Can anybody save her?

[helldog]

Just wondering if there are any plans to keep a Concorde flying. We see all kinds of historical aircraft being restored. Here is a chance to take an aircraft which is still flying today and keep it that way.

Maybe one could be donated to The Royal Aeronautical Society. You could have a Concorde Club. Say 500 dollars per year. And ofter ten years membership you get a flight in it, even a one hour flight. Have lower levels of membership where you can attend talks, and be shown around it by ex crew.

Before you business minde people shoot down my ideas. I am just thinking out aloud here. I am not business minded at all. But maybe some of you who are out there cand build on the initial idea.

Cheers

[Hulk Hogan]

BA said they plan to keep one flying just to do flypasts and airshows.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I think this has had a good airing on other threads already. Without manufacturer support, it can't continue to fly. If the mega amounts of money needed to secure such support could be found, the whole fleet could carry on in revenue-earning service.

As the aeroplane ages, support gets more expensive and parts harder to source. Add to this the grounding of the AF fleet, and that leaves BA to pick up the entire cost of such ongoing support. I suspect the sums just don't add up for such a small fleet.

AFAIK there is no 'cheap' half-way-house which would just keep one Conc flying. Unfortunatly.

SSD

[helldog]

I know what your saying Shaggy....but.

Look I know many years down the track parts will be hard to come by. But I think if you keep one flying then you should have spares for many many years. There will be another 13 to pull parts from. Plus many spare engines plus, I am sure some big stockpiles spares from BA and Air France. Also it will not go through as many spares as it will not fly very often. Only on special occasions.

There are many people out there who think it is important to keep planes such as the Spitfire flying. So people can experience the sight and wonderful sound.

What these people that built Concorde achieved is nothing short of phenomenal, and future generations should be reminded of that.

Cheers.

[John (Gary) Cooper]

No plans by BA to fly Concorde at Air Shows

www.britishairways.com/travel/celebratefaq/public/en_ - 39k

[HZ123]

The last flight will be first week of November. None of the a/c will ever fly again and if they have the same fate as many other museum pieces they will be in s...t order in next to no time. Frankly I do not know what all the fuss is about there have been so many excellant a/c built in GB and sadly most of them have been cut up or apart from a few kept going by anoraks with little or no help from the public purse.RIP

[Spot 4]

2 to the USA / 1 to Barbados! / 1 to Manchester / 0! to Duxford

One had hoped that NASA may have taken one in lieu of a TU144 for supersonic research but even that is not to be.

Branson is rightly furious it is reported.

[Wycombe]

errr, Duxford already have one (G-AXDN), which I had a personal mooch over a bit earlier this Year. Fascinating to see a lot of the internal flight test kit (and escape chutes!) still completely intact inside.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Barbados:confused: :confused: :confused: :mad: What the bloody hell has that got to do with the price of eggs?

Err excuse me but none of the aircraft seem to be going to Museums in the UK, one is going to Filton? Why to be locked in a shed never to be seen again.

Outrageous :mad: :mad:

[BeauMan]

Think I read somewhere in the last day or two that one of the non-airworthy BA machines (G-BOAA and G-BOAB) will be going to Cosford. Not sure if that's confirmed though.

I'd better shut up now before I get myself going again... :mad:

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Think I read somewhere in the last day or two that one of the non-airworthy BA machines (G-BOAA and G-BOAB) will be going to Cosford. Not sure if that's confirmed though.

I suppose that's better than nothing.

The Duxford Concorde is a prototype, with many differerences between it and the production aeroplanes. It would make a fascinating exhibit to display them side by side.

It is beyond belief that none of the active fleet are going to a UK museum. The one bound for Filton has shades of G-AWZO, the BA Trident that went to Hatfield 'for preservation'. It was parked outside from the mid 1980s until very recently, by which time it was a tatty wreck and was cut up on site.:{

Who the heck makes the descisions about Concorde allocation?

SSD

[Hand Solo]

Well my atlas says Filton and Manchester are in the UK. I thought Filton was still a working airfield and Airbus still fly aircraft parts out of there? It wouldn't take much to turn Concorde into an exhibit there. As for Manchester, then why shouldn't the north have an aircraft? Duxford already has one aircraft. I've been round that one and several of the BA aircraft. Theres very little difference externally apart from the livery, and the BA cabin is nice but not really very exciting to look at. As for Barbados, well it has been one of only two regular scheduled BA Concorde services for a number of years, they've probably deserve the aircraft as much as New York!

[fradu]

ManontheFence,

The Bristol Aero Collection will be setting up a museum at Filton if all goes to plan, with a Concorde planned as a star exhibit. So it won't be shut away permenantly, just for the time being. They already have the fuselage section on strength that was with the Fleet Air Arm Museum for a number of years.

Can't quite see the point of shoving an airliner onto a barge in the Atlantic Ocean and then allowing it to get corroded through to the core.

Mark [whom is raising his bat having achieved his first half century in pprune posts :)]

[Man-on-the-fence]

fradu

cangrats on the 50 posts.

The BAC have been planning to set up a museum at Filton for as long as I can remember so I'm not holding my breath. Besides they already have a museum at Kemble.

If they are going to move how are they going to move the Brit?

Methinks another not very well though out plan.

[fradu]

From memory the BAM only lease the Kemble hangar, so they'll move out eventually to the Filton site.
As you say, it has been in the pipeline for ages so it could be a while yet before they do all re-locate to Filton or Bristol.

It's the same case with the Southampton Hall of Aviation and their proposed move to Marchwood.
The current museum is too small for all their exhbits, their Scimatar has spent the last three years dismantled in the car park :)
Add to that their Sea Venom, that has had to be put in storage to make way for the late John Hallett's superb Sea Vixen to go on show. Next, their newly-acquired Swift...

With a Brittania and Concorde on strength it is going to be a huge museum if both are to be kept undercover.

M

[Man-on-the-fence]

fradu

They wont fly the Brit out of Kemble, its been sat too long with minimal maintenance for the CAA to allow that.

The Conc fues that is already at Filton is G-BSST which has been there for many years as a spares source/test airframe, not the one from FAAM.

It'll be good if they pull it off. It'll be nice for a Conc to sit in the Brabazon hanger again for a while, what's the betting she says outside on the airfield to rot :\

[WebPilot]

The BA spares airframe at Filton is G-BBDG - a/c 202, not 002 G-BSST which is at Yeovilton.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Webpilot
Thanks for that, a spot of vuja de methinks (I have forgotten that once before ;) )

[You want it when?]

Come on chaps, she's an old airframe, withdrawn from service as unsupported. Does it really need umpteen threads? It's old news now.

OK she is one of a kind, so preserve some airframes, well we've done that. Scrap the rest. Move on.