Concorde families sue airline and tyre manufacturer
Relatives of five French crew members killed in the Air France Concorde crash have launched actions against a US airline and tyre company on the first anniversary of the disaster.
Investigators believe one of the Concorde’s tyres burst after running over a metal strip.
The explosion sent rubber debris hurtling toward fuel tanks, prompting a fuel leak and fire that brought the plane down, killing all of the 109 people on board and four on the ground.
Michael Danko, an lawyer for the relatives of five French crew members, said the metal strip fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 jet that took off just before the Concorde at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris.
The lawsuit, filed in Houston yesterday, accuses Continental of ‘‘negligently and carelessly’’ maintaining, inspecting and repairing the DC-10. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
‘‘While our sympathies go to the families of the victims, we do not believe that Continental was responsible for the tragic Concorde accident,’’ said Nick Britton, spokesman for Houston-based Continental.
‘‘Given the circumstances, we cannot comment further at this time.’’
Danko said the tyres made by Ohio-based Goodyear were defective because they exploded, rather than ruptured, during the accident.
Goodyear spokesman Chris Aked expressed sympathy for the victims’ families but said there was nothing wrong with the tyre.
‘‘It’s impossible to design a tyre that doesn’t break up into pieces if it were to explode,’’ he said.
