Metal strip caused Concorde crash?

PARIS, AUG. 11. French investigators looking into the crash last month of an Air France Concorde said on Thursday it was probable that a 16-inch piece of metal found on the runway caused a tyre to blow out, sending debris from the tyre through fuel tanks and triggering a fire that brought down the plane.

It was the first time the investigators had offered a probable explanation of why the jet caught fire on takeoff and crashed into a hotel north of Paris on July 25, killing 113 people. The Bureau of Accident Investigations, which is looking into the causes of the crash, said in a statement that the metal strip appeared to match the shape of a gash found in one of the plane's left-side tyres, and that it was ``probable that this piece caused the cut.'' Since the disaster 16 days ago, investigators have focused on the possibility that a tyre blew out and that its debris damaged the plane, starting the fire.

In their statement, the investigators said the bursting of the tyre while the plane was moving down the runway at about 195 mph threw up large pieces of the tyre, some of them weighing as much as nine pounds. The investigators steered clear of a final explanation, but they said that as a result of the debris from the tyre, ``one of several fuel tanks on the left wing was very rapidly damaged, with as a consequence a very important fuel leak and fire.'' Exactly how this happened had not yet been determined, they said.

In earlier statements, the investigators had said that tyre marks found on the runway after the crash showed that the aircraft had veered to the left before taking off. They also said that in addition to traces of tyre marks, pieces of a water deflector fixed above the left-side tyres and debris from a fuel tank had been found on the runway. The investigators further reported that parts of the plane's No. 5 Fuel tank were found. The Concorde is outfitted with seven fuel tanks in each wing.

The tyres on the Concorde are supplied by the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co., which manufactures them at a factory in Virginia. Last week, Goodyear officials confirmed that the company's specialists had been sent to France to assist the investigators.

The investigators have thus far been unable to determine whether the metal strip was part of the Concorde. Mr. Xavier Mulot, a captain in the French air transport police who is conducting a parallel legal investigation of the crash, said at a news conference that he could not say if the metal strip belonged to the Concorde. Last week, investigators from the Bureau of Accident Investigations said they believed the piece was not a part of the plane.

Attention has focused on the placement of the engines. A report in the British publication New Scientist, the contents of which were released on Thursday, stated that a study commissioned in 1998 by British Airways, which also flies the Concorde, revealed 55 ``significant risks'' inherent in the design of the plane's jet engines. Among the risks, the report cited the danger of uncontrolled fire and multiple engine failure.

- New York Times

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Section  : International
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