Concorde working group critical of slow investigation progress

Airline Industry Information, Oct 13, 2000

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The Anglo-French working group in charge of efforts to get the Concorde supersonic jet flying again has indicated that it would like accident investigators to speed up the process.

A meeting of the working group in London, UK yesterday (12 October) stated that it was 'concerned that impediments to the technical accident investigation be removed.'

Speculation has arisen that British Airways could be flying its Concorde aircraft again by Christmas, but Ken Smart - head of the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch - was also critical last week of the slow progress of the investigation into the 25 July crash of an Air France Concorde, according to PA News.

The working group has met with representatives of Aerospatiale and BAE Systems, which built Concorde, and indicated that it had made progress in the main areas of work identified at its first meeting, including 'tyre destruction, possible explanations of tank damage and ignition sources.'

The next meeting of the working group will take place in Paris, France on 13 November 2000.

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