Koja
24th Jun 2003, 23:07
Anybody have any more info?
From BBC.com:
New safety alert grounds Concorde
The BA Concorde is regarded as the fleet's flagship
A British Airways Concorde has been grounded following a new safety scare, the BBC has learned.
The airline has confirmed the discovery on Monday of damaged wiring in the fuel pump area of one of its planes.
Engineers are trying to find out what caused the metal around the wiring to overheat.
One line of enquiry is whether a small fire broke out during the flight, BBC transport correspondent Simon Montague said.
The incident is regarded as sufficiently serious for it to have been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority, as a potential threat to aircraft safety.
The aircraft, which last flew from New York to London on Saturday, has been grounded for further tests.
'Flagship Concorde'
The pilots on the damaged aircraft are understood not to have received any warnings during the flight.
Maintenance engineers only discovered the damage on Monday.
They are now bringing in specialist equipment to carry out further tests.
BA says it has checked its four other operational Concordes and no similar problems have been found.
Past incidents
20 Feb 03: Emergency landing after engine problems
12 Jan 03: Nose cone malfunctions
27 Nov 02: Part of tail rudder falls off
6 Nov 02: Engine fails, sparking panic
3 Nov 02: Plane turns round after engine failure
30 Oct 02: Speed cut after window cracks spotted
July 02: Problem after engine power surge
April 02: Engine failure causes mid-air 'bang'
March 02: Take-off abandoned after computer glitch
Nov 01: Flight aborted over engine reheats
The Concorde phenomenon
The incident did not appear to be especially serious, Simon Montague said.
He added: "When these kinds of thing emerge they tend to get more publicity than a similar incident might on an ordinary sub-sonic aircraft...but it is a problem."
The aircraft on which the damage occurred has been in service since 1976, and is the oldest in BA's Concorde fleet.
Registered as G-BOAC, it's also regarded as the flagship Concorde.
That is because its initials are also those of the old British Overseas Airline Corporation, one of two airlines from which British Airways was created.
Its safety problems follow a number of other scares affecting the supersonic jets in recent years.
In July 2000, 113 people were killed when an Air France Concorde crashed in a fireball, shortly after taking off from Paris.
'Deadly serious'
Exhaustive safety checks on both BA and Air France aircraft followed, but yet more safety scares followed and passenger numbers have never fully recovered.
In April the two airlines made a joint announcement that all Concorde flights would cease at the end of the year, after more than three decades of luxury travel.
Sir Richard wants to keep Concorde flying
BA said it was permanently grounding its Concordes because of "commercial reasons, with passenger revenue falling steadily against a backdrop of rising maintenance costs for the aircraft".
But enthusiasm for the plane remains and as recently as Monday of this week, Sir Richard Branson told the BBC he is "deadly serious" about bidding to keep Concorde flying.
The Virgin boss also said he wants a Concorde "summit" to look at ways of keeping the supersonic jet in business.
From BBC.com:
New safety alert grounds Concorde
The BA Concorde is regarded as the fleet's flagship
A British Airways Concorde has been grounded following a new safety scare, the BBC has learned.
The airline has confirmed the discovery on Monday of damaged wiring in the fuel pump area of one of its planes.
Engineers are trying to find out what caused the metal around the wiring to overheat.
One line of enquiry is whether a small fire broke out during the flight, BBC transport correspondent Simon Montague said.
The incident is regarded as sufficiently serious for it to have been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority, as a potential threat to aircraft safety.
The aircraft, which last flew from New York to London on Saturday, has been grounded for further tests.
'Flagship Concorde'
The pilots on the damaged aircraft are understood not to have received any warnings during the flight.
Maintenance engineers only discovered the damage on Monday.
They are now bringing in specialist equipment to carry out further tests.
BA says it has checked its four other operational Concordes and no similar problems have been found.
Past incidents
20 Feb 03: Emergency landing after engine problems
12 Jan 03: Nose cone malfunctions
27 Nov 02: Part of tail rudder falls off
6 Nov 02: Engine fails, sparking panic
3 Nov 02: Plane turns round after engine failure
30 Oct 02: Speed cut after window cracks spotted
July 02: Problem after engine power surge
April 02: Engine failure causes mid-air 'bang'
March 02: Take-off abandoned after computer glitch
Nov 01: Flight aborted over engine reheats
The Concorde phenomenon
The incident did not appear to be especially serious, Simon Montague said.
He added: "When these kinds of thing emerge they tend to get more publicity than a similar incident might on an ordinary sub-sonic aircraft...but it is a problem."
The aircraft on which the damage occurred has been in service since 1976, and is the oldest in BA's Concorde fleet.
Registered as G-BOAC, it's also regarded as the flagship Concorde.
That is because its initials are also those of the old British Overseas Airline Corporation, one of two airlines from which British Airways was created.
Its safety problems follow a number of other scares affecting the supersonic jets in recent years.
In July 2000, 113 people were killed when an Air France Concorde crashed in a fireball, shortly after taking off from Paris.
'Deadly serious'
Exhaustive safety checks on both BA and Air France aircraft followed, but yet more safety scares followed and passenger numbers have never fully recovered.
In April the two airlines made a joint announcement that all Concorde flights would cease at the end of the year, after more than three decades of luxury travel.
Sir Richard wants to keep Concorde flying
BA said it was permanently grounding its Concordes because of "commercial reasons, with passenger revenue falling steadily against a backdrop of rising maintenance costs for the aircraft".
But enthusiasm for the plane remains and as recently as Monday of this week, Sir Richard Branson told the BBC he is "deadly serious" about bidding to keep Concorde flying.
The Virgin boss also said he wants a Concorde "summit" to look at ways of keeping the supersonic jet in business.