Editing Concorde (section)

===Other accidents and incidents===
[[File:G-BOAF rudder damage.jpg|thumb|alt=Rear end of aircraft G-BOAF, in BA livery with a large chunk missing. The tail-strike wheel is lowered. |Damage to Concorde rudder after an accident in 1989]]

On 12 April 1989, Concorde G-BOAF, on a chartered flight from [[Christchurch]], New Zealand, to [[Sydney]], Australia, suffered a structural failure at supersonic speed. As the aircraft was climbing and accelerating through Mach 1.7, a "thud" was heard. The crew did not notice any handling problems, and they assumed the thud they heard was a minor [[Compressor stall|engine surge]]. No further difficulty was encountered until descent through {{convert|40,000|ft|m}} at Mach 1.3, when a vibration was felt throughout the aircraft, lasting two to three minutes. Most of the upper rudder had separated from the aircraft at this point. Aircraft handling was unaffected, and the aircraft made a safe landing at Sydney. The UK's [[Air Accidents Investigation Branch]] (AAIB) concluded that the skin of the rudder had been separating from the rudder structure over a period before the accident due to moisture seepage past the [[rivet]]s in the rudder. Production staff had not followed proper procedures during an earlier modification of the rudder; the procedures were difficult to adhere to.<ref name=AAIB89 /> The aircraft was repaired and returned to service.<ref name=AAIB89 />

On 21 March 1992, G-BOAB while flying British Airways Flight 001 from London to New York, also suffered a structural failure at supersonic speed. While cruising at Mach 2, at approximately {{convert|53,000|ft|m}}, the crew heard a "thump". No difficulties in handling were noticed, and no instruments gave any irregular indications. This crew also suspected there had been a minor engine surge. One hour later, during descent and while decelerating below Mach 1.4, a sudden "severe" vibration began throughout the aircraft.<ref name=AAIB93 /> The vibration worsened when power was added to the No 2 engine. The crew shut down the No 2 engine and made a successful landing in New York, noting that increased rudder control was needed to keep the aircraft on its intended approach course. Again, the skin had separated from the structure of the rudder, which led to most of the upper rudder detaching in flight. The AAIB concluded that repair materials had leaked into the structure of the rudder during a recent repair, weakening the bond between the skin and the structure of the rudder, leading to it breaking up in flight. The large size of the repair had made it difficult to keep repair materials out of the structure, and prior to this accident, the severity of the effect of these repair materials on the structure and skin of the rudder was not appreciated.<ref name=AAIB93 />

The 2010 trial involving [[Continental Airlines]] over the crash of Flight 4590 established that from 1976 until Flight 4590 there had been 57 tyre failures involving Concordes during takeoffs, including a near-crash at [[Dulles International Airport]] on 14 June 1979 involving Air France Flight 54 where a tyre blowout pierced the plane's fuel tank and damaged a left engine and electrical cables, with the loss of two of the craft's hydraulic systems.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spectator.org/print/39656|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328150841/http://spectator.org/print/39656|url-status=dead|first=Joseph A. |last=Harriss |date=May 2010 |archive-date=28 March 2016 |title= What Price Supersonic Grandeur? |work=The American Spectator}}</ref>