Re: Ами аз пак... / Наука / Технически науки / Авиация

Vizh tova e ot
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/concordesafety072500.html
Ne sa bili malko incidentite..makar che samo edin e bil fatalen

"...Some Recent Troubles

Like any aircraft, the Concorde has had some trouble over the years.
In 1979, one of the tires of a British Airways Concorde burst on landing. The incident led to a design modification.
On Monday, the airline grounded one of its Concordes after detecting cracks in the wings of its seven aircraft. Officials said there was no danger to passengers.
The cracks had actually been detected months prior, but the fleet stayed in service. The one plane was grounded after the cracks were found to have worsened in it.
Because of the way the Air France Concorde crashed, with flames shooting out of an engine, experts think the plane’s wings may not have been at fault in the crash.

Engine Problems

Concordes also, in recent years, have endured some engine problems.
The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that in January, a Concorde flying from Barbados to London’s Heathrow airport had to make an emergency landing after one of its four engines failed.
Today, a British Airways spokesman clarified that the engine had not failed during that incident. Rather, a nozzle part on the engine, which also is used as a thrust reverser to slow the aircraft after landing, was not working properly, he said. The pilot shut the engine down.
In March of this year, a Concorde en route from New York’s JFK Airport to Heathrow was forced to divert to Ireland’s Shannon Airport after a suspected fuel leak prompted the pilot to shut down one of the plane’s engines. A BA spokeswoman says the shutdown was precautionary and no problems with the engine were found.
In March 1999, a Concorde returned to JFK after a fire warning on an engine and various warnings indicating smoke in the air-conditioning system coupled with crew reports of eye and throat irritation, the British paper The Sunday Times reported.
“While it is true that there have been no other crashes of a Concorde until today, there have been major maintenance problems with the airplane over time,” says ABCNEWS’ Nance. “But the point is that the redundancy built into the Concorde has worked in all cases, until today.”

Rudder Problems

In at least two incidents, the aircraft have had problems with parts of rudders breaking off.
In April 1989, part of a Concorde’s rudder broke off on a flight from New Zealand to Australia. The plane landed safely. A British agency later concluded the breakup occurred when the rudder’s skin peeled away and allowed moisture into its core.
In October 1998, a British Airways Concorde experienced a partial separation of the lower rudder during a flight over the North Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The plane continued on to its destination at JFK and landed without incident.

Cracks Reported

The Concorde’s operators have found other cracks in the aircraft’s structure.
In 1994, three outer windows of a Concorde jet shattered as the plane flew at twice the speed of sound, according to a press account. An inner pane maintained pressure and no one was injured.
In February 1989, cracks were discovered in the outer layer of a window of a Concorde jet on a trans-Atlantic flight to New York, according to another account. The pilot reduced altitude and returned the aircraft to Paris safely.

Reaching End of Duty?

Some critics say the Concorde fleet has reached the end of its years.
A report last year by The Sunday Times cited documentation indicating that “in the 12 months between August 1998 and July 1999 the aircraft, now a quarter of a century old, had 130 incidents reported, from problems with the hydraulics and engines to repeated warnings of smoke in the air-conditioning system.”"