Crash clouds air show

By T.S. Shankar

FARNBOROUGH (LONDON), JULY 26. If the signing of the $1.5 billion aircraft purchase deal of the Emirates Airline with the Airbus Industrie for acquiring the latest version 550 plus seater A3XX superjumbos was the highlight of the inaugural day of the week- long Farnborough air show on Monday, the Air France Concorde crash near Paris on Tuesday became the focal point of discussion about the `airworthiness' of these supersonic jets.

Aviation analysts from different parts of the world attending the show said the crash had taken place at a time when all the seven fleet of Concordes of the British Airways were grounded as the European carrier found one of the Concorde's was grounded after it had developed ``microscopic structural cracks in one of its wings''. The two-inch cracks were detected in the rear spar - deemed to be a non-critical element, and not a threat to safety - said the analysts pointing out that more recently routine ultrasonic monitoring had found that some cracks had widened and the particular Concorde aircraft of the British Airways, normally flying trans-Atlantic routes, was taken out of service. But the crash generated `heat and dust' among them.

The experts felt that investigating authorities should examine whether the aircraft had noticed a `fire' in its left- side engine, which, according to eyewitness accounts, ``fell off with a loud bursting sound'' as the pilot was trying to return to the base by taking a sharp turn.

Experts said the debris, the ground maintenance facilities and the records should be examined besides decoding the tape transcription of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower at Paris airport with the pilot to provide more clues for arriving at the possible causes of the crash.

Though the British Airways publicises globally its Concorde fleet of operation as ``arrive before you leave'', it remains to be seen whether these supersonic jets cruising in Mach speed over 60,000 ft, would be grounded for a longer period to carry out both structural and engineering checks or continue with their operation by coming out with more stringent safety checks.

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Section  : International
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