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In retrospect, the Concorde was doomed from the start. Besides being fuel-hungry, the legendary supersonic jet created sonic booms that were simply too loud for comfort, which prevented the aircraft from flying lucrative overland routes, such as New York to Los Angeles, and kept it an expensive luxury. More than a decade after Concorde was retired, researchers are investigating new ways to build supersonic aircraft by going back to an old idea: the biplane. New research, most recently from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shows promise for solving both major challenges to supersonic transports—cost and noise—by turning to this configuration...

PARIS (AFP) - – A French court fined Continental Airlines Monday over the 2000 Concorde crash in which 113 died, but did not jail anyone for the disaster that effectively ended commercial supersonic air travel. The court found the US airline criminally responsible for the Paris crash, caused by a piece of metal that fell from a Continental DC-10 and later shredded the supersonic jet's tyre, which led to a fire in the fuel tank.

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...

decade after a supersonic Concorde jet crashed outside Paris soon after take-off, killing 113 people, a French court will today rule on who, if anyone, is to blame. The trial that started in February in Pontoise, northwest of Paris, reopened old questions over whether European engineers, or an American company, Continental Airlines, was responsible for the July 2000 crash of the European jet that symbolised elegance in trans-Atlantic air travel. The verdict is expected on Monday morning. In the years it took French judicial investigators to work their way to trial, amassing 80,000 pages of court documents, the Concordes were...

GONESSE, France (AP) — Families whose loved ones died in the fiery crash of a supersonic Concorde jet 10 years ago joined together near Paris on Sunday, laying flowers at a monument to the dead and wandering the breezy field where the plane went down. A French court is awaiting a verdict on who was to blame for the accident, which killed 109 aboard the plane and four on the ground, and devastated the reputation of the jet. The Concorde, which ferried the rich and famous across the Atlantic for three decades and could fly twice as fast as the...

An Air France Concorde was to have undergone borescope tests Saturday to determine if its four engines can be safely started in advance of a possible return to flight. The aircraft is at a French museum at Le Bourget Airport, where it was mothballed seven years ago when Air France and British Airways ended supersonic service after decades of financial losses and the spectacular crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people. There was no word at our deadline on the outcome of the tests but it's hoped the aircraft can soon be fueled and readied...

Five people, including two Continental Airlines employees, face up to five years in prison if a French court finds them responsible for the crash of an Air France Concorde supersonic airliner near Paris almost 10 years ago. A four-month trial has begun into the July 25, 2000, crash that killed all 109 people on the airplane and four employees of the hotel the airliner, trailing a tongue of flame, hit when it crashed. The five, along with Continental itself, are charged with involuntary manslaughter. The case centers around investigators' findings that a piece of metal fell from a Continental DC-10...

US airline Continental will present an alternative cause of the 2000 Concorde crash when the carrier faces manslaughter charges in a French court next month. The airline, two of its staff and three other individuals are due to stand trial on February 2 accused of manslaughter over the July 2000 crash of the supersonic aircraft which claimed 113 lives. Air France Concorde flight 4590 takes off with fire trailing from its engine on the left wing Investigators have concluded that the cause of the accident was a metal strip left on the runway from a Continental plane. This strip -...

   Damn, we missed the Concorde's 40th Anniversary yesterday. I love this amazing view of its cockpit. Looks like the cockpit in a military plane or spaceship rather than one in a passenger airliner. [Fast Company]

CERGY, France (AFP) — A French prosecutor has called for US airline Continental to be put on trial over the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde, a court official said. A French inquiry found that the disaster, which killed 113 people, was caused in part by a strip of metal from a Continental plane, which fell off and later shredded one of the Concorde's tyres. A deputy prosecutor in the city of Pontoise, Bernard Farret, said a request was made to bring to trial the airline as well as four individuals, including the Continental mechanic who allegedly fitted...

Cutty Sark was the Concorde of her era. As a working ship, she never made much money for her owners. But in terms of speed, beauty and design, she was a marvel: an example of British inventiveness at which the rest of the world gasped in admiration. Although she had not been in the water for nearly 50 years, she was one of only three historic ships in the world rigged exactly as they were when they were still at sea. She had been lying in her dry-dock alongside Greenwich Pier in London looking much as she would have...

Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel. Some sources are claiming that Pelosi...

