Concorde to return?

BAROBA

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Interesting newsbit I came across:

http://www.save-concorde.co.uk/?p=54

The message ( if the site ever goes offline)

"It’s not a question of if anymore, but when – for the first time since Concorde’s retirement back in 2003, her engines will undergo some major testing later today in France, to determine if she can fly again.

Earlier this month, negotations at the Le Bourget Air and Space Museum near Paris, co-ordinated with our French alliance counterparts, known as Olympus593, were finalised and agreed that the famous four Rolls Royce engines of former Air France Concorde, known as “Sierra Delta” will undergo a baroscopy.

Ben Lord, Vice Chairman, said: “Today marks the most critical date in Concorde’s history since she was retired almost 7 years ago. Two members of our management team are in France this weekend to observe these amazing developments since SCG has always maintained that she could return to flight in a heritage capacity and the findings of today will hopefully go an awfully long way to proving our point. This is just the beginning but we are delighted and privileged to be working with a team of skilled Concorde engineers who both worked on the aircraft at British Airways and Air France.”

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 museum 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.

“After today, we will know exactly what needs to be done with those four engines in order to take this to the next stage of engine test runs with an objective to hopefully perform a ground taxi.”

In an ironic twist, this major development gives further weight to the distinct possibility that Concorde could fly again and 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."

Amazing news :) It would make the openings-ceremony of the Olympics Games watchable :p

Of course the Concorde will crash into the stadium killing almost all important people inside, which would start WW3 just in time to fulfill the Mayan prophecy of 2012. (This last sentence is a joke, so smile :) )
 
some time ago i read in (in a non-aviation source) that BA and AF had agreed upon the decision to retire Concorde to cut the main wing spar on the decomissioned aircraft to make sure that they could never fly again ..

..can anyone confirm that this ever was considered? If so, why did that particualr aircraft escape .. ?
 
Well, if a Vulcan was returned to flight, why not a Concorde ? obviously subsonic speeds only !
 
Archibald said:
Well, if a Vulcan was returned to flight, why not a Concorde ? obviously subsonic speeds only !

nobody cut the vulcans main spar .. :cool:

and why should the concorde be limited to subsonic - if it is airworthy it is airworthy ... the only valid reason might be lack of sufficient funds for the kerosene
 
I *hate* to be that guy... but did Concorde ever return a profit? :-\

I do love the looks of that bird though... and wouldn't mind fly in it some day.
 
Concorde never paid back the development cost, but it was a profitable operation in itself - particularly so for British Airways.

This talk about a return to flight has me saying mmmh... :-\ because the last I heard (and still hear) from Le Bourget is that the only intent to potentially start up the engines again was to do a few low-speed taxis. That's it. The Concorde return to flight has quickly become an Internet firestorm but as far as I know it is totally unsubstantiated.

--Luc
 
Machdiamond said:
Concorde never paid back the development cost, but it was a profitable operation in itself - particularly so for British Airways.

if the other orders would have come through (there were quite a number of airlines with options on the Concorde) it might even have gone a long way towards recouping the development costs .. especially so if the Concorde B (evolved Concorde) would have gotten off the ground

This talk about a return to flight has me saying mmmh... :-\ because the last I heard (and still hear) from Le Bourget is that the only intent to potentially start up the engines again was to do a few low-speed taxis. That's it. The Concorde return to flight has quickly become an Internet firestorm but as far as I know it is totally unsubstantiated.
--Luc

thats because so many people WANT it to be true
 
I read somewhere BAC expected to produce 300 Concordes during the 1960's. (Which, I assume, would more than compensate for the loss of TSR-2.) The oil crisis, Boeing 747 and economics in general got in the way though... :-\
 
From what I gather there have never been plans to fly the last Concorde, only to do taxi runs.
 
Sooo... what's the good - or, indeed, the fun - in doing taxi run with it? It's not like it's a 50 year old Lancaster bomber that just got all the repairs done. ???
 
Hammer Birchgrove said:
Sooo... what's the good - or, indeed, the fun - in doing taxi run with it?

Absolutely, I find it hard to believe that a rather limited goal like that would motivate volunteers, sponsors etc. However, ignoring for the moment any engineering challenges, I do fear what requirements any regulator/ATC body may place to allow supersonic flights again :(
 
The requirements are very simple: No sonic boom.

Those working on solutions seem to be optimistic.

Regarding taxi trials of non-flightworthy vintage jets, this is widely popular in the UK. The Handley Page Cold War bomber that became accidently airborne last year comes to mind.

--Luc
 
Hammer Birchgrove said:
I read somewhere BAC expected to produce 300 Concordes during the 1960's. (Which, I assume, would more than compensate for the loss of TSR-2.) The oil crisis, Boeing 747 and economics in general got in the way though... :-\

My mom bought some "Science et Vie" in spring 1964; there was a complete article on the SST back then. The future looked so promising ::)
 
Speaking of sonic boom mitigation, I wonder if there are plans afoot to mod the Concorde with the various types of mechanical aids and see if they can actually get it to work on something larger than a fighter plane?

Randy
 
NASA did some work in this regards a few years ago - using the Tu-144LL prototype
 
Archibald said:
Hammer Birchgrove said:
I read somewhere BAC expected to produce 300 Concordes during the 1960's. (Which, I assume, would more than compensate for the loss of TSR-2.) The oil crisis, Boeing 747 and economics in general got in the way though... :-\

My mom bought some "Science et Vie" in spring 1964; there was a complete article on the SST back then. The future looked so promising ::)
Indeed. I have a book about rockets and missiles from 1970 that says Douglas *is* planning to construct passenger rockets; only 15 minutes between New York and Paris, ticket would only cost 15 000 USD! :-\
 
"Concorde enthusiasts hope to have the jet in the air by 2019"
It will be available for charter and private events, and also execute flybys on special occasions.
By Brooks Hays | Sept. 19, 2015 at 4:23 PM

Source:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2015/09/19/Concorde-enthusiasts-hope-to-have-the-jet-in-the-air-by-2019/8881442690269/?spt=trc

LONDON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A group of Concorde lovers say they've raised enough money to purchase one of the jetliners from the retired fleet, with the goal of returning it to the skies by 2019.

The Concorde enthusiasts say they also have the investments needed to put another of the luxury supersonic jets on display in London.

The Concorde is a turbo-powered jet capable of achieving a speed of Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound. The first Concorde took to the air in 1969, the last in 2003. British Airways and Air France still co-own the fleet of 20 jets, but have no plans to put the planes back in service.

Sums of 40 million pounds (for the grounded plane) and 120 million pounds (for the airborne plane) were raised by Club Concorde, which according it its website is: "A club for all things Concorde, run by ex-Captains, ex-charterers and people passionate about Concorde, working together to keep Concorde in people's hearts and minds."

"We have been overwhelmed by the amount of enthusiasm and people wanting to invest," Paul James, the club's president, told BBC. "The support shows how much people still admire Concorde and want to see it flying again."

Restoring one of the Concordes to airworthy standards will be costly and time-instensive, but James and his fellow club members believe they'll be able to return the jet to the air before the end of the decade. It will be available for charter and private events, and also execute flybys on special occasions.

The second of the two jets will be put on display in London, possibly on a raised platform in the middle of the Thames River. There it will be a tourist attraction -- part history museum, part restaurant. The jet could be on display by 2017.
L
 
Fantastic news! To think that it used to fly over my house every day when I was a teenager, and I almost never looked up. Now I'd be thrilled to see it fly even once!
 

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