Concorde arrives in New York
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Concorde arrives in New York
This courtesy of the BBC News Web Site
Concorde has landed in New York after its first full transatlantic test flight since the Paris crash.
The landmark flight, which precedes proposed passenger flights next month, landed at New York's John F Kennedy Airport at 1440BST on Monday, 15 minutes behind schedule.
The supersonic jet's three and a half hour flight had been delayed by 40 minutes due to heavy fog over Heathrow Airport before take off.
Ninety two engineers and staff were on board the British Airways flight, monitoring operations and testing procedures.
BA and Air France hope the flight will give the all clear for passenger services to resume on 7 November.
The first BA London-New York flight on the supersonic plane will be for corporate customers and the media, and the first commercial flight will be on 9 November.
Bookings have already opened for what will be, initially, a six-times-a-week London to New York service. There will be no Saturday flights.
Safety modifications
The plane can reach New York in about three hours 20 minutes, less than half the travelling time of a subsonic aircraft.
It has previously carried out two test flights but has returned to Britain after flying halfway across the Atlantic, without landing in New York.
The tests are to check the safety modifications put in place in the wake of the Air France Concorde tragedy, in which 113 people were killed when the plane crashed near Paris.
All commercial flights were grounded after the accident last summer at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
The accident is thought to have been caused by a metal object left on the runway which burst a tyre.
Tyre fragments penetrated the fuel tank, leading to a catastrophic fire which caused the aircraft to crash on a hotel about 10 miles from Paris.
All 109 passengers and crew on board were killed, plus four people on the ground.
Both BA, which has seven Concordes, and Air France, which has five, have made improvements to their planes.
These include the fitting of bullet-proof Kevlar rubber linings to the fuel tank to prevent any possible rupturing, new, tougher tyres and a strengthening of the wiring in the undercarriage bay.
Psychological effect
The return of the aircraft to transatlantic flights has been hailed as a symbol of New York's recovery after the 11 September atrocities.
The international aviation industry has been hit hard by the aftermath of the attacks, carried out by four hijacked airliners.
There are hopes that the psychological effect of Concorde's return may boost confidence in the air industry generally.
BA is also planning to relaunch its London-Barbados service once a week from December.
Concorde has landed in New York after its first full transatlantic test flight since the Paris crash.
The landmark flight, which precedes proposed passenger flights next month, landed at New York's John F Kennedy Airport at 1440BST on Monday, 15 minutes behind schedule.
The supersonic jet's three and a half hour flight had been delayed by 40 minutes due to heavy fog over Heathrow Airport before take off.
Ninety two engineers and staff were on board the British Airways flight, monitoring operations and testing procedures.
BA and Air France hope the flight will give the all clear for passenger services to resume on 7 November.
The first BA London-New York flight on the supersonic plane will be for corporate customers and the media, and the first commercial flight will be on 9 November.
Bookings have already opened for what will be, initially, a six-times-a-week London to New York service. There will be no Saturday flights.
Safety modifications
The plane can reach New York in about three hours 20 minutes, less than half the travelling time of a subsonic aircraft.
It has previously carried out two test flights but has returned to Britain after flying halfway across the Atlantic, without landing in New York.
The tests are to check the safety modifications put in place in the wake of the Air France Concorde tragedy, in which 113 people were killed when the plane crashed near Paris.
All commercial flights were grounded after the accident last summer at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
The accident is thought to have been caused by a metal object left on the runway which burst a tyre.
Tyre fragments penetrated the fuel tank, leading to a catastrophic fire which caused the aircraft to crash on a hotel about 10 miles from Paris.
All 109 passengers and crew on board were killed, plus four people on the ground.
Both BA, which has seven Concordes, and Air France, which has five, have made improvements to their planes.
These include the fitting of bullet-proof Kevlar rubber linings to the fuel tank to prevent any possible rupturing, new, tougher tyres and a strengthening of the wiring in the undercarriage bay.
Psychological effect
The return of the aircraft to transatlantic flights has been hailed as a symbol of New York's recovery after the 11 September atrocities.
The international aviation industry has been hit hard by the aftermath of the attacks, carried out by four hijacked airliners.
There are hopes that the psychological effect of Concorde's return may boost confidence in the air industry generally.
BA is also planning to relaunch its London-Barbados service once a week from December.
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Of course, every news story I've seen so far calls this the "first full transatlantic flight since the crash". Which it isn't. BA Concordes kept flying transatlantic for a while after the crash, and AF concordes were relocated from JFK to Paris. Just the usual high concern for accuracy.
