When I opened this thread I reported that Continental Airlines (themselves) were also to be charged. I subsequently amended the post after someone queried that statement. Some hours later the BBC is still reporting that the airline itself is to be charged as well as the 5 people aforementioned.
I can't help feeling that all this is a complete waste of time and money and will do little to compensate or commiserate (with) the relatives of the passengers and crew on the ill-fated Concorde.
How many times does something fall off an arriving or departing aircraft or indeed during flight? There is always some debris on a runway. On aircraft carriers they walk the deck at least once a day to pick up bits that have fallen off aircraft. What's the situation at CdG or any other major airport? How many times a day do they physically inspect the runway and clear it of debris?
Things go wrong and bits of flying metal end up in all sorts of places - some critically significant, others not. If a tyre bursts and lumps fly upwards on any aircraft the chances are that a fuel tank could be perforated.
If there is a difference here then it was because Concorde used after-burners during take-off. With the fires of hell spewing out of the tail pipes, the addition of leaking fuel spraying into the line of fire contributed to an accident that, perhaps, no-one could have foreseen.
I hope that, if this does go to trial, Continental Airlines does not end up with a massive legal bill that was not of their asking. In these dim and dismal days for the airlines, such an unforeseen expenditure could send another good airline to the wall. As for the 5 individuals - I think to proceed against them would be massively unfair.
Last edited by Xeque; 3rd Jul 2008 at 16:10.