not have ruptured, but then the need for maximum fuel on the CDG-JFK Concorde route is well known and deliberately reducing the fuel quantity is not a likely decision by an AF Concorde crew.
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