Heritage Concorde

Videos, pictures and reports from Le Bourget

 

The health check of Concorde begins …

Under an agreement established between the Air Museum at Le Bourget, Paris, and the French association Olympus593. Engineers have carried out the first comprehensive review of  Concorde “Sierra Delta’s” engines.

Like what would happen to a living being, a boroscope or if you prefer the French term, endoscopy of the engines was  carried out in the HALL CONCORDE at the museum, during the whole day of Saturday, May 29th  2010 (10am to 5pm).

The individuals qualified to perform this delicate operation were all technicians of the former Concorde and maintenance teams and form the core of the dynamic association Olympus593.

From England there was  a delegation of the Save Concorde Group present during this operation, Stephen de Sausmarez and Katie John. Save Concorde Group are supporting the efforts in Le Bourget, but this is a Olympus 593 project. Stephen de Sausmarez is also the owner of Heritage Concorde website.

 

 

Here are some of the latest pictures and video taken by Stephen de Sausmarez who was there on behalf of Save Concorde Group.

(The copyright of these pictures and video belongs to  Heritage Concorde)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

My small account of this major event in the history of Concorde

 

I travelled to Le Bourget with Katie John, we are both members of the management of “Save Concorde Group”. As we sat down to dinner on the evening before this major event, we all knew that something amazing was about to happen, we could feel it in the air, everyone was on a high. We were joined that evening by  Frédéric Pinlet, head of Olympus 593 and Géraldine geoffroy, also from the Olympus 593 group.

As we enjoyed our super meal that evening at the Hotel, Fred’s phone didn’t stop ringing all evening, it was the French media, something big was about to take place,they knew it and so did we. The impact of this event was starting to hit home to us all, and we were going to be part of this, both myself and Katie felt so lucky, apart from that, it would take place on Katie’s birthday.

We were blessed with a Saturday morning that was so sunny, and Pascal Touzeau, the Air France Engineer and former Concorde Engineer joined us for breakfast. As we left our hotel  together, and headed for Le Bourget, I can’t tell you how we were all feeling that morning, there are no words.

But for me the biggest moment came  during the engine check, when Pascal called me over to have a look into the Borescope, and what I saw will never leave me as long as I live. The first thing I saw was an orange coloured tube, and as Pascal moved the Borescope further into the engine, I then saw blackness and then out of this blackness came a silver thing, within one second I knew what it was that I was looking at, a beautiful engine blade within the heart of engine number 4, the heart of Concorde.   I couldn’t believe my luck, yes, little old me, Stephen de Sausmarez,  became the first British man to see into the heart of Concorde engine since 2003. Then came the TV interviews in France, they wanted to know what I could see, and how it felt to see such amazing sight, to be honest I was feeling like a child who had just got all his Christmas gifts at once, I felt like jumping up and down with joy, but all I showed was a very big smile followed by the words ‘Gosh.., Wow’. To see such a sight within the dark heart of Concorde, closed off from the world for nearly seven years, is truly a wonderful thing for any Concorde fan.

 

 

 

As Pascal checked further, he found that her engine was in super condition. This is only the first step towards our goals at Save Concorde Group & Olympus 593, but it is a major jump forward and the most amazing day of my life so far. I hope that British Airways now will take note, as this will bring about major PR  for Le Bourget, something that  British Airways  in fact need.

 

Stephen de Sausmarez

Save Concorde Group

Contact – heritageconcorde@btinternet.com

INITIAL BOROSCOPE EXAMINATION ON F-BTSD – PASCAL TOUZEAU

Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget, 29 May 2010

 

Notes from the days events….

Pascal explained about the sets of microfiches that he would be using during the boroscope exam. These microfiches consisted of the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM), the Illustrated Parts Catalogue (IPC), and a set of IPC microfiches specifically for the Olympus engine.

Pascal gave a preliminary talk about how to open the engine cowling.

He then described how to use the microfiche machine.

Pascal and Fred Pinlet of Olympus593 demonstrated how to open and close the engine cowling.

Then Pascal explained to the media and audience how the boroscope worked and showed them the eyepiece.

Pascal and Fred Pinlet re-opened the engine cowling. Pascal explained how the engines and air intakes worked, and how the engines were removed for maintenance.

Pascal explained what the boroscopy was for – to assess the interior of the engine and to verify, visually and manually, the condition of the engine.

First, Pascal lowered the [dipstick - need to verify with Pascal what this instrument was] to check the level of oil in the engine. He also described how to turn the engine by hand.

Pascal explained how the engines would be started before flight.

Pascal then showed the instrument used for hand-turning the engine. Then he turned the engine for the first time since 2003.

Pascal described some of his good and bad memories. Bad experiences included being out in all weathers (cold, rain, sun). Good memories included facing the challenge of a technical issue shortly before take-off and managing to fix it quickly and effectively.

Pascal explained how he would be using the printed manual to go through his step-by-step viewing of the engine. He showed the page of the manual with steps 1 to 7 of the examination.

Pascal showed a small component that he had to fit to each point before he could insert the boroscope into the engine, otherwise there would be a loss of air that would interfere with the function of the engine.

Pascal said he would start by looking for [cracks in the compressor blades - “les crics dans les aillettes”].

Pascal inserted the boroscope at the first examination point. He examined the blades, then invited Fred Pinlet , Steve de Sausmarez of Heritage Concorde and others to have a look.

Then Pascal viewed the blades while Fred hand-turned the engine.

Fred took photographs of the view through the boroscope, then Fred and Pascal used an endoscopic video camera to view the blades.

After lunch, Pascal viewed the compressor while Fred turned the engine again.