Who's keeping Britain's favourite aircraft ticking over? The French By Ben Webster BA’s treatment of the aircraft is an act of vandalism, says its former chief pilot THE dream of returning Concorde to the skies is being kept alive by a dedicated band of French aviation engineers who are quietly keeping one of the supersonic aircraft in a near-airworthy condition. However, British enthusiasts may have to swallow their pride because the aircraft in question carries Air France livery and would take off from an airport in Paris. British Airways has refused to co-operate with Concorde fans who want to bring...

Harry Beck's 1931 London Underground map, "a labour of love, beautiful to behold" was by far the cheapest frontrunner in last night's Design Museum contest for greatest British design since 1900. It came in the top three with Reginald Mitchell's Spitfire fighter, which helped win the Battle of Britain, and British Aerospace's Concorde. The winner will be chosen by public vote on March 16.

Plans for the Queen Mother to fly to Iran in Concorde were blocked by Harold Wilson because he was worried about the plane's safety, it has been revealed. The Labour prime minister intervened days before the planned trip in April 1975 when told there was a problem with the engine. Aviation watchdogs said the plane could be flown by an experienced test pilot. But Wilson said the government's position would be "indefensible" if the engine fault became known. The episode is revealed in government records from 1975 which have now been released for the public to see at The National...

Breaking the sound barrier—again Dec 8th 2005From The Economist print editionTransport: A new breed of supersonic business jets, without Concorde's drawbacks, could soon be taking to the skies IMAGINE being able to cross the Atlantic in less than three and a half hours. You could fly from London to New York for a meeting and still be home in time for dinner. It used to be possible, before the demise of Concorde, of course. But while Concorde has passed into history, the dream of supersonic travel is alive and well. Several firms are now racing to develop a new breed...

PARIS (AP) - A French judge placed a former senior aviation official under investigation in connection with the 2000 Concorde crash that killed 113 people, officials said Friday. The order is one step short of formal charges. Xavier Champion, a former high-ranking official in France's aviation authority, is the focus of a probe for manslaughter and involuntary injury, judicial officials said. Investigating Judge Christophe Regnard said Champion had failed to ensure proper inspections. The Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25, 2000, killing all 109 people on board - mostly...

A former head of the French Concorde programme has been placed under formal investigation over a Concorde crash in July 2000 in which 113 people died. Henri Perrier, who worked for the firm Aerospatiale, is being investigated for involuntarily causing death and injury. Mr Perrier is accused of having been told about faults in the aircraft but having done nothing to put them right. The Air France Concorde caught fire and crashed soon after take-off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. Mr Perrier had worked on the Concorde programme since the plane's launch in the 1960s. Chief engineer at the...

A French judge tasked with finding who was to blame for the 2000 Concorde crash in Paris is to issue an international arrest warrant for a US mechanic employed by Continental Airlines who failed to obey a summons for questioning, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday. The warrant for John Taylor is to be signed by judge Christophe Regnard. Once issued it will automatically designate Taylor as being under criminal investigation for manslaughter, a status that places him one step away from a formal indictment and trial. Taylor was the mechanic who fitted a non-standard titanium strip to a Continental...

Japan and France are to work together to develop a successor to the retired supersonic jet aircraft Concorde. Companies from the countries will split an annual investment of $1.84m (£1.01m) for research over the next three years, Japan's trade ministry said. The new plane will have 300 seats and cut the flight time between New York and Tokyo to six hours, reports said. The original Concorde, built by the UK and France, was taken out of service after 34 years in 2003. Japan and France said they signed the agreement at the Paris Air Show. Successful tests "This is truly...

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan and France are jointly developing a new supersonic passenger plane to succeed the retired Concorde, but with up to three times as many seats and the potential to fly the Tokyo-to-New York route in six hours, officials and reports said Wednesday. Defense contractors and engineering companies from the two countries are expected to split an annual investment of about 200 million yen ($1.84 million) for research over the next three years to build the faster-than-sound plane, Japan's Trade Ministry said in a statement. The agreement was signed at the Paris Air Show Tuesday. The Japanese companies...

PONTOISE, France (AP) - A French magistrate on Thursday opened a formal investigation of Continental Airlines for manslaughter in the July 2000 crash of the supersonic Concorde that killed 113 people. Judge Christophe Regnard placed Continental under investigation - a step short of being formally charged - for manslaughter and involuntary injury, judicial officials said. Investigators concluded that a titanium strip that fell from a Continental DC-10 jet onto the runway caused a tire on the Concorde to burst, propelling rubber debris that perforated the supersonic jet's fuel tanks. The experts also determined, however, that the Concorde's fuel tanks lacked...

