First Concorde Flight From Paris Since Crash

R O I S S Y, France, Jan. 18, 2001 -- An Air France Concorde soared out of Paris today for the first time since a tragic July crash and landed at a military base for tests aimed at returning the supersonicfleet to the sky.

Fire trucks were standing by and police vehicles trailed the needle-nosed aircraft as it taxied to the runway, while a pair of maintenance trucks inspected the plane's path.

The jet raced into foggy skies with a deafening roar and flewwithout passengers at subsonic speed. It arrived 50 minutes laterin Istres, near the southern port city of Marseille, where twoweeks of ground tests will take place.

Dozens of camera-clad Concorde enthusiasts — who had swappeddetails about the flight on Internet chat rooms — lined up at afence near the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport.

While readying the plane for takeoff, pilot Edgard Chillaudleaned from the cockpit window with a video camera and waved to thefans, who held a banner reading: "Concorde, we love you."

Six Months Later

The flight came almost six months after the unprecedented crashof a Concorde on July 25. Two minutes after takeoff, the Air Francejet plunged in flames into a hotel outside Charles de Gaulleairport. All 109 people on board and four people on the ground werekilled.

After the crash, the 12 existing Concordes, operated by AirFrance and British Airways, had their airworthiness certificationswithdrawn and were grounded until safety could be assured. BritishAirways last flew its Concordes in August. The only other Concordeflight since then was in September, when an Air France jet strandedin New York returned to Paris.

In Istres, technicians from the plane's manufacturer, EADSAirbus, are to conduct at least 15 days of high-speed ground testson the aircraft that simulate fuel leaks, Air France executivessaid at a news conference Tuesday.

The tests are intended to help the plane's owner andmanufacturer better understand the chain of events that led to lastyear's crash.

Investigators believe the accident happened when a metal striplying on the runway gashed one of the Concorde's tires, sendingrubber debris hurtling toward fuel tanks and triggering a fuel leakand fire that brought the plane down.

Setting Standards

Before authorizing today's flight, France's civil aviationauthority set conditions for the takeoff that included a "detailedinspection of the runway and taxi areas."

British and French authorities are working together to determinethe cause of the crash, while British Airways and Air France havejoined forces to develop and test new safety measures for theplanes.

British Airways has begun outfitting one of its seven Concordeswith new fuel tank liners, designed to contain fuel if the plane'swing is ruptured. The liners, made of rubber and Kevlar — a fiberused in bulletproof vests — employ technology currently used inmilitary helicopters and Formula 1 racing cars.

British Airways said this week that if tests were successful thesupersonic jets might resume commercial flights by spring.However, Air France has said it was still too early to set atime frame.

Thirty-year-old Frenchman Paul Marais-Hayer was among the dozensof Concorde fans who braved chilly weather to flash a thumbs-up tothe pilot and watch the jet take flight.

"It's the most beautiful plane in the world," he said. "It'sthe only time we've ever agreed with the English."