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Continental Airlines and mechanic guilty in deadly Concorde crash (Paris 2000)
CNN ^ | December 6th 2010 | Saskya Vandoorne

Posted on 12/06/2010 4:43:17 AM PST by Cardhu

Paris, France (CNN) -- Continental Airlines and a mechanic were found criminally responsible Monday for the Concorde crash that killed 113 people in 2000.

John Taylor received a fine of 2,000 euros ($2,656) and a 15-month suspended prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Continental Airlines was fined 202,000 euros ($268,400).

The mechanic was the only person found guilty in the trial in Paris. He was not present for the verdict.

His former supervisor, Stanley Ford, and three French officials were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Henri Perrier, Jacques Herubel and Claude Frantzen were responsible for the design, testing and certification of the Concorde

Lawyers for Continental and Taylor rejected the guilty verdicts.

"I am shocked by this verdict, Taylor's lawyer Francois Esclatine said. "I haven't had a chance to speak with my client yet, but I will tell him that he should appeal."

Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Continental, said the airline "will not let itself be pushed around in this way and we will definitely appeal."

The Concorde burst into flames and smashed into a hotel on takeoff on July 25, 2000. Air France stopped flying the supersonic jets in 2003.

A Continental Airlines plane that took off shortly before the doomed flight was found to have played a key role in the crash.

A titanium strip allegedly fell off a Continental DC-10 which took off just before the Concorde. Judicial investigators say the strip was improperly installed on the DC-10 engine, prompting the charges against the airline, Ford and Taylor.

(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: concorde; crash; paris
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" Continental will "not let itself be pushed around in this way," a lawyer says, vowing to appeal"
1 posted on 12/06/2010 4:43:23 AM PST by Cardhu
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To: Cardhu

Took them 10 years to give a $2,656 dollar fine for the Manslaughter of 113 people.

What a boatload. Nice scapegoating there folks.


2 posted on 12/06/2010 4:56:12 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Venturer

Nothing about the wrongly assembled wheel hub, the overloading, taking off with a tail wind, leaving the runway prior to puncture.


3 posted on 12/06/2010 5:01:22 AM PST by Leisler (They always lie, and have for so much and for so long, that they no longer know what about.)
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To: Cardhu
Typical French....when something goes wrong with a plane they helped design and build then it has to be some American’s fault.
4 posted on 12/06/2010 5:02:44 AM PST by when the time is right
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To: Cardhu
Who is ultimately responsible for seeing that the runway is clear?

The pilot.

Who is responsible for properly shielding the fuel tanks? Aérospatiale-BAC

Who is responsible for putting buildings near the airport? The French.

Who is responsible for ease of (re)assembly and an obviously secure part installation? McDonnell-Douglas.

Continental is way down the line in blame here.

5 posted on 12/06/2010 5:06:28 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

I thought I read that prior to this accident, Concords had probelms with tires rupturing and damaging the fuel tanks, but this time a strip of titanium is to blame?


6 posted on 12/06/2010 5:19:19 AM PST by jaydubya2
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To: Venturer
Nice scapegoating there folks.

I was of similar thought:


7 posted on 12/06/2010 5:35:05 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: jaydubya2

It couldn’t possibly be an accident... somebody has to be blamed. It has to be someone else fault.

Sarcasm now off

All accidents have root causes and they are usually several with enough blame to go around.


8 posted on 12/06/2010 5:36:18 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (Half of the population is below average)
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To: Sequoyah101
"Officials with the French Bureau Enquetes-Accidents (BEA), the Bureau of Accident Investigations, have amassed an exhaustive history of tire problems on the Concorde fleet dating back to 1976. A total of 57 cases of burst/deflated tires were identified. Including the crash last July, BEA experts conclude that the record of one occurrence per 1,500 flight cycles for Concorde is markedly higher than the one event per 100,000 cycles for the A340."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_3_15/ai_69259216/
9 posted on 12/06/2010 5:49:28 AM PST by jaydubya2
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To: Cardhu
This verdict is stupid.

Everybody knows the accident was Bush's fault.

10 posted on 12/06/2010 5:51:08 AM PST by Zakeet (Like the wise Wee Wee said, "We can't be broke ... we still have checks in the checkbook.")
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To: Sequoyah101

Yes the French helped us durring the Revolutionary war as Britan was also their enemy. Please read some of the facts about the French below.

