Chanchao
September 19th, 2003, 08:38 AM
Passengers tell of Concorde horror (From CNN)
The 10-hour journey ended with a bus ride from Wales to London.
LONDON, England (AP) -- They took off from New York on the world's fastest
passenger jet and pulled into London's Heathrow Airport nearly half a day
later -- on a bus.
Things started to go really wrong on the $6,600-a-seat (£4,000) Concorde with
a frightening backfire over the Atlantic Ocean. Before it was over, the plane
had dropped from supersonic to subsonic speed, was running out of fuel and
made an unscheduled landing in Wales.
Even passengers who know the Concorde is about to be retired forever were
shocked by the service.
Like many people aboard Wednesday's British Airways Concorde flight, John
Crelly and his companion, Mhairi Watson, were looking forward to some serious
luxury on the world's only remaining supersonic civilian aircraft.
"The whole point of the trip was to have a fantastic holiday followed by the
experience of flying on Concorde," Crelly, a 39-year-old London businessman,
said Thursday.
But things got off to a bumpy start in New York. The departure from Kennedy
Airport was delayed for an hour by a faulty light.
Then, three-quarters of the way into the trans-Atlantic flight, the Concorde
experienced an "engine surge," meaning the flow of air through one of its
engines was disrupted, causing it to backfire.
"There was a bang like we'd hit a brick wall, and then the pilot came on
saying something like we'd lost an engine, but everything was tickety-boo,"
said Patricia Ayearst, a retired commercial artist from New York, speaking to
journalists Thursday.
Ayearst said the flight was her second on Concorde, which is to be retired
permanently in October.
"I traveled with them 20 years ago and everything went off perfectly. I
thought that I'd take this flight because it was my last chance before they
went out of service," she said.
The plane, a favored method of trans-Atlantic travel for pop stars and
business tycoons, was traveling at a supersonic speed of 1,300 mph (2,100
km/h) over the Atlantic Ocean when the engine problem occurred. The pilot
immediately slowed the plane to subsonic speed.
"Glass and plates were flying and people were screaming. It was very scary,"
said Danny Ferris, a passenger from San Francisco who was traveling on
Concorde for the first time.
"We suddenly just dropped. The air crew quickly packed everything up and told
us the captain was very busy but would speak to us shortly. Finally he came on
the line to tell us what had happened," Crelly said.
The Concorde was forced to fly at subsonic speeds for the rest of the flight,
but because that uses more fuel than supersonic speed, the plane had to land
at Cardiff International airport in Wales.
Passengers -- who had each paid at least $6,585 (£4,064) for the trip -- were
asked to board a bus for the 110-mile (177 km) drive to Heathrow Airport.
Engineers checked the Concorde after it landed in Cardiff.
Concorde, which British Airways and Air France began flying commercially in
1976, can normally travel the 3,000 miles (4,800 km) between London and New
York in just 3 hours 20 minutes, about half the time of a conventional
airliner.
Altogether, Wednesday's journey took nearly 10 hours.
British Airways said the landing had not been an emergency, the safety of the
99 passengers and six crew members was never compromised and no one was
injured. There also has been no change to other Concorde flights, the airline
said.
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.
The Concorde's problems mushroomed three years ago.
In July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris, killing all 109
people on board and four people on the ground.
Air France and British Airways, which created the airplane together,
immediately grounded their fleets of Concordes but resumed service to New York
in November 2001, after spending over $27.2 million (£16.8 million) on safety
improvements.
In April, Air France and British Airways announced their Concorde fleets would
be permanently grounded.
Air France ran its last flight in May, and British Airways plans to retire its
Concordes at the end of October, prompting some passengers to buy tickets
before the jet fades into history.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/18/uk.concorde.ap/index.html
The 10-hour journey ended with a bus ride from Wales to London.
LONDON, England (AP) -- They took off from New York on the world's fastest
passenger jet and pulled into London's Heathrow Airport nearly half a day
later -- on a bus.
Things started to go really wrong on the $6,600-a-seat (£4,000) Concorde with
a frightening backfire over the Atlantic Ocean. Before it was over, the plane
had dropped from supersonic to subsonic speed, was running out of fuel and
made an unscheduled landing in Wales.
Even passengers who know the Concorde is about to be retired forever were
shocked by the service.
Like many people aboard Wednesday's British Airways Concorde flight, John
Crelly and his companion, Mhairi Watson, were looking forward to some serious
luxury on the world's only remaining supersonic civilian aircraft.
"The whole point of the trip was to have a fantastic holiday followed by the
experience of flying on Concorde," Crelly, a 39-year-old London businessman,
said Thursday.
But things got off to a bumpy start in New York. The departure from Kennedy
Airport was delayed for an hour by a faulty light.
Then, three-quarters of the way into the trans-Atlantic flight, the Concorde
experienced an "engine surge," meaning the flow of air through one of its
engines was disrupted, causing it to backfire.
"There was a bang like we'd hit a brick wall, and then the pilot came on
saying something like we'd lost an engine, but everything was tickety-boo,"
said Patricia Ayearst, a retired commercial artist from New York, speaking to
journalists Thursday.
Ayearst said the flight was her second on Concorde, which is to be retired
permanently in October.
"I traveled with them 20 years ago and everything went off perfectly. I
thought that I'd take this flight because it was my last chance before they
went out of service," she said.
The plane, a favored method of trans-Atlantic travel for pop stars and
business tycoons, was traveling at a supersonic speed of 1,300 mph (2,100
km/h) over the Atlantic Ocean when the engine problem occurred. The pilot
immediately slowed the plane to subsonic speed.
"Glass and plates were flying and people were screaming. It was very scary,"
said Danny Ferris, a passenger from San Francisco who was traveling on
Concorde for the first time.
"We suddenly just dropped. The air crew quickly packed everything up and told
us the captain was very busy but would speak to us shortly. Finally he came on
the line to tell us what had happened," Crelly said.
The Concorde was forced to fly at subsonic speeds for the rest of the flight,
but because that uses more fuel than supersonic speed, the plane had to land
at Cardiff International airport in Wales.
Passengers -- who had each paid at least $6,585 (£4,064) for the trip -- were
asked to board a bus for the 110-mile (177 km) drive to Heathrow Airport.
Engineers checked the Concorde after it landed in Cardiff.
Concorde, which British Airways and Air France began flying commercially in
1976, can normally travel the 3,000 miles (4,800 km) between London and New
York in just 3 hours 20 minutes, about half the time of a conventional
airliner.
Altogether, Wednesday's journey took nearly 10 hours.
British Airways said the landing had not been an emergency, the safety of the
99 passengers and six crew members was never compromised and no one was
injured. There also has been no change to other Concorde flights, the airline
said.
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.
The Concorde's problems mushroomed three years ago.
In July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris, killing all 109
people on board and four people on the ground.
Air France and British Airways, which created the airplane together,
immediately grounded their fleets of Concordes but resumed service to New York
in November 2001, after spending over $27.2 million (£16.8 million) on safety
improvements.
In April, Air France and British Airways announced their Concorde fleets would
be permanently grounded.
Air France ran its last flight in May, and British Airways plans to retire its
Concordes at the end of October, prompting some passengers to buy tickets
before the jet fades into history.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/18/uk.concorde.ap/index.html