BA Bashing

A copy of a thread I put on the Airshows msg brd:

I don’t know about other members of this board but I’m getting seriously hacked off at the amount of rubbish is being talked about BA and Concorde and I would like a bit of perspective.
Sure, things could have been handled differently and there are many things I would have preferred to happen even something like ,say , a token flypast at Heathrow but, and a big but, the fault should not be layed entirely at BA’s feet.
When it comes to the grounding of Concorde in the first place maybe we should consider that BA wanted to keep the a/c flying!!!!! After the Paris accident ( down, and I hate to say it , largely to Air France ineptitude ) BA spent a huge some of money ( while v cash strapped! ) in trying to keep the Conc flying. Added to that a complete cabin redesign also at great expence.
As I mentioned the crash had several causal factors including mods that WERE done by BA and WEREN’T by AF, the a/c was OVERWEIGHT, and engines were shutdown which were still working but which mean’t the loss of hydraulics hence the gear wouldn’t retract hence more drag.( This last comment completely ignores the time pressure factor of having your arse on fire but it still plays a part ) Added to this very lax FOD clearance by CDG authorities.
After the crash AF decided not to reinstate services ( BA did ) and then decided to retire the a/c. AS PART OF THE ORIGINAL ‘CONCORDE AGRREEMENT’ IF ONE OPERATOR DECIDED TO GND THE A/C THE OTHER HAD TO FOLLOW.BA tried desperately to keep the a/c flying despite huge increases in cost due to AIRBUS the ops certificate holder. All at the time when BA was fighting the toughest operating conditions post Sept 11th. After all BA has made money on the a/c in the past decade…AF never has!!!!!
Finally, when it comes to the a/c going to US museums I understand the bad feeling to the US after their negativity initially but like someone mentioned already- are we to close the US museum at Dux due to past disagreements? How about having a British masterpiece put under their own noses to marvel at? It’s not as though we haven’t got any in the UK. 6 is it???
As for keeping one flying I would , like anybody, love to see one flying but who pays???
And as for Virgin flying it don’t even get me started that was a no hoper from the start and Branson and his tin pot airline knows it!!!
Phew, glad that’s over. This has been a bit rushed but I just wanted to give my threepennethy to try and even things a little.
Needless to say your comments are more than welcome.
Toodle pip and kind regards whatever your viewpoint!!!