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American Morning

Concorde to Take First Test Flight Since Paris Crash

Aired July 17, 2001 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin with the crucial test on the future of the world's fastest passenger jet: the Concorde. The planes were grounded after a fatal crash outside Paris nearly a year ago, you may recall. In about 20 minutes, a newly modified Concorde is scheduled to take off on a flight from London to Iceland then to Oxfordshire.

CNN's Richard Quest joins us now, live, from Heathrow Airport. He's got the details - Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, good morning.

Typical English weather. It's rainy, dull and very, very overcast. But you join me just at the right moment because Concorde is now taxiing out on to Heathrow's southbound runway. That's Concorde Alpha Foxtrot. It's been completely renovated with the new Kevlar lining inside the fuel tanks. It's also been given new wiring with armor plating and a whole new set of wheels. What's happening now is the plane is taxiing out to the end of the runway where in just 20 minute's time the aircraft will take off for the first verification flight.

Now then, you can hear the noise of all the planes going over head at the moment. Apologize for having to wear these, but it's pretty loud and noisy at the moment.

It's taken 10 months for Concorde to be refitted, reengineered and many millions of dollars as I discovered earlier this week when I visited the Concorde hangar to see the modifications under way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the pride of the British Airways fleet. For the past 10 months, engineers have literally crawled across every part of this aircraft making modifications and ensuring that the plane is safe to be put back in the air.

After the Paris crash, investigators said changes needed to be made. Concorde needed stronger tires to prevent them bursting, wiring had to be replaced and reinforced with armor to prevent sparks if they were cut and most important of all, the fuel tank had to be strengthened.

(on camera): The heart of the modifications to Concorde involve lining the fuel tanks in the middle of the plane with Kevlar, a very strong material that's used in things like bulletproof jackets. These fuel tanks have already been surrounded in Kevlar. And if there was to be another catastrophic accident, this material would hold the fuel and prevent an explosion.

(voice-over): Rebuilding this 20-year-old plane has cost more than $25 million, but British Airways says it's worthwhile. The world's wealthy are wanting to fly again on Concorde and probably they only have a few more weeks to wait.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Now, Concorde is taxiing out to the end of the runway. It will then come down the southbound runway towards us, getting to about 250 miles an hour. That's considerably faster than most normal planes traveling when they takeoff. And roughly where that plane is now, it will lift into the sky.

What happens then is Concorde heads out into the North Atlantic and then flies for three hours to simulate a journey to New York. It's not actually going to go to the United States, just simulate that particular journey. It will then come back to Britain where it will land at RAF Brize Norton, a Royal Air Force base and then the further verification flights will take place before Concorde's awarded, once again, its airworthiness certificate, Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Good deal, Richard Quest, take care of those eardrums in the meantime. We'll get back to you in just a few minutes. That should be to all -- getting underway in about 15 minutes or so. We'll have that for you, live, right here on CNN so don't go away.

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