Delta wing & fuel tank vulnerability

[mriya225]

Alright kids,
Let's talk turkey! Now that the media is hot under the collar to pin the Concorde tragedy on an incompetent mechanic (presumably working for Continental); Air France and Concorde's designers and manufacturers are only too happy to oblige... :mad: (grrr)

I'm getting antsy for a bit of well educated conversation on the delta wing design and possible inherent flaws (where fuel storage and transfer are concerned) that may have contributed (possibly even to the point of being the fatal factor) to the AF4590 tragedy!

I'm sick to death of being fed the Air France & Concorde "party line" on this... do any of you know of any objective delta winged SST design safety analyses, I can find online?

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Patience is letting your motor idle when you feel like stripping your gears.

[SchmiteGoBust]

Mriya,
I don't know of any web sites on the matter, but what I do know is the wing skin at the root on a Delta is relatively thin compared with that of a conventional airliner. This is due to the much larger chord bearing the wing load. This must have been contributary to the disaster I would have thought!!

[mriya225]

Hi SchmiteGoBust,
Hope all is well with you!

[Blacksheep]

I don't recalll us ever having a problem with structural damage caused by tyre bursts on the Vulcans which were very similar in planform to the Concorde. The wheels were quite different though, perhaps if the trucks and wheels had been designed differently, debris thrown up from the wheels could have caused damage.

At the end of the day, a punctured fuel tank caused by a tyre burst is a design defect. Nothing to do with the mechanics or the pilots. Also, in the case of Concorde there were earlier non-disastrous events of tyre debris causing structural damage, including at least one case where a fuel tank was ruptured but no fire ensued because the pilot was aware and shut down the engines. So where were the Government Regulatory Bodies and their Airworthiness Directives then? The silence continues, will we ever know the truth or will Concorde be permanently grounded and the whole thing conveniently forgotten?

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Through difficulties to the cinema

[mriya225]

Agreed Blacksheep!

I'm still big-time steamed about how this whole thing is being handled. I'll say this though, I'd rather see the Concorde retired with some dignity than rushed back into service with potentially disasterous consequenses.

Take care,
m.

[avoman]

Unlike conventional wings the delta produces almost no lift until rotation. Takeoff and landing speeds are very high. Thus Concorde's tyres are exceptionally stressed.

[sprocket]

myria, this site has some basic info and I suspect you have already checked it, but here it is anyway....

http://www.concordesst.com/

There has been plenty of dicussion in the 'Rumours and News' forum on PPRuNe. Just type in 'Concorde' in the search facility on that forum and you may find something!