Continental Airlines Responsible for Concorde Crash in 2000 - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11923556[/url] [quote]It has also been ordered to pay 1m euros to the jet's operator Air France. A Continental mechanic, John Taylor, was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence over the crash. Continental has said it will appeal, saying the verdict "only protects French interests". Another airline operative, Stanley Ford, and three French officials were cleared. The Concorde caught fire shortly after take-off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people. The court ruled that the crash was caused by a piece of metal left on the runway after falling from a Continental jet. Investigators said this caused a tyre-burst in the jet, which in turn ruptured a fuel tank. The judge in the case confirmed investigators' findings that titanium debris dropped by a Continental DC-10 onto the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport before the Concorde took off was to blame. John Taylor should not have used titanium parts to make repairs on the DC-10 because the metal was known to be too dangerous for aeroplane tyres, and he should have used a softer metal, aluminium, instead, the court found. Continental had disputed this interpretation, saying the airliner, operated by Air France, was already in flames before it hit the small piece of titanium. "While we agree with the court's decision that Stanley Ford was innocent of the charges he faced and we share his relief that his decade-long nightmare is over, we strongly disagree with the court's verdict regarding Continental Airlines and John Taylor and will of course appeal this absurd finding," a UK-based Continental spokesman said in a statement. "Portraying the metal strip as the cause of the accident, and Continental and one of its employees as the sole guilty parties, shows the determination of the French authorities to shift attention and blame away from Air France, which was government-owned at the time and operated and maintained the aircraft, as well as from the French authorities responsible for the Concorde's airworthiness and safety." Pointing the finger The families of most victims were compensated years ago, so financial claims were not the trial's focus, but apportioning blame was, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris. Most of the passengers were German tourists heading to New York to join a luxury cruise to the Caribbean. Nine French crew members and four hotel workers also died. Following Monday's verdict, Air France, which paid out 100m euros in compensation to victims' families, may decide to seek to reclaim some of that money from the US company. There is a separate court case taking place over economic compensation for the crash.[/quote] Took them ten years to figure out who was at fault?

[quote] Continental had disputed this interpretation, saying the airliner, operated by Air France, was already in flames before it hit the small piece of titanium.[/quote]Somehow I have a hard time believing that.

So a great jet liner was taken out of service forever, by some person failing to do his job. Congrats.

I thought it was obvious.

[QUOTE=Zambies!;26523988]So a great jet liner was taken out of service forever, by some person failing to do his job. Congrats.[/QUOTE] It also had to do with the ridiculously high maintenance costs.

Sure Concorde was fast, but it wasn't the most comfortable of planes. These days people want comfort and luxury and I don't blame them. Why rush when you can have a great time in first class in your own little first class pod with tv/internet if you need to work you still can.

[QUOTE=Boeing787;26524080]Sure Concorde was fast, but it wasn't the most comfortable of planes. These days people want comfort and luxury and I don't blame them. Why rush when you can have a great time in first class in your own little first class pod with tv/internet if you need to work you still can.[/QUOTE] It could do London to NYC in 3 hours. You weren't on it long. Not like you're flying from NYC to Singapore...

[QUOTE=faze;26523923]Took them ten years to figure out who was at fault?[/QUOTE] No, it took them 10 years to prosecute someone. They knew pretty much after the initial investigation into the crash what caused it.

Wait, so a metal strip that apparently could have been fine if it were aluminium instead of titanium falls off of a plane due to bad maintennance, which could have happened to any other plane at any time at any airport, and because it just happens to fall into the path of a tyre on a famous plane and it's apparently this guy's fault? Feel really sorry for him, they should at least go and track down the billions of other mechanics who have caused worse through bad maintennance. As long as there are planes there will be competition, there will be rushed jobs, and there will be big accidents. This was all just a result of the jet-rush, trying to give a 20-or-so year old plane a full on safety check and making absolutely sure it was aluminium while other people clamber all over it in 25 minutes is hard I reckon. Give the guy a break, it happened 20 years ago! Anyways, concorde was pretty much doomed from the start. £20,00 average tickets, ridiculous running costs, a bad history through misconceptions due to the russian Tupolev 104 which looked nearly identical to concorde and crashed many, many times, including during an airshow demonstration due to operating mistakes and one hell of a silly pilot, this was hardly the start of the downfall. It was just the final nail in the coffin for a plane with so much bad press people hardly used it anymore.

