A French judge has ordered Continental Airlines and five others to stand trial for manslaughter for the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people in 2000. The Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Charles de Galle airport in Paris where it slammed into a hotel. The crash killed all 109 on the jet and four on the ground. It was destined for New York City.
French investigators determined that a strip of titanium which fell off a Continental DC-10 that took off just before the Continental shredded one of the Concorde’s tires. The debris from the blown tire then punctured the Concorde’s fuel tanks. Video footage taken at the time shows flames shooting out of the Concorde’s left wing before crashing. The French inquiry also shows that the Concorde’s fuel tanks were not protected sufficiently from shock. The inquiry alleges that the makers of the Concorde knew about the problem as far back as 1979.
The five accused include two Continental Airlines employees: John Taylor, a mechanic who fitted the “non-standard strip” onto the DC-10, and Stanley Ford, Continental’s chief of maintenance. Prosecutors say that the metal strip was build and installed “without respecting the instructions then in effect.” Ford allegedly validated this replacement.
The three others accused are two former Concorde officials Henri Perrier and Jacques Herubel, who allegedly knew about the jet’s fuel tank defect, and Claude Frantzen, director of technical services at the civil aviation authority DGAC.
Airline disasters are horrific and can be unbearable to those family members left behind. While this tragedy occurred on the other side of the Atlantic, the alleged cause could happen at any airport in this country. Though major airline disasters are thankfully few and far between in this country, the causes are often attributed to mechanical failure or something unrelated to what is going on in the jet at the time of distress. If you have lost a loved one in an aviation disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area to see if you can file a claim.
