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.

FMI: www.justice.gouv.fr/anglais/europe/aintroju.htm