Comet Documentary
 

Did anyone watch this?

I was quite keen to see it following last year's Concorde doc.

This was all a bit before my time, so it raises some questions in my mind, foremost of which is that wasn't the ARB in existence then, and if so, what degree of monitoring took place during the Comet test program? Was it considered sufficient to allow DH tps ( no slur intended here ) to test such a radical design without the ARB putting it's own tps on board? Is it really true that every post war DH design suffered an inflight structural failure? And was it true that no major fatigue testing took place until after the second grounding? Is there an ex DH or ARB tp/eng who can shed any light? A fascinating story to be sure, but was it accurate?

MB

I didn't see the program so I can't comment specifically.

One needs to keep in mind that design philosophies and processes .. and certification requirements ... are evolving animals.

At the time of the Comet .. structural fatigue wasn't one of the top line concerns .. although it certainly became so after the early hull losses.

The Brits did the honourable thing and let everyone in on their investigation processes and results ... Boeing took the benefits to heart ... with dreadful commercial consequences for the UK industry ...

Dont think they (dhavilland) let many in on the cover-up. Especially with the problem they knew about with riveting windows instead of gluestuff.

Also NO fatigue stress tests carried out, and an obvious problem with rotation as 3 incidents showed.

Plus the poor guy Capt Foote, remained on freight fleet until his retirement despite the fact the authorities knew it wasnt his fault.

Typical if u ask me :mad:

See 'Aviation History and Nostalgia' forum for many more posts on this subject.

Thanks for the comments. It is a really fascinating story, and I agree that as design is an evolving animal, it is difficult to predict what shortcomings new technology might have. My concern is that with media reporting having the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the flight test community is less likely to share its insights with the public, and also any inaccuracies portrayed become lodged in the public psyche as "fact".

BTW, I believe a lot of the Comet problems were the source material behind the book "Cone of Silence" which was later made into a film ( circa 1960 ) if anyone's interested.

Best wishes all

MB