Well I read through all your comments on the Concorde issue and to be frank, there seems to be (apart from the odd sentiment), a resignation to the fact that nothing can be done.
How about looking at it from the other angle.......
What happens when Concorde is withdrawn? Answer ........Nothing and a big nothing at that. We are years away from seeing anything like its kind again. Look what happened to the sonic(Super?) cruiser......a Boeing pipe dream just like all the other design sketches that have gone before.
Someone commented that the British built it in an engineering blind alley......instead of building something useful!! What a bore!
If the car industry adopted that attitude, we would all be driving around in three box mono coloured clones.
If you look at the Boeing 707/DC8 and the A340......Ok the Airbus is full of fly by wire and computers, but at the end of the day what does it look like......it looks like nothing has happened in 45 years with regard to looks.
And what does the bus do that the first generation jets didnt......not a lot. Ok there is fuel efficiency and a bit more comfort, but regarding speed and impact at its launch?? No big crowd puller there.
Just imagine you were a spotter in the fifties and you were used to seeing DC6's, Super Connies and Stratocruisers......then along comes the first 707. It must have been like seeing a UFO for real for the first time. Dan Dare has arrived .....am I dreaming?
Concorde had that effect when it took to the Air in 69. It was the next great advance in aviation. And 24 years later there is still nothing to touch its speed and beauty.
Regarding the British Aerospace (waste of space) design authority. Well you built it so you should dam well support it. It is not up to the manufacturer to tell the customer that he cant fly his plane no more because its uneconomical to provide the bits to fix it.
I am not asking the government to step in and bail it out...that is immoral these days. I am asking for them to have a concerted effort (instead of washing its hands) to direct the powers that be to all pull in the same direction. As I said in my original post......there is past tax payers money written off in Concorde so why not let the public have what they want for a change..... a return on there past investment.
Come on Sir Richard......you can do this.....there is great support for your efforts from a big percentage of the population. Let the public speak.....get th SUN involved with one of its campaigns and tell the bureaucrats that sentiment in this case should out weigh profit.
As for British Airways......where has your pride gone...you are the British Flag carrier (yes you realised that at last with your new paint job)......you have an obligation to keep Great Britain great and what better way to do it than to support a real British icon.
Lets have some more positive posts and a few more positive suggestions insted of letting BA, BAE, Labour, CAA and worst of all.........the French dictate the end!
Coop