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This is what the USA is reporting (so far):
ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world...rde011022.html
NY Times, for reasons best known to themselves, have been silent about the matter!
Good news indeed - long may she reign
ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world...rde011022.html
NY Times, for reasons best known to themselves, have been silent about the matter!
Good news indeed - long may she reign
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Here's the NY Times article (though you may need to register - FREE!) to see it... http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...rchpv=aponline
And this from "This is London". Nice of Vincent Cable (Liberal Democrat MP) to see its value (NOT! - hope he gets zero votes in the next election)
...
http://www.thisisl ondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=451498&in_review_text_id=401723
[ 22 October 2001: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]
And this from "This is London". Nice of Vincent Cable (Liberal Democrat MP) to see its value (NOT! - hope he gets zero votes in the next election)
... http://www.thisisl ondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=451498&in_review_text_id=401723
[ 22 October 2001: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]
I am a figment of my own imagination
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It's a work of art, a powerful symbol of advance in powered flight, an achievement to take pride in, looks good and makes me proud that it's partialy British. I marvel at it as a pilot and never fail to be moved by it when I see it in the ground or in the air.
It's great news at a time when we desperately need good news, a phoenix rising at a surprisingly approriate time.
That it is not these things to some of our more cynical and miserable politicians does not surprise me at all, they probably would find fault with the sunrise in the morning, they and can go and spread their lack of joy somewhere else. For the majority of us, I feel sure, applaud the will and determination of those who have worked so hard to get her back into the air where she belongs. Long may she grace us with her beauty
(and the roar of her triumph fill the land
)
It's great news at a time when we desperately need good news, a phoenix rising at a surprisingly approriate time.
That it is not these things to some of our more cynical and miserable politicians does not surprise me at all, they probably would find fault with the sunrise in the morning, they and can go and spread their lack of joy somewhere else. For the majority of us, I feel sure, applaud the will and determination of those who have worked so hard to get her back into the air where she belongs. Long may she grace us with her beauty
(and the roar of her triumph fill the land
)
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Puff
nly a few of the concorde tech crew have been retained. These are all trainers.They have remained current in the sim and have been given other ground technical duties.All other crews have been seconded to other fleets and are awaiting recall
nly a few of the concorde tech crew have been retained. These are all trainers.They have remained current in the sim and have been given other ground technical duties.All other crews have been seconded to other fleets and are awaiting recall
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WOK.
Interested to know a little info (if you can say) on what the training programme was used from keeping you guys currtent thoghout the down time and what sort of schedule was / is put in place so there are enough crews available for the restart of scheduled flights.
Are all the current crews now ready to got or is there more training to do?.
Well done to everynone at BA and in the supporting areas for getting Concorde back in service. I'm sure she will be there for another 15 years at least.
Good luck to all the crews in France and the UK on ther final upcoming test / operational assessment flights before the BIG DAY on Nov 7th.
Interested to know a little info (if you can say) on what the training programme was used from keeping you guys currtent thoghout the down time and what sort of schedule was / is put in place so there are enough crews available for the restart of scheduled flights.
Are all the current crews now ready to got or is there more training to do?.
Well done to everynone at BA and in the supporting areas for getting Concorde back in service. I'm sure she will be there for another 15 years at least.
Good luck to all the crews in France and the UK on ther final upcoming test / operational assessment flights before the BIG DAY on Nov 7th.
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Those who were redeployed did not fly the conc sim while they were on their temporary type. Some, who had to wait several months for a course, continued to fly the sim while they awaited their conversion. The trainers were not redeployed and remained current in the sim.
The reconversion consisted of a week of self-study in the books, then a short tech refresher chalk & talk, then a couple of weeks in the sim to prove you could still do it.
Most have now completed or are coming to the end of the sim phase and await line training. Several Captains will not start for a few months yet.
Line training is 8 sectors and this will take some time given that there will only be 12 sectors/week. Probably take til the end of December to fully clear everyone.
[ 28 October 2001: Message edited by: WOK ]
The reconversion consisted of a week of self-study in the books, then a short tech refresher chalk & talk, then a couple of weeks in the sim to prove you could still do it.
Most have now completed or are coming to the end of the sim phase and await line training. Several Captains will not start for a few months yet.
Line training is 8 sectors and this will take some time given that there will only be 12 sectors/week. Probably take til the end of December to fully clear everyone.
[ 28 October 2001: Message edited by: WOK ]
