Quote from CliveL:
"By the time the FE called the #2 engine failure and fire warning and then shut down #2 the aircraft had been airborne for several seconds. There would have been no shimmy once airborne, so why do you think it such an important factor in his decision to shut down #2?"
I think Lyman is arguing that violent vibration caused by main-wheel shimmy may have influenced the F/E's decision to shut down engine #2, even though the a/c was still getting airborne. While the root cause of any shimmy would be removed once the wheels left the ground, my experience suggests significant vibration might continue until the auto-brakes have stopped wheel rotation. I don't know what criterion is required on Concorde for autobrake, but it's likely to be near the start of an active gear-retraction sequence. In this case, as we all know, gear-door damage led to the selection of gear UP being refused or aborted by the retraction system at some stage in the sequence. Perhaps you or others can comment.
Having said that, I'm not aware of any evidence to support Bearfoil's intuition.
Last edited by Chris Scott; 17th Dec 2012 at 16:13.
Reason: End of first para clarified