PARIS (AFP) - A French legal inquiry into the July 2000 Concorde crash outside Paris that killed 113 people presented its findings that put part of the blame on Continental Airlines -- exposing the US company to a criminal lawsuit and multi-million-euro compensation claims. The report by judge Christophe Regnard concluded, after four years of questioning experts and witnesses, that the causes of the crash were two-fold: a structural fault in the Concorde's design, and a titanium metal strip left lying on the runway from a preceding Continental plane. The metal strip played a "direct" role in the accident, which...

Continental Airlines has rejected the blame for causing a Concorde supersonic jet to crash near Paris leading to the deaths of 113 people. Earlier Tuesday an official French report was published saying a metal strip that fell off a Continental DC-10 and a fuel tank design fault on Concorde caused the disaster in July 2000. But Continental later released a statement in which the airline, based in Houston, Texas, denied any responsibility for the crash and vowed to defend itself in court. "We strongly disagree that anything Continental did was the cause of the Concorde accident, and we are outraged...

PARIS - Continental Airlines said today it was "outraged" at reports that French authorities want to prosecute the airline and several employees over the Concorde crash that killed 113 people in Paris four years ago. The Houston airline issued a strongly worded statement after a French newspaper reported that investigating judge Christophe Regnard had summoned several Continental officials for interrogation and plans to place them under formal investigation along with the company. "We strongly disagree that anything Continental did was the cause of the Concorde accident, and we are outraged by the media reports that criminal charges may have been...

Concorde touched down for the very last time after a special flight from Heathrow Airport to the site where the supersonic plane was made. Thousands of aviation fans and aerospace workers braved the showers at Airbus UK's Filton airfield in Bristol to see Concorde 216 fly overhead at 2000ft and then land. The aircraft will eventually go on display at the site. One hundred British Airways staff who have worked on Concorde were on board the flight which took off from Heathrow at 11.29am. Hundreds lined the surrounding roads of London's biggest airport to see the plane take off in...

NEW YORK - British Airways' last Concorde flight for fare-paying passengers landed in New York on Thursday, a day before scheduled supersonic service ends. Most passengers who walked off the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport described the flight as wonderful but said it marked a bittersweet end to a great chapter in aviation history. "I feel like we are kind of taking a step backward technologically today," said Dennis Toeppen, 39, a freelance pilot from Champaign, Illinois. "It's kind of like a railroad that has been torn up to make a carriage path." For David Winslow, 42, an...

<p>LONDON (AP) — They took off from New York on the world's fastest passenger jet and pulled into London's Heathrow Airport nearly half a day later — on a bus.</p> <p>Things started to go really wrong on the $6,600-a-seat Concorde with a frightening backfire over the Atlantic Ocean. Before it was over, the plane had dropped from supersonic to subsonic speed, was running out of fuel and made an unscheduled landing in Wales.</p>

Air France, which flew its last supersonic service in May, has asked Christie's France to auction a number of pieces and mementos of the historic jet in order to raise money for a children's charity that it runs. Among the items to go on sale on November 15 are two Olympus 593 engines, which powered the airliner at speeds of up to 2,200 kilometres (1,275 miles) per hour and are widely considered as a triumph of engineering. A radome - the 3.5 metre cone at the end of the plane's nose - is regarded as the centre-piece of the auction...

German museum experts are preparing to start reassembling a "kit form" Concorde which travelled from France by air, river and road. The Air France Concorde was stripped of its wings, engines and tail section for the journey to the museum in Sinsheim. The last trip, on land and water Thousands of Germans lined motorway bridges in the middle of the night to wave and cheer as a giant truck bearing the Concorde body drove past. Thousands more were at the museum to greet the Concorde, which will be displayed on a giant stand above the existing museum roof. The aircraft...

Paris Air Show opens in crisis mode LE BOURGET, France (AFP) ?2003 AFP Graphic fact file on this weekend's Paris air show at Le Bourget. The Paris Air Show, the world's premiere aviation showcase, opens to the public, flying buffs and professionals here in the grip of the worst crisis in aviation history.At a media preview Saturday of the biennial show at Le Bourget airport, near Paris, the gloom was palpable despite a three-ring circus atmosphere of roaring aerobatics overhead as hulking planes were towed around the fairgrounds.Dassault Aviation chief executive Charles Edelstenne sounded the alarm in giving the...

