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View Full Version : When was THE Concorde Low Fuel Emergency?


EyesToTheSkies
30th Mar 2004, 19:55
I'm referring to the time when a well known captain (who shall remain nameless) landed Concorde at LHR with fuel below the reserve level.

Can anyone tell me approximately when this was?

..and maybe which airframe was involved?

My guess is early 90's.

cringe
31st Mar 2004, 20:34
Could it have been more recent? Not too dramatic after all...

From concordesst.com:

26th July 2003: BA Concorde G-BOAD kicks off the final ever summer Barbados season. On returning the Heathrow the aircraft crew issue a PAN and then a Mayday after running low on fuel due to a go-around and bad weather.

Related pprune tread:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97672

Ricky Butcher
1st Apr 2004, 00:08
No it wasn't that night, I remember it well. Concorde was only one of a number or fuel emergencies that night due to a whole combination of events at LHR. They landed with much less than they'd have liked but much more than the incident that ETTS is interested in. I think that was in the eighties.

oxford blue
1st Apr 2004, 19:22
Wasn't Concorde virtually a planned fuel emergency? Practically from the moment of take-off. And worse from Paris than from London to the USA, because the distance is (slightly!) further?

I formed the impression that the only reason that it didn't happen more often was the the Corcorde captains were so bloody good that they thought about it before the problems arose, and knew how to play the system when they did arise.

I always thought that, in terms of fuel management, Concorde was a bit like the civilian equivalent of flying a (RAF) Lightning. A friend of mine once told me that the Lightning was the only aircraft he had ever flown on which you could really see the fuel gauge indicator needle actually physically moving, once the burners were plugged in.

Just to set the record straight, I have never flown either Concorde or Lightning, so if anybody wants to shoot me down, please go ahead,

All the best,

Oxford Blue

phnuff
2nd Apr 2004, 13:20
Someone recently told me that Concorde could only tolerate fairly limited taxing due to being so close to fuel limits . I dont know if this was true or not. (although I guess how far it was supposed to fly afterwards). He also told me that plans for a larger, increased range Concorde were on the drawing boards when the programme was scrapped. Can anyone confirm this ??

cirrus01
5th Apr 2004, 08:16
If I remember correctly, Minimum Fuel on Concorde 6500kgs, for C of G stability.......if landed with less it had to be towed to stand.
incident in the late 80s where aircraft should have Diverted to SNN, carried on to LHR and arrived with very little gas in the tanks.:confused: :confused: