Message posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on July 27, 2000 at 20:38:52 EST:
The tragety that was the Concorde crash shook us all that feels for aviators and aircraft. It is a reminder that we are just visitors in the air, and many errors or just one can bring us down to earth for such a horrible end. The crash will probably be attributed to loose parts or tools left in the freshly repaired engine that caused it to destructively fail and sever fuel lines or rupture the adjacent fuel tank. Whatever the reason, the damage to aviation and the desire to push the frontiers has been done. I think that is why I am facinated by AREA 51, it is one of the few vestiges of the aerospace potential that awoke in the sixties and was killed by apathy, misdirection, and bipartisan greed in the seventies, eighties, and ninties. What was the beginning as seen by the Apollo, SR-71, and the SST, was also the end. We currently have no viable space program beyond near-Earth orbiters, no way to land men on ANY planet or moon, and not even a supersonic transport. Now the Brits and French will have to justify their magnificent development to those who would finish it's demise. But it will probably not be enough, the Concorde will be lucky to fly again. We are all trapped by those who think that flying is for the birds, exploration is too costly, and all spare money a government has should be pumped into the welfare vacuum. I never though the year two thousand would find us totally Earth-bound with the bean-counters in charge, but that's what we have allowed to happen. So Vive la Concorde, Vive la aerospace, Vive la AREA 51.
In Reply to: vale Concorde (off topic) posted by Magoo on July 26, 2000 at 21:51:17 EST:
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