Wed, Dec 15, 2004
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."
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