Thu, Sep 29, 2005
Suspected Of Involuntary Manslaughter In 2000 Paris Crash
When Henri Perrier helped bring commercial supersonic flight to
the world in 1969, he probably had no earthly idea that the
Concorde program, which he eventually came to lead, would land him
at the center of a criminal investigation into charges of
involuntary manslaughter.
Such, however, is the case.
Perrier, who was an engineer instrumental in the Concorde's
first flight program 36 years ago, was notified during
questioning Tuesday by French Magistrate Christophe Regnard that he
is now officially under investigation. Other executives from
Aerospatiale, now part of EADS, are also being questioned over the
next few weeks.
It's all part of Regnard's probe into the July 25th, 2000 crash
of an Air France Concorde shortly after it took off from Paris. All
109 people on board were killed in the fiery crash.
As Aero-News reported last March, Continental
Airlines is also under investigation in Regnard's court after it
was learned that a titanium wear strip fell from one of its DC-10s
taking off from Paris just before the Air France mishap. Court
documents allege the strip punctured a tire and that parts of the
tire were then ingested into one of the supersonic plane's engines,
causing a massive fire and, eventually, the fatal crash.
Continental has denied it was in any way responsible for the
Concorde crash.
But what Henri Perrier has to worry about is whether the reports
are true -- that Aerospatiale ignored more than 70 instances of
tire problems on Concordes between 1979 and 2000. That's what
appears to be the focus of Regnard's inquiry into Perrier's
culpability.
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