France and Britain debate Concorde's future

LONDON -- French and British officials are meeting to discuss the future of Concorde after it was grounded in the wake of the Air France Concorde crash outside Paris last month in which 113 people died.

Government and air safety officials from both countries are expected to attend the meeting in London on Thursday which comes a day after UK and French aviation authorities withdrew Concorde's airworthiness certificate.

The French accident agency Bureau Enquetes Accidents said the recommendation to declare the supersonic jet unairworthy was made following preliminary reports on investigations into the July 25 disaster.

The British Civil Aviation Authority said a tyre burst was the main cause of the crash after tyre fragments tore through the plane's fuel cells, triggering a fire.

GRAPHIC Anatomy of a Concorde engine Anatomy of a crash     MESSAGE BOARD Air safety     IN-DEPTH Crash of the Concorde

Air crash investigators are set to undertake the painstaking reconstruction the aircraft's left wing.

Some aviation experts have suggested the grounding could become permanent, but British Airways officials say they are to meet Concorde's manufacturers and aviation authorities in an effort to get the supersonic aircraft flying as soon as possible.

Investigators said they could not assert that the tyre blow-out, a "simple event," would not recur, and recommended that the French and British certificates of airworthiness be withdrawn until that danger was addressed.

CAA official Derek Blackall said Concordes had suffered 70 previous tyre bursts since entering service in 1976, seven of them rupturing fuel tanks in the wings.

Regulations say fuel tanks must be immune to tyre blow-outs.

All 109 people on board and four people on the ground were killed when the flight carrying German tourists to New York crashed in the village of Gonesse, in the first fatal accident involving Concorde in its 25 years of commercial flying.

Reuters contributed to this report.

France joins Britain in revoking Concorde airworthiness certificate
August 16, 2000
British Airways Concorde flights suspended
August 15, 2000
French Concorde suspension to continue
August 11, 2000
Final farewell for Concorde crash pilot
August 8, 2000
Air France confirms it did not make Concorde modification before crash
August 3, 2000
British Concordes suffered dozen tire blowouts, engine problems
July 29, 2000

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