[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-01-03 AT 00:08 AM (GMT)]Concorde nose fails mid-flight
A mechanical problem forced an Air France Concorde bound for New York to return to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport shortly after take off, renewing fears about the safety of the ageing supersonic aircraft.
The company said the nose of the Concorde on flight AF002 from Paris to New York failed to move into position for supersonic speed after takeoff and the pilot decided to return to Paris where the aircraft landed without incident.
The 38 passengers and the crew were transferred to another of Air France’s fleet of Concordes which departed for New York.
“The breakdown didn’t present any danger to the aircraft or the passengers. It simply prevented supersonic flight,” said the airline.
The aircraft was being examined by Air France mechanics.
The nose problem was the latest in a string of incidents to plague the supersonic jet since it returned to service in November 2001 following a safety review in the wake of the July 2000 Concorde crash in Paris, in which all 109 people on board and four people on the ground died.
Last November part of the rudder of a British Airways Concorde fell off during a transatlantic flight between London and New York but none of the 96 passengers or nine crew was hurt.
Earlier in the month, an Air France Concorde en route to Paris suffered an engine failure and quickly dropped 7,000 metres over the Atlantic Ocean, terrifying the 67 passengers and crew on board.
Two days earlier a British Airways Concorde was forced to return to London following an engine failure.
The devastating Concorde crash in 2000 was attributed to a metal fragment on an airport runway that shredded a tyre on the aircraft and flung rubber chunks up into an engine fuel tank, causing a fire and then the crash.
By: wysiwyg - 19th January 2003 at 21:57
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
The Trident sim is run by a guy who does it to satisfy his hobby of electronics and aviation. I really don’t think he is after advertising as he is generally oversubscribed as it is.
By: andrewm - 15th January 2003 at 22:33
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
wysiwyg,
remember my JMC favour. Perhaps you could ask ur mate at the Trident Sim! Lots of Advertising on our website etc given if we wud give an hours time in the sim (remember to add its all for charity!)
By: wysiwyg - 15th January 2003 at 07:54
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
A guy called Andy Mattacks owns and runs a Trident 3 sim (the ex-BA one) near Biggin (which I occasionally do a bit of instructing in). He has a web site www.tridentsim.com which has a bit of info about the current status of his friends phantom sim on it. Alternatively contact him on 01883 652109.
By: EGNM - 14th January 2003 at 21:11
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
no probs – i think the place is called the yorkshire flight centre or something along those lines
By: Dazza - 14th January 2003 at 18:52
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-01-03 AT 06:54 PM (GMT)]EGNM, thanks for the info, I’d heard there was a F-4 Simulator somewhere, maybe I’ll get up there for a session some day soon.
Regards, Dazza.
By: wysiwyg - 14th January 2003 at 10:47
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
Another guy who joined the same day as me used to be the Army’s Lynx display pilot. He’s an absolute loony in a helo! He didn’t find it easy adapting to the 757 though.
By: EGNM - 14th January 2003 at 00:23
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
Dazza – sorry to diversify but where do you live and do you know there is a Phanotm simulator in Knaesborough, North Yorks, UK you can take sessions in – my mam looked at getting me a session on the B732 they also have – just a thought for you
By: Dazza - 13th January 2003 at 21:20
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
Thanks for that Wysiwyg, we could do with an ex-Phantom driver on the forums to regale us with heroic tales of flying Mr.Mac’s phinest…hint, hint,:P anyway thanks again for the info, much appreciated.
Regards, Dazza.
By: wysiwyg - 13th January 2003 at 20:39
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
Yes the same one. He spent a fair time in hospital afterwards but the enquiry started with an 8 hour questioning in his hospital bed the very next day. Further inspection of other Phantoms showed several other nose cones were on the point of failure. I find the term ‘a few years ago’ spans a longer period the older I get! We have a lot of ex-mil guys in my outfit. A guy who joined the same day as me banged out of a Tornado ‘a few years ago’ over the Canadian Rockies after a refuelling mid air collision.
By: Dazza - 13th January 2003 at 19:14
RE: Wysiwygs F-4 mate……..
Wysiwyg, your mate who jumped out of the nose-less Rhino on finals, was he flying 111 Sqn FG.1 XV589 because this particular Rhino’s radome opened on approach to RAF Alconbury, apparently the crew were injured, it was however more than a few years ago, 3/6/80 to be precise, I’ve seen one photo of the incident taken by a photographer who was pretty close to the flight path, in fact it was taken from a ditch he’d dived into after he realised things were going pear-shaped!, hope you can shed some light, finally humble apologies to the good people of the AW Forum for me waffling on about a military aircraft, but I tend to get a bit excited at all things Phantom shaped!:-)
Regards, Dazza.
By: Sauron - 13th January 2003 at 18:09
RE: News — AF Concorde nose fails in flight.
Media hype it maybe but considering the small number of airframes its likely the most acident/incident prone airliner to fly in.
Sauron
By: wysiwyg - 13th January 2003 at 10:54
RE: News — AF Concorde nose fails in flight.
Agreed, just media hysteria when a component fails to operate. No problem, just return to base and get it fixed.
I did some refresher training last week with a few mates. One of the guys was on finals in a Phantom a few years ago when the nose cone decided to go awol. After a couple of moments my mate realised he was starting to lose control so he banged out while the wreckage fell to the ground.
By: KabirT - 13th January 2003 at 07:26
RE: News — AF Concorde nose fails in flight.
Yea but this kind of media hype can well make Concorde grounded for good.
By: EGNM - 13th January 2003 at 00:13
RE: News — AF Concorde nose fails in flight.
nothing too serious by the sounds of it – just media hype on such a famous a/c
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January 13, 2003 at 12:05 am