Too many episodes of the X files perhaps???

Concorde has always had a few mionor glitches. Every airplane does. (Imagine the problems you'd have if there were only 5 747s in the world)

Before they never really got reported because it wasn't really a hot topic. Now it is.

I know you're not saying that BA intentionally did this, but I want to emphasise that this would be completely idiotic and highly counterproductive.

Is this not an inverted logic ? If there is 1 Concorde and there are 1000 747's one would expect to have a higher no. of 'failures' on the 747s.

I guess the truth is that Concorde is under the magnifying glass just at the moent, but that said there seem to have been a very highly disproportionate no. of 'failures' on Concorde flights also.

I don't think this is faulty logic. The liklihood of a failure, in the absense of a learning curve, is independent of the nummber of aircraft. Whether you have one or a thousand, each will at some point have a breakdown.

My point was that with so few Concordes doing so much flying at the moment there are fewer substitutions or alternatives. If a BA 747 went mechanical you'd probably get a replacement aircraft without disrupting too many schedulings, whereas with Concorde, given the higher servicing it needs on the ground, I'm not so sure.

Then there is the microscope effect, as you say...

hell yes! My Dad is already hatching a plan to do something involving a British Airways Concorde, though I very much doubt whether it'll happen.

Anyone fancy to hazard a guess? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

It gets better! Now CNN is billing the whole episode as a "Concorde horror," apparently because the pax had to finish the trip by *bus.*

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/eu....ap/index.html

Sorry, folks, but these days that's a few notches short of a "horror."

Now I feel ashamed, I didnt realise so many people were inconvenienced by this...

You see, I had an important dinner date in Cardiff so I flashed my silver card at the pilot and slipped him a fiver to land in CWL instead.

Its one of the many hidden perks of EC UK Silver membership. Gold card holders get the OLCI "bump" feature, but Silvers get the "£5 diversion" feature.

Anyone see the ITN news last night at 6.30pm?

They had footage from the I quote 'stricken aircraft'. Which consisted of about three seconds of film with the displays showing deceleration at Mach 1.38 thru 48,000ft. Hardly action movie footage.

A brief overview of the flight showed how the flight was a nightmare from the start. A warning on the take-off flashed and took nearly an hour to resolve, and then the engine went blah blah blah

'and Concorde limped home to Heathrow', I'd ahve thought for a limp there must be numerous bandages involved. I didn't realise a limp meant leaving on full reheats http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

right, that's it. when i get silver, i'm getting on concorde and slipping a tenner to divert to SYD

From the AP:
Steve Double, a British Airways spokesman, said the passengers would receive frequent flyer miles as compensation, but no refund. The airline's remaining Concorde flights are sold out, he said, so passengers will have to use their miles on subsonic flights.

Full story at: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...9-concorde.htm

This does not sound like much compensation to me.

Would it take longer for them to be bussed CWL-LHR than JFK-CWL on Concorde?

Idly wondering!

yes it did, poor buggers

yes it did, poor buggers

Didn't BA have a handy 747 going under maintenance at CWL or perhaps fly in a spare aircraft from Heathrow.

<Applying flameproof overalls>

Though I am sure most Concorde passengers these days feel quite at home in a bus, after flying Air2000 for the last few years. That is excluding CT-UK and Mrs CT-UK of course http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by fbgdavidson (edited 09-19-2003).]

Oi, uz at geeza wif me posh fizz?

Thanks LondonElite. I'm just trying to give folks who don't normally get it a chance to see the plane.