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country’s prior actions, here’s a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

JFK’S
Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded,

“Does that include those who are buried here?”

DeGaulle
did not respond.

You
could have heard a pin drop.

When in England ,

at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of ‘empire building’ by George Bush.

He answered by saying,

“Over the years, the United States has sent many of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France

where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American. During a break,one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?”

A Boeing engineer

stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships;

how many does France have?”

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral

was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, “Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?”

Without hesitating,

the American Admiral replied, “Maybe it’s because the
Brit’s, Canadians, Aussie’s and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.”

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting,

an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.”You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting

admitted that he had been to France previously.

“Then
you should know enough to have your passport ready.”

The American said,

“The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”

“Impossible..
Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !”

The American senior

gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, ‘’Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.”

You
could have heard a pin drop.

This was posted to Fox News this morning.


11 posted on 12/06/2010 5:56:11 AM PST by NeverForgetBataan (To the German Commander: ..........................NUTS !)
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To: Cardhu
Scapegoats.
12 posted on 12/06/2010 6:10:58 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
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To: Zakeet
The Concorde burst into flames and smashed into a hotel on takeoff on July 25, 2000.

This verdict is stupid. Everybody knows the accident was Bush's fault.

Pardon Moi...But Bush didn't take office until January 2001. Le Slick Willie was still in the WH at that time.

13 posted on 12/06/2010 6:20:16 AM PST by FDNYRHEROES (In just His first 3 days, the War on Terror became the War on Free Speech.)
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To: NeverForgetBataan

All urban legends.


14 posted on 12/06/2010 6:34:26 AM PST by nwrep
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To: Cardhu
"I was at a celebration of India's Independence Day," he told reporters, "and a Frenchman came walking up to me and started talking to me about Iraq, and it was obvious we were not going to agree. And I said, 'Wait a minute. Do you speak German?' And he looked at me kind of funny and said, 'No, I don't speak German.' And I said, 'You're welcome,' turned around and walked off." From The Washington Post.

15 posted on 12/06/2010 6:34:38 AM PST by Dilbert56 (Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.")
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To: Cardhu
Re: Tom Delay
"I was at a celebration of India's Independence Day," he told reporters, "and a Frenchman came walking up to me and started talking to me about Iraq, and it was obvious we were not going to agree. And I said, 'Wait a minute. Do you speak German?' And he looked at me kind of funny and said, 'No, I don't speak German.' And I said, 'You're welcome,' turned around and walked off." From The Washington Post.

16 posted on 12/06/2010 6:35:24 AM PST by Dilbert56 (Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.")
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To: FDNYRHEROES
Pardon Moi...But Bush didn't take office until January 2001. Le Slick Willie was still in the WH at that time.

So how does that absolve Bush of anything?

Don't you read the Washington Post and the New York Times? Don't you ever watch MSDNC or Chicken Noodle News? Don't you ever listen to the Libtards and Rats?

If you were politically informed, you would know that Bush was really responsible for everything from the Great Depression, to the Vietnam War, to the Holocaust in Darfur, to the Wee Wee's split lip.

You need to go back to a publik skool and get a good progressive education!

17 posted on 12/06/2010 6:50:01 AM PST by Zakeet (Like the wise Wee Wee said, "We can't be broke ... we still have checks in the checkbook.")
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To: Paladin2
Who is ultimately responsible for seeing that the runway is clear?

Don't forget the responsibility of Charles de Gaulle International Airport to keep its runways clear.

18 posted on 12/06/2010 8:48:49 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat

I also forgot that the tire manufacturer certainly bears significant responsibility for poor design/application given the known fuel tank sensitivity and the above mentioned likely overloading (by design) of the tire given the incidence of tire failures on the Concorde vs other commercial passenger planes.


19 posted on 12/06/2010 9:36:31 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Zakeet
So how does that absolve Bush of anything? Don't you read the Washington Post and the New York Times? Don't you ever watch MSDNC or Chicken Noodle News? Don't you ever listen to the Libtards and Rats?

To answer your questions, one at a time:
I guess it really doesn't absolve Bush 41 or Bush 43, of anything...
No & no.
No &/or no.
No & Hell no.
I hope I have answered your questions in a most succinct and satisfactory manner...

20 posted on 12/06/2010 7:40:48 PM PST by FDNYRHEROES (In just His first 3 days, the War on Terror became the War on Free Speech.)
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