Five To Stand Trial For Concorde Crash
French judicial officials have announced that five men will stand trial over the Air France Concorde crash in Paris eight years ago.
The men, who have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, are employees of Continental Airlines, Aerospatiale - the manufacturer of the iconic supersonic airliner - and France's civil aviation authority.
The Concorde crash, which occurred in July 2000, killed 113 people - all passengers on board the aircraft, and four people on the ground.
The aircraft caught fire on take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport when its tyres were punctured by a piece of metal lying on the runway. An accident inquiry in 2004 found that the metal strip had fallen onto the runway from a Continental DC-10, which had taken off prior to Concorde.
Those set to stand trial are: John Taylor, a mechanic from Continental, who officials allege fitted the metal strip to the DC-10; Stanley Ford, a Continental maintenance official; Henri Perrier and Jacques Herubel, both formerly of the Concorde division at Aerospatiale (now part of aerospace company EADS); and Claude Frantzen, a member of France's civil aviation authority.
Runway Debris Detection
The Concorde crash had a significant effect upon airport operations.
It placed increased attention on airports' runway debris detection programmes, and the measures made to keep airfield runways, taxiways and apron surfaces clear of foreign object damage (FOD), such as stray strips of metal, which can ingested into aircraft engines, or be lodged into tyres.
In the years since, many companies worldwide have invested in new runway debris detection technologies based on GPS software and infra-red radar systems.
FOD Clearance
Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US announced a range of trials to examine the viability of these technologies.
Meanwhile, UK company QinetiQ's Tarsier debris detection system was launched at Heathrow Airport in early June.
The companies behind these technologies say FOD clearance will be significantly improved by these new systems, and that the potential for similar circumstances that led to the Concorde crash will be reduced.
Officials said the trial of the five men into the crash will take place in 2009.
Source - Airport International's Aviation Correspondent
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