David Learmount/LONDON
The French Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile has cleared Air France to fly one of its Aerospatiale/British Aerospace Concordes (F-BTSD) through to 10 May to enable the airline to carry out flight tests. The tests will focus on the first on-aircraft runs of new-design Michelin radial tyres.
Meanwhile, the last planned airframe tests are scheduled for June in Toulouse, according to the Franco/British Concorde Working Group (CWG), and if they are successful, Concorde could win back its airworthiness certificates by the end of that month.
Tests of the tyres as well as fuel tank protection measures (Flight International, 13-19 March), are taking place at Istres, southern France. At its 30 March monthly meeting the CWG referred to this tyre design breakthrough as a "bonus" in its efforts to render the supersonic jet airworthy again.
At the request of the airframe manufacturers, French tyre maker Michelin has been working on a new radial ply tyre design "which would be more resistant to foreign object damage, and in the case of rupture would result in small-size debris", reports the group, adding that this had been a longer-term aim rather than a recertification target. "Development has been quicker than expected and tests so far are encouraging," says the CWG, which comprises the aircraft manufacturers, UK and French aviation authorities, accident investigators and transport department representatives.
Ongoing work to restore Concorde's airworthiness consists of fitting kevlar/aramid fuel tank liners and analysing Aerospatiale windtunnel tests to check the effect of the tank liners on fuel leaks from pierced tanks.
Further windtunnel tests in May will "ensure that no fire risk exists even in the case of some residual fuel leaks." In late May, Rolls-Royce will begin engine fuel-ingestion tests, and by June, the Centre D'Essais Aéronautiques de Toulouse will conduct "gun tests" on a lined model fuel tank.
Source: Flight International
