wrote:
On Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:25:55 -0500, "John A. Weeks III"
wrote:


That is a totally unrealistic line of thought. There will be FOD on
the ramp or runway as some point in an airplane's operating life.
Had that small piece of metal not been on the runway the day that
the Concorde crashed, it would have been on some other runway some
other day. An airplane that is designed to crash, burn, and kill
over 100 people when it its a small piece of FOD is an aircraft that
is both flawed and an accident waiting to happen. The only curious
thing is why it took so long. In fact, a previous time that a
Concorde hit debris and punctured the fuel tanks, the aircraft managed
to survive without crashing. That is probably the true wonderment.

-john-
Agreed John but like some 747's now it was an old aircraft and should
have been taken out of service long before the crash in France the
747's will probably be run until they drop also .

I wouldn't say that. We've had DC-10's, L-1011's and 727's retired in
the past few years before they began raining from the skies - why
should things be any different for the 747?