"In 2004, French investigators blamed the disaster on a strip of metal that fell on to the runway from a Continental Airlines DC-10. This was found to have burst the Concorde's tyres, which ruptured the plane's fuel tanks as they broke up."

They don't check runways for debris before takeoff?

The five men charged include Continental mechanic John Taylor and Stanley Ford, the chief of maintenance. Both are being held responsible for the fitting of the non-standard metal strip to the DC-10.

Sully, apparently not.

They don't check runways for debris before takeoff?

Posted by Sully at 2008-07-03 02:22 PM

You're being facetious right?

At O'Hare International, runway 14R/24L is 13000 feet long, 200 feet wide. During peak times, planes depart or arrive (depending on the configuration of the airport at the time), every minute.

With that kind of traffic load, there's no way anyone can check the runways to see if some debris is on them.

"At O'Hare International, runway 14R/24L is 13000 feet long, 200 feet wide. During peak times, planes depart or arrive (depending on the configuration of the airport at the time), every minute.

With that kind of traffic load, there's no way anyone can check the runways to see if some debris is on them.
"

Huge respect is paid to FODs, which is the term for runway debris. Most of the strips I've landed on are smaller, but a few have been testing ground for some automated debris detection devices that utilize radar and infrared to check for debris. they are damn sophisticated. They can locate a WORM, for goodness sakes-- I'm not joking.

I think they have one over in ORD if I'm not mistaken.

What the hell is a non standard strip of metal?

Non Standard Strip of metal would be a metal grade that is not standard on a certain component piece. Like if calls for a certain metal with a certain alloy in it and they use a different type it would be a non standard piece of metal.

Larry

Larry, where do you get your information?

Take the skin of an airplane. Let's say it calls for Aircraft grade aluminum and I used regular sheet metal. That type of thing.

Larry

I took 2 Years of Metal shop and 1 Year of machine shop Moneywar.

Larry

Larry, for the most part there is only two types of metal used, 2024-t3 or 7075-t6.

The exterior is t3 but t6 is a substitute. Anything to do with aircraft would be hard to get other than this.

And if they knew it fell off the continental DC-10 why would they let the concorde take off.

Didn't we have that idiot Bob go on and on about jet fuel and how it wouldn't burn on its own?

And if they knew it fell off the continental DC-10 why would they let the concorde take off.

It was found after the accident and tracked back to the DC-10. I imagine somebody would report a piece of metal missing when it landed wherever.

France... What state is that?

And if they knew it fell off the continental DC-10 why would they let the concorde take off.

An employee of the airline industry can't figure this out? C'mon! I, as a layman have it figured out. It wasn't until after the crash that the part was found and the DC-10 was later found to be missing it.

I was training every six months at FlightSafety back when this happened. In class my instructor pointed out that tire blowouts had ruptured Concorde fuel tanks before on four different occasions and that the FAA had written letters to the consortium about it. The frogs will never admit it.

Took my last trip to Europe on Concorde. Finally! A short trip over the Atlantic! And what a takeoff!

So Continental Airlines takes the wrap for poor design. A very thin wet wing with a high speed revolving wheel directly below. If you read the data it's amazing they were so lucky for so long. Any word on prosecuting the designers for faulty design? Note the beefed up the underside of the wing and burst-resistant tires on after the incident.

"So Continental Airlines takes the wrap for poor design."

What's French for scapegoat?

What's French for scapegoat?

le Rumsfeld?