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has sharply criticised her US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld's view of the world. In a newspaper interview coinciding with the opening of the 45th annual Paris air show, Mrs Alliot-Marie said Mr Rumsfeld espoused a US-centred vision. "The American defence secretary believes the United States is the only military, economic and financial power in the world. We do not share this vision," Mrs Alliot-Marie told Le Monde. Her comments came after news that the American defence department - along with many US aerospace firms - had reduced its participation in this year's show in apparent retaliation...

New York - An Air France Concorde jet landed at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport for the last time on Friday morning. The jet landed at 08:10 (1210 GMT). The French Concorde will make its final flight on Saturday, after 27 years under the Air France banner, as it speeds across the skies from New York's John F Kennedy airport to Paris. Flight AF001 takes off at 08:00 (1200 GMT) on Saturday, landing a mere three hours and 45 minutes later at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. The Concordes flown by British Airways - which has a...

Paris (dpa) - With the cessation of its Concorde flights just days away, Air France said Wednesday it would donate four of its remaining five supersonic aircraft to aeronautic institutions around the world.    ''The Concorde belongs to aviation's and humanity's heritage,'' Air France said in a press statement.    The Concordes will go to the Technical Museum in Sinsheim, Germany; the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.; the Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget, France; and to the European air manufacturer Airbus in Toulouse, France.    The fifth Air France Concorde will be displayed...

April 26, 2003 The Future Is Past By LARRY GELBART [B] EVERLY HILLS, Calif. As with all that goes up, that magnificent bird, the Concorde, is about to come down. I was lucky enough to have crossed the Atlantic on either the French or British version a couple of dozen times, and on each trip I couldn't escape the feeling that I was appearing in a film. A very high-budget film. As an extra. I needed only look at my fellow passengers ? Wall Streeters, rock icons, and stars of stage, screen and rehab, each with a ton of Vuitton...

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - French carrier Air France said on Thursday it would end its Concorde service at the end of October, citing deteriorating financial results on transatlantic routes served by the sleek supersonic jet.In a separate statement British Airways , the only other carrier that flies the Concorde, said it also planned to retire its supersonic fleet, ending 27 years of supersonic commercial air travel.Air France said it would halt Concorde flights from May 31 due to poor economic conditions and definitively retire the fleet from October 31.A spokeswoman declined comment on the financial impact of the move.

BA Concorde twice abandons take off A British Airways Concorde is flying back to the UK after it was twice forced to abandon take-off while carrying showbiz stars. The supersonic jet twice abandoned take-off as it prepared to thunder along the runway in Barbados after a warning light flashed-up in the cockpit. It indicated a problem in one of the jet's four thrusters, which gives the engine extra power for take-off. Captain Derek Woodley eventually abandoned Saturday's scheduled BA Flight 272 and the 73 passengers aboard the £6,800-a-head flight were taken off the aircraft. Some were put onto another BA...

CONCORDE'S days are numbered because it is not making enough money, it was revealed yesterday. British Airways is said to be considering retiring it early. The famous drop-nosed jet has struggled to attract passengers for £8,000 return flights to the US since an Air France Concorde crashed in Paris killing 114 people in 2000. Only five of BA's seven Concordes are in service. Now the 15 Concorde captains and nine first officers have been told they will be rostered for other flights. Bosses have informed ten of 22 senior engineers they will be redeployed on other planes or have...

Concorde forced to make unscheduled landing An Air France Concorde has been forced to make an unscheduled landing in Canada, due to an engine glitch. The 47 passengers on board Flight AF 002 from Paris will be transferred to New York after touching down in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Safety aboard the supersonic jet has been in the spotlight since one crashed near Paris soon after takeoff in July 2000. Last month, an Air France Concorde had to return to Paris after the jet failed to go into supersonic mode. In November, a Concorde descended 27,000 feet after one of its...

Panic broke out among passengers on board an Air France Concorde flight when engine trouble caused the plane to drop thousands of metres. Air France told BBC News Online the plane, which was flying from New York to Paris, dropped to subsonic speed and reduced altitude by 7,000 metres (22,000 feet). Passengers on the plane said the speed of the descent sent crockery smashing in the aisles. The incident came nearly two-and-a-half years after the crash of an Air France Concorde as it took off in Paris. All 109 people on board and four people on the ground died....