Concorde supersonic test rated a success

By CHARLES ARTHUR

LONDON - One of the British Airways staff literally punched the air. "Yes! We've done it!" he exclaimed as Concorde took off from Heathrow Airport at 2.18pm yesterday. And a couple of hours later, Captain Mike Bannister, the chief pilot of BA's Concorde fleet, was happily proclaiming that the plane had "performed brilliantly" and "been fantastic".

Now, BA will attempt to get the planes running commercially once more as soon as possible – something which Captain Bannister said he was now "getting very confident" of doing.

Yesterday's flight was the first by a BA Concorde since all seven of its supersonic fleet were grounded last August after an Air France Concorde taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris crashed, killing 113 people. The aircraft's certificate of airworthiness was subsequently withdrawn by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

No paying passengers were aboard, just a group of engineers testing that modifications made to the aircraft – including fitting bulletproof lining to parts of the fuel tanks, and armour plating in the undercarriage – were not affecting its performance.

Three hours and 40 minutes later the plane, piloted by Cpt Bannister, landed again at the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, having travelled to Iceland and back on a journey replicating the speeds and distances typically required in a transatlantic trip.

The supersonic cruise to Iceland was intended to let the team assess the effect of the modifications, which have been deemed necessary to prevent a repeat of last July's disaster. Then, the Air France Concorde taking off from Charles De Gaulle airport crashed less than a minute after takeoff, because debris from a punctured tyre pierced the fuel tanks in the wing and ignited the fuel. All 109 people aboard, plus four on the ground, died in the crash. The tyre puncture was apparently caused by a stray piece of metal that had fallen off an American jet.

Yesterday, BA took no chances, and a team of four scoured the runway at Heathrow before giving the all-clear for the jet to fly again for the first time in 11 months. Air France has flown Concordes several times since the crash, but only to move them between airfields.

Yesterday's was the first supersonic test of a plane fitted with the new protection systems, which bring it up to the standard required of any commercial airliner: Civil Aviation Authority guidelines state that the puncture of a tyre should not under any circumstances be able to cause a disastrous crash like that in Paris.

Captain Bannister said that there will be another verification flight. Meanwhile the CAA will examine the data recorded in the flight, in order to decide whether to recertify the Concordes. If it does, BA will refit its other Concordes at a cost of £17m for the safety systems.

It will take until at least next year before all seven of its planes are ready. Air France has a similar system in place for its five Concordes.

- INDEPENDENT