Since Concorde was brought down by hitting bits that fell off a USA owned and maintained aircraft - is it fair to use it in a discussion about AF safety?
Because the concorde had a history of exploding wheels -and a further history of wheel fragments impacting the low slung fuel tanks and causing leaks (but to this point,no fire)
That the Concorde in question was overweight and that the wind had shifted to a tailwind, extending their take off time - a prudent thought might have been to recalculate the take-off parameters. If they were not overweight and insisting of taking of in a tailwind perhaps they would have survived a loss of a tire or even an engine.
Their response to the fire is another thing.
You could be cruel and say its 'pilot error' because the Captain is always responsible, even to the point of getting out of bed that morning. Or you could be accurate and note that a few decisions made in another direction would have the Concorde flying today? That disaster was waiting to happen. In a way, it was exactly like our own shuttle disaster! For years we watched chunks of foam flail away at the heat shield on blast off - the one thing that prevented the shuttle from burning up on reentry... we played the numbers and we lost. The house always wins