This topic will go on and on and on.
Some people on here would prefer to blame Air France, rather than accept the only factor that was 100% definately a direct contribution to the accident was the NON APPROVED repair by Continental, using NON APPROVED materials.
Other things MAY have been a factor (and are duly mentioned in the official report as CASUAL FACTORS), but then again they may NOT. The ONE AND ONLY factor that was definately a cause was the strip.
Now you can waffle on all you like about the fact that bits fall of airplanes all the time, and yes - they do - but the fact is that this particular bit was infinatelty more likely to have fallen off because it was NON APPROVED. It was also the wrong type of material, which made the damage to the tyre far worse than if it had been the approved material
If the strip of metal on that runway had been an approved strip, and had been installed properly, then CO would not be liable. But then again, the accident would PROBABLY not have occured, because the PROPER strip would have been made from Aluminium not Titanium, and PROBABLY wouldn't have caused the tyre to break up in the way that it did, so the fuel burst would have been far less severe (as per the previous incidents with Conc)
This is what the official joint UK AAIB and French BEA report says. This has nothing to do with AF wanting to point the finger elsewhere. Accept it - they know far more about it that you do!