Continental guilty over Concorde crash

CONTINENTAL Airlines and one of its mechanics were convicted in a French court of manslaughter yesterday because debris from one of its planes caused the crash of an Air France Concorde jet that killed 113 people a decade ago.

The Houston-based airline was ordered to pay Air France €1.08 million for damaging its reputation, in addition to a fine of around €200,000. The victims of the crash were mostly German tourists.

The presiding judge confirmed investigators’ long- held belief that titanium debris dropped by a Continental DC-10 onto the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport before the supersonic jet took off on July 25, 2000, was to blame. Investigators said the debris gashed the Concorde’s tire, propelling bits of rubber into the fuel tanks and sparking a fire.