Posted on 06/03/2010 8:38:09 PM PDT by mgstarr
An Air France Concorde was to have undergone borescope tests Saturday to determine if its four engines can be safely started in advance of a possible return to flight. The aircraft is at a French museum at Le Bourget Airport, where it was mothballed seven years ago when Air France and British Airways ended supersonic service after decades of financial losses and the spectacular crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people. There was no word at our deadline on the outcome of the tests but it's hoped the aircraft can soon be fueled and readied for taxi tests before returning to the air for heritage flights. It's hoped the aircraft can be airworthy in time for a flight over the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
(Excerpt) Read more at avweb.com ...
Prototype, yes. Production, no.
That plane reeks of the-need-for-speed just sitting there!
“it seems - and perhaps this is only a bad misconception on my part - that aeronautical innovation really slowed down during the 90’s, at least military innovation.”
You would be correct. Part of the reason was budgetary, part was that there was extreme risk aversion (relative to flight test of the 50’s & 60’s). That the programs were so expensive, they couldn’t risk a “smoking hole” which made them more expensive.
There was also a shift in risk-taking behavior in flight-test culture - and with fly-by-wire, and more complex avionics, you needed an obedient test pilot, not so much a bold test pilot.
Take the F-22 prototype “gear-up” landing.....the untold story is that this pilot wasn’t bold, but stupid (and lucky) - he did something he was told not to do so that someone could have a “burners alight over the runway” picture. We lost plenty of planes to commercials - including the XB-70 - that program ended when a chase plane taking pictures knocked off vertical stabilizers, not because the B-70 had any specific flaw.
The good news is that by removing the test pilot from the cockpit, UAV’s have spurred a faster pace of innovation of late. “risk” doesn’t involve a test pilot dying. I’m optimistic that we are entering “glory days” for aircraft innovation again as the “golden arms” cannot veto flight test progress.
Helen Thomas already has cured erections, and who wants to prolong baldness? ;-P
(/creative dyslexia)
I would have it do a fly-over and then land at the nearest airport that can handle the combo. People would flock to see it. Might even be possible to find a sponsor for the event in each area it visits.
We desperately need something to buoy our spirits. I can think of few things that would do more to make Americans proud of who we are and what we've accomplished in this ol’ world than being to have a close up look at a real shuttle that has performed so remarkably.
Somehow, I don't see this happening under Team Zero.
Surprisingly it did, it still holds the record as the only "sea craft" to break the sound barrier. And it even flew. My dad (a naval aviator) was in the audience when it made a test flight over San Diego Bay back in the early 50's. Sadly, the aircraft exploded in-flight, killing the pilot instantly.
There's one on display in Balboa Park, too. I thought that was the only one left. I'm glad that there's at least one other left and that it's on display as well.
one bad wave your done.
No. The astronauts would have been classified as 'homegrown-terrorists' for endangering the airspace of the U.S., and put on a NO FLY list.
I bet Sarah Palin could hear them coming from her house, even if she was inside.
Only in America! I can't wait to get a President to once again takes pride, well deserved, for out country and what she has brought to world over the last 200 plus years!
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