Concorde - Tapa dura

When the Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris in July 2000, it seemed as though the final and damning chapter had been written in the golden story of the world's most famous airliner. The chilling images beamed around the world of the aircraft in its final death throes have left an indelible stain on a hitherto untarnished safety record. As the former British chief test pilot, Brian Trubshaw's close association with Concorde has placed him in the unique position of being able to write the inside story of this world-famous supersonic passenger jet. Because of his detailed knowledge of Concorde, Brian has been closely involved in the exhaustive investigations into the recent tragedy. He piloted the world's first (and only) supersonic passenger transport aircraft on its maiden flight from Filton in 1969, and remained a key member of the Concorde programme after the aircraft entered airline service in 1976. In this new and updated edition of his best-selling book, Brian gives his unvarnished opinions about the causes of the Paris crash, the resulting court of enquiry and the hopes for Concorde returning to airline service this year. The author's close association with Concorde and the selection of 200 photographs and illustrations (c100 in colour) have made this the best-illustrated and most important book yet published on this aircraft.

BRIAN TRUBSHAW was chief test pilot of the British prototype Concorde 002 during its development phase. He was regarded as one of Britain's most famous names in aviation. As test pilot for Vickers-Armstrongs he test flew the Viscount, the Valiant, the VC10 and Super VC10. He test flew the 1-11 for the British Aircraft Corporation before reaching the pinnacle of his career as Chief Test Pilot for of Concorde. In 1980 he became Director and General Manager of Filton until he retired in 1986, but remained on the board of the Civil Aviation Authority, until his death in 2001.