SLFin AZ,
I won't agree with all of your points just because we are the same age
I will agree because I think they are well made.
On an anecdotal note, given the high stresses placed on the tires/tyres courtesy of the delta wing & the speed required to get airborne, I was always slightly surprised in CDG at the speed this projectile used to whistle past me on the taxiway as it made it's way to the holding point.
Yet again, I would suggest, a slight problem with carrying enough fuel, had perhaps a less than subtle influence on the priorities of the crew operating this ship. Maybe an over simplification of course, but an unconscious tendency to compensate for tight margins (ignoring excess baggage/squeezing extra fuel in "somehow" /exagerating taxi fuel to allow same/ taxying fast/ failing to allow for tailwind) may have become unwritten /unspoken S.O.P.'s on this fleet in this company ?
That will be a very difficult one to fish out in a court of law, even if it may have been the case.