An official French report has blamed a metal strip that fell off another commercial airliner for the crash of a supersonic Concorde that killed 113 people near Paris four years ago.
The report, issued Tuesday said there was a direct link between the Concorde crash and the metal strip, which fell off a U.S. Continental Airlines plane. That metal fell to the airport runway and later pierced one of the Concorde's tires, sending chunks of rubber into a fuel tank and causing a fiery crash.Prosecutors said the strip was made of titanium, a harder metal than normally used. They said this violated aircraft building regulations and made the crash more likely.
The report also blamed what it called a design flaw in the supersonic jet because its fuel tanks did not have sufficient protection from debris in the event of a burst tire.
A Continental Airlines spokesman again denied any wrongdoing by his company in the crash.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