[QUOTE=99% More Fail;26526087]Wait, so a metal strip that apparently could have been fine if it were aluminium instead of titanium falls off of a plane due to bad maintennance, which could have happened to any other plane at any time at any airport, and because it just happens to fall into the path of a tyre on a famous plane and it's apparently this guy's fault? Feel really sorry for him, they should at least go and track down the billions of other mechanics who have caused worse through bad maintennance. As long as there are planes there will be competition, there will be rushed jobs, and there will be big accidents. This was all just a result of the jet-rush, trying to give a 20-or-so year old plane a full on safety check and making absolutely sure it was aluminium while other people clamber all over it in 25 minutes is hard I reckon. Give the guy a break, it happened 20 years ago![/QUOTE] Gotta blame somebody...

True, but I woulda blamed the company themselves. To be honest, the company ordered botch jobs and quick fixes, but that is the trend in airlines nowadays.

[QUOTE=faze;26524021]It also had to do with the ridiculously high maintenance costs.[/QUOTE] and the fact no one wanted to pay 2 grand for a ticket to get to their destination 2 hours quicker. Even after they weren't allowed to break t he speed of sound, ticket costs were still high.

[QUOTE=99% More Fail;26526087] Give the guy a break, it happened 20 years ago! [/QUOTE] Give Hitler a break, it was like 70 years ago!

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;26526464]and the fact no one wanted to pay 2 grand for a ticket to get to their destination 2 hours quicker. Even after they weren't allowed to break t he speed of sound, ticket costs were still high.[/QUOTE] NYC to London is like 6-7 hours. Concorde was 3, and was for rich people.

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;26529056]Give Hitler a break, it was like 70 years ago![/QUOTE] Well this guy didn't deliberately massacre 3 million innocent people. He accidently used the 'wrong' kind of metal on a plane which unfortunately fell off. Don't see how the metal being alluminium would make any difference though.

One crash ended the most advanced passenger air liner ever created, all because some OTHER air liner lost a piece of their airplane, causing the Concorde to break. By this brilliant fucking logic, I have concluded that the Concorde should be brought back and all Continental Airline planes be grounded indefinitely for being shoddily designed.

Why haven't we come up with something similar to Concorde which is just as fast but more economical? It makes no sense!

[QUOTE=Bengley;26529620]Why haven't we come up with something similar to Concorde which is just as fast but more economical? It makes no sense![/QUOTE] Too much to maintain. You have any idea how much it takes to keep fighters in the air? When they retired the F14, for every hour it spent in the air, it required 40 hours of work on the ground.

[QUOTE=BANNED USER;26529501]One crash ended the most advanced passenger air liner ever created, all because some OTHER air liner lost a piece of their airplane, causing the Concorde to break. By this brilliant fucking logic, I have concluded that the Concorde should be brought back and all Continental Airline planes be grounded indefinitely for being shoddily designed.[/QUOTE] Brilliant idea sir just one thing though, who's gonna pay to keep this thing's tank full?

[QUOTE=BANNED USER;26529501]One crash ended the most advanced passenger air liner ever created, all because some OTHER air liner lost a piece of their airplane, causing the Concorde to break. By this brilliant fucking logic, I have concluded that the Concorde should be brought back and all Continental Airline planes be grounded indefinitely for being shoddily designed.[/QUOTE] That wasn't even close to the main reason they retired it.

[QUOTE=goon165;26529651]Brilliant idea sir just one thing though, who's gonna pay to keep this thing's tank full?[/QUOTE] Do the American thing, invade a country and tap its oil reserves. I really am starting to despise my country.

Concords could not fly supersonic over land either in the U.S because it had a tendency to shatter windows. It would have been retired for sure after 9/11 because of the fuel. The accident in 2000 just accelerated its retirement because of a huge concern about a design flaw. [QUOTE=Boeing787;26524080]Sure Concorde was fast, but it wasn't the most comfortable of planes. These days people want comfort and luxury and I don't blame them. Why rush when you can have a great time in first class in your own little first class pod with tv/internet if you need to work you still can.[/QUOTE] And in first class they have power outlets too. I've run my laptop off them and suck up all the power so no one else could use them. They would fiddle around for an hour with it before giving up and I would be like [img]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbc28dKuhQ1qav6f6.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Saxon;26523954]Somehow I have a hard time believing that.[/QUOTE] There's some videos on Youtube which show it, its hard to tell though if it hits it or not before it bursts into flames. I have read some alternative theories that involve Air France / Airbus / The French government wanting to get rid of it because it was costing the 3 of them too much and as such Air France started to pay less attention to its maintenance. I guess the good thing about this verdict is that this can finally be put to rest, even if the outcome is questionable.