Members RA1 Posted December 6, 2010 Members Share Posted December 6, 2010 It is difficult to know what the frogs are doing and why. I have to say that CO, like other American corporations, is fighting the situation with every thing they have and that does not include self revelation. It is a non-starter to charge a low level mechanic with fault when there is nothing to little to point directly to him. Please go for the top of the management if there is fault to lay. In the US there would be lots of civil lawsuits and very little accomplished, other than to pay out sums of money to the remaining families. I want my family, not dollars, so this is not sufficient but seemingly the American way of doing things. However, let me state that is is NOT uncommon for airliners to leave parts behind when they take off. This is NOT necessarily the fault of maintenance or the manufacturer or anyone or company in this loop. It is just a fact of life in the aviation industry. Let me recount a recent FEDEX situation. A 777 took off from MEM and was climbing to their enroute altitude when there were notified to return. The control tower noticed that they had left some parts on the runway. These turned out to be engine parts. The air crew was unaware of any problem. The guages were all normal. The first they knew about it was when FEDEX maintenance called them on the "bat phone" and told them to return to base (MEM). They told radar they wanted to dump fuel and were asking for a place and altitude to do so. While this was going on, the management toad in charge of 777's told them to just land over weight. The captain, rightly so, said, fuck off and continued to dump fuel and then made a normal landing with no further incident. I recount this non-event just to mention how management and others (like the FAA) get involved with what should be a routine aircrew decision and result. It is indeed unfortunate that AF lost this Concorde in this accident, not to mention the loss of life, both on the aircraft and on the ground. It might have been prevented and, most likely was an economic decision to "avoid" the things that would have prevented it. The Concorde has been and was economically doomed for quite some time before this accident and in today's fuel price context, it definitely would be a non-starter. So sad, so sorry. Just FYI. Best regards, RA1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TampaYankee Posted December 6, 2010 Members Share Posted December 6, 2010 Why do I feel like I am in a time warp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RA1 Posted December 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2010 Either because you did not read of the French court that convicted a CO mechanic as well as provided for monetary penalties for CO today regarding the Concorde accident OR you departed the earth for Mars on the evening shuttle. Best regards, RA1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TampaYankee Posted December 7, 2010 Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 Either because you did not read of the French court that convicted a CO mechanic as well as provided for monetary penalties for CO today regarding the Concorde accident OR you departed the earth for Mars on the evening shuttle. Best regards, RA1 You nailed it. Nobody told me I'd have to keep my seatbelt fastened to keep my ass from floating all over the cabin for 8 months. BTW, I hope CO isn't the carrier for Mars Express. Sometimes prolog can be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zipperzone Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 The thing I don't understand is why it took the frogs 10 FUCKING YEARS to conclude this. I know many explanation could be offered,yada, yada, yada - but let's get real..... 10 YEARS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RA1 Posted December 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 They are frogs. Best regards, RA1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiBottomBoy Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 It took ten years because the French court system is very slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TampaYankee Posted December 7, 2010 Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 The thing I don't understand is why it took the frogs 10 FUCKING YEARS to conclude this. I know many explanation could be offered,yada, yada, yada - but let's get real..... 10 YEARS? The phenomenon is called 'billable hours'. There are five times more in ten years than in two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RA1 Posted December 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 Perhaps BBB, as a resident, can shed more light on this but my take is the French system wants to assign blame. If that can include foreign nationals or companies, especially US, even better. As we all know, that is different from the US and some other systems. In the US the plaintiff wants to assign blame and the courts/laws permit it in various ways. In this day and time it seems that no one wants to accept blame which, in this case, includes CO, the mechanic, those "cleared" by the French courts, the French equivalent of the FAA, the operators of the Concorde and, of course, the manufacturers. But, the French system insists. And, it takes "forever", in this case 10 years. In the US, most likely this whole affair would have resulted in a civil suit or, if criminal charges were pressed, over and done with in months, not years. Of course, we also know a civil suit in the US can take years as the many varied interests have their day in court, etc. However, spending years and perhaps going into bankruptcy and/or spending magabucks on attorneys is far different from waiting years to see if you are going to the pokey, something the Supremes said was not constitutional in the US, speedy trial being the law, etc. I don't see justice being served in this case by the result or the time delay. But, the frogs are frogs. Again, I get zero pleasure from spectacular crashes and certainly not from the loss of life. Best regards, RA1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiBottomBoy Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Luckily I've never been involved in the French court system myself, so I can't speak from personal experience. But, a friend of mine has been caught up in it for years. About nine years ago he was running a campsite trailer park. The local government took it from him using eminent domain. He then got drunk and went and smashed up all the trailers. The french government then charged him with destruction of public property because they claimed they owned the trailers at the time. Roughly every two months he goes into court thinking it's going to be resolved one way or another. The prosecutor and his lawyer argue back and forth for a couple hours and then the judge tells them they need to research something related to the case and to come back in another month or so. This has been going on for nine years with no end in site. At this point he'd rather just do the maximum penalty of 30 days in jail to get it over with, but even when he attempted to plead guilty the judge just put off the hearing for another day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MsGuy Posted December 8, 2010 Members Share Posted December 8, 2010 At this point he'd rather just do the maximum penalty of 30 days in jail to get it over with, but even when he attempted to plead guilty the judge just put off the hearing for another day. Hahahahahahaha! Monsieur le defendant, you must understand it is not about you, it is about Justice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiBottomBoy Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
