Originally posted by Now_Then
reply to post by RichardPrice
OK clearly your fixed in your views, one question though - Why would BA and others involved spend time and money redesigning tyres, kevlar lined fuel
tanks, undercarriage components and a total redesign of the interior of the cabin (and I mean total redesign - lots of money) in the time between the
aircraft being suspended from flight and the plug actually being pulled?
Because Concorde would still earn money for several years before its planned retirement - the retirement was brought forward not because of hte crash,
but because of the events on September 11th, 2001.
9/11 caused a world wide aviation depression, and coupled with the fact that BA lost quite a few of its best customers, Concorde rapidly began to lose
money again. So it was retired.
All of that is no small thing, the tyres alone were of a bespoke design, that indicates an intent to return to flight.
The tyres are not bespoke, for the period between the crash and the retirement of Concorde, both Air France and British Airways used tyres designed
for the Airbus A380 on Concorde.
The aircraft they are looking at has been maintained in a 'near flight' condition
A lot of Concorde engineers disagree with that statement - the aircraft in question has been kept in better condition than its siblings, but its far
from 'near flight' condition - there is no maintenance chain for one, and it still requires a C and D check.
genuine interest was shown by a number of party's including Virgin airways and Dubai in not just returning Concorde to flight but actually
using it on scheduled routes.
Virgin was never realistic in its interest, it was a PR scam - they were told from the very outset by the CAA that they would never be given
certification to fly Concorde as they did not have the experience, and the fleet was old which would put a lot of reliance on experience to
maintain.
Plus Virgin offered a pittance for the fleet and its maintenance systems - well below that which BA would have got for selling it all as scrap.
No, Virgin was simply engaging in marketing - and by all indications they succeeded.
I also saw no real offers from Dubai.
The knowledge base is still present, it seems the engines may still be viable. The pieces of the puzzle are there.
Then I am sorry to say that you vastly underestimate the issues at hand - there is no knowledge base, no one was retained by either AF or BA as a
senior maintenance technician on Concorde and thus has lost their rating to work on the aircraft in such a manner.
Also, the Vulcan restoration had the benefit of receiving several complete and unused sets of engines from the manufacturers, but no such sets exist
for F-BTSD - the only engines they have are the ones on the airframe, which have not run in almost seven years (its final commercial flight ended on
June 3rd 2003).
Quite a few people vastly overestimate the level at which F-BTSD has been maintained - I fully stand by my assertion that it will not fly for 2012, if
indeed ever again.
