Report: Burst Tire Brought Down Concorde

P A R I S, Aug. 31 -- A preliminary report on last month’s Air France Concorde crash by French aviation accident investigators confirmed the hypothesis that a burst tire set off the chain of events that brought down the plane.

The Air France Concorde crashed in flames shortly after takeoff from Paris’ Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25, killing all 109 on board and four people on the ground.

“The July 25 accident shows that the destruction of a tire, an event that we cannot say will not recur, had catastrophic consequences in a short period of time, preventing the crew from rectifying the situation,” said the report by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA), released today.

The report also confirmed that a metal strip, probably from another airplane, had been found on the runway.

“It has holes in it and in some of these holes appear to be Cherry aeronautical rivets. This strip has not been identified as coming from Concorde,” the report said.

Since the beginning of the investigation, experts have speculated that this 16.93-inch strip caused the tire to explode.

No Analysis

The preliminary report of 90 pages did not contain any analysis or definitive conclusions about the cause of the disaster.

The British and French air safety authorities suspended Concorde’s certificates of airworthiness earlier this month.

The two countries said Concorde would remain grounded until the risk of catastrophe from tire blowouts was addressed. There are 12 Concordes worldwide — seven with British Airways andfive at Air France.The report includes everything from technical details on the plane to photographs of the burst tire and metal strip, and the final conversation between Concorde pilots Christian Marty, Jean Marcot and the control tower at Roissy. (See sidebar)

In the final seconds of the flight, the plane’s captain Marty, referring to another airport near Paris, is recorded saying “Le Bourget, Le Bourget.”