Torquila's statement has some substance to it, lets read:
From Aviation Weekly:
The Olympus 593 engine, made jointly by
Rolls-Royce of the U.K. and France’s Snecma,
is a derivative of a Bristol-Siddley engine that
was conceived for the British Vulcan bomber. It
uses 1950s engine technology. Rolls-Royce
bought Bristol-Siddley in the 1960s.
Rolls had a 60% share of the Olympus program
and was responsible for the hot section. Snecma
made only non-moving parts on the engine.
Because only 14 Concordes entered revenue
service and the Olympus partners had stockpiled
a large supply of spares, no parts have been
made for years. So although the Concorde’s
engines are carefully maintained and inspected,
there have been no improvements to their
technology. In addition, the spares are aging
even as they sit on a shelf.
As engine-related scenarios take center stage
among the list of possibilities, investigators will
want to determine if the crash was caused by a
single engine failure or whether the initial
failure damaged the adjacent powerplant.
John Wiley, a USAirways captain and training
pilot who recently “flew” British Airways’
Concorde simulator, wrote in Aviation Week’s
Show News that he doubted a single engine
failure was responsible. “It is always dangerous
to speculate about air crashes from the 2.5 hr. I
had in the simulator, (but) I doubt it. We were
able to sample the handling with various engine
failures from single engine failures at V 1 to dual
engine failure at Mach 2.0. With the V 1 engine
failure, the Concorde showed better than
average manners.”
When the captain for Monday’s flight reported
the thrust reverser problem, Air France found the
spare parts weren’t available in the parts
warehouse. But “given the technical tolerance
authorized by the manufacturer, the aircraft could
take off again without being repaired,” the
airline said today in a prepared statement. Flight
4590’s captain, however, chose to go ahead with
the repair anyway, so mechanics found the parts
on “another spare Concorde,” the airline said.
The repairs took 30 minutes.
Neither engine maker would discuss the accident
yesterday.
“We have started gathering the known facts of
the incident,” said Christopher Springham,
Rolls-Royce director of media relations. “We
will not speculate on the facts of the crash
because it’s premature. A board of inquiry has
been established, and we cannot give out any
information on the status or history of the engine
or airframe.”
Parallel investigations will be conducted in
France. The French accident investigation
bureau, or BEA, will search for the technical
causes of the accident. British accident
investigators also will join the probe under
terms of an agreement between the two
countries. The second probe will be a judicial
one that will attempt to determine who is
responsible for the accident.
Because the flight carried German tourists on a
charter flight bound for New York, investigators
from Germany and the U.S. National
Transportation
[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 07-28-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 07-28-2000).]
