§ Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) if any structural cracking, other than the wing cracks reported in March, has been detected in Concorde aircraft;
(2) how many hours of flying had been logged by each Concorde with wing cracks before these were discovered.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 10th July 1978; Vol. 953, c. 362], gave the following information:
222WAs I informed my hon. Friend on 10th July, cracks in aircraft structures are a common occurrence; and in the case of those found in Concorde wings they pose no threat to aircraft safety and have already been subject of corrective action to all Concordes operated by British Airways and Air France. This applies also to the cracking discovered in the air intake secondary structure of Concordes in airline service, and in the major fatigue specimen. The aircraft concerned had flown between 470 and 2,159 hours when wing cracking was detected in them.