Then Pascal put Fred’s endoscopic video camera to the eyepiece of the boroscope.

Pascal progressed from examination stage 1 to stage 3. If he had found a problem at stage 3, he would have had to go back to stage 2. As it happens, stage 3 was OK.

Then Pascal went to stage 5 but was unable to open the insertion point. He went back to stage 4, but it took him a long time to open the point at stage 5. He will report this finding.

Pascal worked on Concorde for 13 years.

M. Jean-Pierre Laurans, senior ground engineer, was in charge of maintenance for Concorde and worked on the aircraft for 28 years – the whole of Concorde’s life in service.

Pascal said that about 10 engineers have agreed to support and help with the boroscopy.

In all, Pascal completed 4 stages of the boroscopy today: stages 1, 3, 4 and 5.

Pascal saw today as a publicity and communications event as much as a technical exercise.

Steve de Sausmarez asked when the boroscopy would continue. Pascal did not know. He said the team would have to agree with the museum when to do it.

There has been good feedback from this event today.

After the engine checks, it will be necessary to check the systems, fire extinguishers, and other elements – this will be more difficult than what Pascal did today.

Mathieu told us that M Laurans said the engines were in very good condition. (The aircraft had been delivered to MAE just after a major check.)

A brief, factual report of this event at Le Bourget, May 29th 2010

The Concorde engine boroscopic inspection at Le Bourget was wonderful to see and yet there have been a lot of totally exaggerated press releases since May 29^th 2010.

I feel that it’s time to at last sit down and write my own brief, factual report concerning what I witnessed as a well-informed bystander at Le Bourget.

One thing that I must state is that at no time did Olympus 593 ever state to myself or anyone else, that this would lead to a Return to Flight (RTF); they only spoke about a Return to Taxi (RTT). So any press releases concerning this being the start of a return to flight are much exaggerated, and have no relevance to the events of May 29^th at Le Bourget, that I witnessed.

But I guess any inspection of this type carried out on an Olympus 593 engine could be considered as a step in the right direction concerning “Return to Flight”. Also the hopes of many supporters, of Concorde flying again, rested on this inspection bringing the right results.

However, this inspection, from my viewpoint was the very beginning of what will be a major task requiring a full team of engineers to complete, so it appeared to be more of a demonstration than an inspection of the type that was carried out during the service life of Concorde. This was the case as the team needed, was not yet in place at this stage, and it will require a team of engineers due to the scale of the task ahead. It was merely a sort of demonstration of the procedures that would be required, and very importantly in front of the TV cameras for the world to witness. I can understand the reasons behind this, as funds and support would be required in the future to allow the project to move forward. And the media will have to play a very important role in this project. But this comment is in no way meant to undermine the amazing work that took place on this day at Le Bourget

I have so many dreams concerning Concorde flying again and to see it taxi. But putting those dreams to one side for a moment, I believe this to be a serious task and operation, with a lot of major work ahead. There will be so many problems to overcome, so many systems to be brought back into service, but with the money, the will and the right team in place, it can be achieved. But we must remember that it has nothing to do with dreams or hopes, and it has to be and will I believe be handled in a professional way.

You must remember that to perform such a professional inspection of the engines, similar to the inspections that were carried out in the past by British Airways and Air France, will require a team of engineers and equipment that is not available at this time. It would also require an order of works, schedules, test sheets, record keeping and so on. None of these things were present at this stage (but remember this was only day one), so the task was made more difficult to carry out. But when this project moves forward to the next stage, then these are some of the matters that will need to be addressed, and I trust that they will be by Olympus 593.

Due to the importance of the media present at Le Bourget, and to allow the TV interviews and other filming to take place, the demonstration or operation didn’t start until very late in the day, so there was no real chances to carry out the full inspection by the book, as it were, since there are over 800 engine blades inside the Olympus 593 Concorde engine. Only a few were checked due to the lack of time, and during the whole demonstration the work had to be stopped often because of the filming and interviews, which also took up time. But Olympus 593 have stated that as the work proceeds forward, the press will play a smaller part in this and more time will be directed towards the inspection.

There has been no date set, or even talked about, concerning the completion of the boroscopic inspection, which was the first stage and has been left uncompleted at this stage. It was only carried out on engine number 4. I was informed that the next step to be carried out was to complete the inspection, with more engineers in place, in a more low profile type of operation, without the press being present.

This doesn’t seem to be the case now; it appears that the next steps that the group are moving ahead with are to be two further operations of a different type, that are to be carried out on Concorde ‘Sierra Delta’ sometime during 2010; these are to be electrical testing during the summer and a dry run of the engines later in the year, I am sure that the world will look forward to these major events, and the completion on the boroscopic inspection.

This leads me to have some concerns about the planned re-light date of 2011; will this still be possible with this type of slow progress??? I do not feel this to be possible, but I am not an engineer, and with a team of engineers in place, I wonder at what speed the whole project can move forward at.

Further work will needed to be carried out under the direction of an Engineering Manager. Also at some point, work on the engines and other systems not directly part of the engines but required for return to taxi, will require a team of engineers and an order of works, schedules, test sheets, record keeping, and so on from Airbus SAS and Rolls Royce. This will be amazing to see, and be apart of!

I trust that the French group “Olympus 593” will have all the necessary requirements in place when the serious professional inspection work starts in the near future. I understand that there are a team of British former Concorde engineers waiting in the wings to fly to Paris.

I look forward to the serious professional inspection work starting at Le Bourget to the delight of all Concorde Fans around the world!

Stephen Frederic de Sausmarez

President of Heritage Concorde

Copyright  Heritage Concorde June 2010