LATEST NEWS FROM FILTON!
Ben Lord of the Save Concorde Group
01 September 2010
SAVE OUR SPEEDBIRD: EMERGENCY PUBLIC MEETING INTO CONCORDE CLOSURE
As part of the emergency campaign, SOS: Save Our Speedbird, the Save Concorde Group will be hosting a public meeting into the imminent closure of the Concorde at Filton Museum.
The meeting will take place on Saturday 4th September at 5pm at the Filton Leisure Centre, Elm Park, Filton. Representatives from the Concorde Trust, Airbus, British Airways and the Bristol Aero Collection have been formally invited to take part in this opportunity for the public to show their support in our campaign to keep Concorde alive in Bristol.
Ben Lord, Chairman of Save Concorde Group said “This meeting is incredibly important and long overdue. It is for the people of Bristol and those connected to Concorde to come and air their views. We’re delighted to be welcoming the MP for Filton, Jack Lopresti, who will be joining us on Saturday in support of this and we hope as many of the other invited officials are able to make it.”
Ben Lord continues “Allegedly, Airbus has confirmed that it intends to remove Concorde G-BOAF (216) from the public in order to relocate the aircraft to one of its Brabazon hangars at Filton for “essential maintenance”. Airbus remain uncooperative to any calls from ourselves, the media or even politicians who have taken an interest in supporting this story, to explain exactly what’s happening to the aircraft and what it’s future is. The frustrating factor in all of this is that the volunteers that have spent tireless amounts of hours showing the public around the attraction, previously worked on Concorde and are able to judge first hand the condition of the aircraft and they do not see why the plane needs to be removed from public display. It therefore makes no sense at all, that Airbus intends to spend £250,000 towards removing the plane from public display, when it is alleged they are closing the centre down in order to save costs! One of the central tenets of the retirement of the Concorde fleet was that at least the airframes would be placed on public display for many years to come and in fact a contractual agreement is in place between BA and Airbus ensuring that Alpha Foxtrot is on display until 2013 by which point a permanent home should be available for her to be placed undercover.”
The Save Concorde Group looks forward to seeing as many people as possible on Saturday.With the situation still remaining uncertain as to the future of Concorde, and the prospect of the current visitor centre being dismantled at the end of October, it is important this meeting is held in order to address the many points which continue to be unanswered.
August 3rd 2010
It’s official, Concorde 216 , G-BOAF, will be removed from public display, weekend commencing 29th October. There are no plans in place for any future display to the public, of this aircraft .
Concorde crash remembered
Jul 26, 2010
GONESSE – HUNDREDS of people attended sombre ceremonies on Sunday near the site of the Paris Concorde crash, marking the 10th anniversary of the disaster which killed 113 people.
As planes droned overhead on the flight path to nearby Charles de Gaulle airport, two separate ceremonies were held in the suburb of Gonesse where the supersonic Air France jet plunged to Earth. The first ceremony drew around 70 people to a memorial close to the accident site, where local residents and officials along with a few Air France employees observed a minute’s silence.
‘That day, that minute, will remain seared into our memories because it was an event that was beyond our imagination,’ said local mayor Jean-Pierre Blazy. The second ceremony later on Sunday was attended by around 150 people including families of the crash victims – most of whom were Germans on a package tour – and Air France officials. Each of them laid a rose on the memorial.
Mr Blazy said at the first ceremony that he hoped a trial over the crash – in which the verdict is due on December 6 – would bring justice but expressed fears that it could be a whitewash in which ‘no one is held responsible.’ US company Continental Airlines is the main defendant along with two of its employees and three French former aviation officials. A piece of metal that fell from a Continental plane has been blamed for causing the accident.
Jean-Cyril Spinetta, president of the Air France board of directors, said at the second service that the mayor’s comments on the trial were ‘upsetting’ and urged him to keep silent on the matter until the verdict.
Flight 4590 to New York smashed into a hotel in a ball of fire just after take-off from Charles de Gaulle, killing 100 passengers and nine crew on board and four people on the ground.
Concerns over the future of Concorde G-BOAF at Filton!
June 2010
News has been broken to the Bristol Aero Collection, who’s volunteers give up their time to show visitors around this great aircraft, that from the end of September 2010, the visitor centre at Filton will be closed, and disposed of, and the aircraft will be removed from public view, and quietly ‘disposed of’ by AIRBUS. Concorde 216, G-BOAF, which has been lovingly cared for and displayed for the last six and half years is now under threat of the scrap-man.
Allegedly it has ‘cost’ AIRBUS just over £1 million to ‘care’ for Alpha Fox over the last 6 years….. (Dam good value I would say) but it’s only going to cost a further £250,000 to dispose of the airframe….
Airbus UK, who are the official guardian’s of G-BOAF, promised BA it would be under cover by the end of 2010. As there fabled museum at Cribs causeway is still just a dream, Airbus have no option but to store the aircraft in the Brabazon Hangar pending resolution of the proper museum issues. But this hanger in owned by BAe Systems and is out to bids, concerning it’s future.
Could Concorde fly again? Click on the links below…
30th May 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8712806.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_7989000/7989230.stm
27th May 2001
Members of the save Concorde group have arrived in Paris to attend the boroscope examination which will take place tomorrow at the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget. As well as Olympus 593 and the staff from the museum, there will be representatives from Aeroports de Paris and Channel 5, the national French TV channel.
The museum has also been promised free materials and technical support – so Concorde is finally on its way!
