French Prosecutor: There Was A "Direct Causal Link" Between Continental DC-10 And Accident

A French prosecutor Tuesday said there was a "direct causal link" between a titanium strip he said fell from the engine nacelle of a Continental Airlines DC-10 and the crash of an Air France Concorde at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris four years ago. It's another step toward a possible criminal indictment of Continental executives in the search for those who contributed to the accident.

The fiery July 25th, 2000 accident claimed the lives of all 109 people aboard the Concorde, as well as four others on the ground. As ANN reported last week, French prosecutors caught Continental executives by surprise when they alleged a titanium wear-strip from the engine of the DC-10 fell off the engine nacelle. About five minutes later, investigators say the Concorde rolled over the strip. The metal punctured the supersonic jetliner's tires. The tire debris punctured a fuel tank, igniting a spectacular plume of fire as the Concorde departed the runway. The aircraft went down in a parking lot near the airport.

The strip was made of titanium. French officials say the original wear-strip on the DC-10 in question was made of aluminum. That metal, they theorized, would never have punctured the Concorde's tires -- aluminum is too soft, they said. Because Continental workers apparently replaced the strip with one made of non-standard parts, prosecutor Xavier Salvat said there was a "direct causal link" between the strip's installation and the Concorde's crash.

French judge Christophe Renard is conducting a manslaughter investigation into the Concorde accident. As part of the probe, he has summoned top Continental executives to Paris to hear their testimony.

"We strongly disagree that anything that Continental did was the cause of the Concorde accident," Nick Britton, the company's United Kingdom spokesman, told Reuters. "We are confident that there is no basis for criminal action and we will defend any charges in the appropriate courts."

FMI: www.continental.com