Manslaughter case against former head of Concorde programme

French authorities have opened a manslaughter case against the former head of the Concorde programme in connection with a deadly crash of the supersonic jet, judicial officials said today.

Henri Perrier, chief engineer on the plane’s first test flight in 1969, was placed under investigation – a step short of formal charges – late yesterday for manslaughter and involuntary injury as part of an investigation of the 2000 crash at near a Paris airport that killed 113 people.