Katie John, Secretary, Save Concorde Group
Concorde man faces suspended sentence over Paris crash
Friday, 21 May 2010
French prosecutors are seeking a two-year suspended jail sentence for the ex-head of the Concorde programme Henri Perrier over the July 2000 crash outside Paris.
The prosecution is also seeking a fine of 175,000 euros (£150,00; $220,000) against Continental Airlines in the US.
The Air France Concorde crashed soon after take-off, after hitting a metal strip from a Continental jet that had taken off earlier.
The crash killed 113 people.
Continental Airlines and five individuals are on trial for manslaughter in France.
Mr Perrier, 80, is a former head of the Concorde division at Aerospatiale, now part of the aerospace company EADS.
He was accused at the trial of ignoring warning signs from a string of incidents on Concorde planes before the accident.
He has denied the charges.
Latest News from Olympus 593 and the Save Concorde Group
18th May 2010
The health check of Concorde begins …
Under the agreement established between the Air Museum and the association Olympus593, a first comprehensive review of the Concorde engines registered Sierra Delta, will begin.
Like what would happen to a living being, a boroscope or if you prefer the French term, endoscopy of the engines will be in the HALL CONCORDE all day on Saturday, May 29, 2010 (10am to 17h).
Individuals qualified to perform this delicate operation are all technicians of the former Concorde and maintenance team and form the core of the dynamic association Olympus593.
From England especially for this operation, a delegation of the Save Concorde Group, accompanied by a English support engineer, will also be present.
Latest News from the Save Concorde Group
11th May 2010
Latest information on F-BTSD….. The engine relight programme is very much up and running as I speak. As you know, before it is possible to do anything as “radical” as inject fuel again, we have to perform important baseline tests/investigations and address any technical issues that may arise before we proceed.
This may be a long process but it is important to make sure (through the expert engineers in charge of the programme) that the safety of the airframe is the most important priority.
As soon as the initial investigations are complete – which should hopefully be before the end of May, I will make the announcements both on here and more formally on the SCG website www.save-concorde.co.uk
Dave Jones. Comms manager, SCG
Continental employee testifies at Concorde trial
March 24th 2010
PONTOISE, France
A retired Continental Airlines maintenance chief defended himself Tuesday from charges that he was partly responsible for the crash of a Concorde supersonic jet a decade ago.
Continental Airlines, Inc., and two of its employees are among those on trial for manslaughter in the fiery July 25, 2000, crash of the Concorde, which plunged into a hotel soon after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport, killing all 109 people aboard and four on the ground.
The Houston-based carrier is on trial because investigators say a Continental DC-10 dropped a metal strip onto the runway before the Air France Concorde took off. They say the runway debris gashed the plane’s tire, sending pieces of rubber into the fuel tanks and sparking a fire.
Continental denies any responsibility, saying a fire broke out on the Concorde before the plane reached the runway debris.
A Continental mechanic is accused of violating guidelines by replacing the DC-10’s wear strip with titanium instead of a softer metal. John Taylor, 41, is not expected in France for the trial.
His one-time supervisor, 70-year-old retired maintenance chief Stanley Ford, is also facing manslaughter charges for validating the strip’s installation. Ford argued Tuesday in court that his job was mainly administrative.
Asked if he was expected to double-check the quality of workers’ repairs, Ford said he had to have confidence in mechanics’ ability to perform their jobs.
The prosecution also accuses three French officials of underestimating trouble spots on the Concorde itself, and they are also charged with manslaughter.
The trial is expected to last through May. Its main goal is to assign responsibility; most of the victims’ families received settlements years ago.
Latest from the Save Concorde Group concerning Concorde Sierra Delta, in Paris
March 14th 2010
CONCORDE’S ENGINES TO BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE
It’s not a question of if anymore, but when – for the first time since Concorde’s retirement back in 2003, her engines will be bursting back to life.
Following a recent meeting at the Le Bourget Air and Space Museum in France, with our French alliance counterparts, known as Olympus593, negotiations were finalised and agreed that the engines of former Air France Concorde, known as “Sierra Delta” will be powered up.
SCG statement: “This is absolutely fantastic news and very exciting. We have always maintained, with the benefit of our experienced engineers, that Concorde could have their engines restarted and this has been proven thanks to the shared belief that our colleagues in France have. Furthermore, this brings us a step further to the possibility of Concorde being returned to the skies in our proposed heritage capacity. Having previously been told in so many directions none of this was possible, it strongly supports our ongoing belief that where there is the will, there will always be a way to success”
This latest major development has been made thanks to the excellent advantages our colleagues across the Channel have over us in the UK – largely down to the museum in France owning their airframe. Given this support within France, which is combined with that of our support network here in the UK, it is highly probable that this French Concorde, could be the first of the original airframes to once again become an aircraft and not a technological relic. Perhaps the ability to perform a ground taxi, or who knows, even one day to fly would be the next possible stages. SCG is using all their resources to assist Olympus 593 and the team in France at this point and this is moving almost supersonically. The possibility to hear those fine engines from Rolls-Royce fire up again will be simply magical.
In an ironic twist, this major development gives further weight to the distinct possibility that Concorde could feature in the opening ceremony of the greatest event on the planet – the 2012 London Olympics.
Whilst efforts to return one of the British Airways Concorde’s to the skies goes on undiminished, the sight of a any Concorde back in the skies will no doubt strengthen the resolve of the British people, to allow us to return one of the BA planes to flight and thus satisfy the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the British public.
Olympus 593 state that they are only working towards Return to Taxi RTT, & not Return to Flight RTF