Air France confirms it did not make Concorde modification before crash

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Air France officials Thursday acknowledged the airline had not made a design change intended to reduce the chance that tire blowouts on the Concorde would damage the supersonic aircraft.

British Airways modified its Concordes in 1995; two years after a Concorde tire explosion sent a water deflector -- part of the landing gear -- soaring through a fuel tank. It was the second such time that a burst tire had dislodged a water deflector, documents show.

But Air France said Thursday it opted not to modify the water deflector on its planes, saying the modification would simply ensure the deflector would remain in one piece, and would not prevent it from separating from the aircraft entirely.

MESSAGE BOARD Air safety     GRAPHIC Anatomy of a Concorde engine Anatomy of a crash

Air France was not legally required to make the modification, the airline noted.

Concorde Flight 4590 departed that airport outside of Paris July 25, and crashed just minutes later, killing all 109 people on the plane and four on the ground.

The Air France statement came as it was announced that the company's remaining Concordes will remain grounded.

Following a meeting Thursday in Paris of the French Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) and the French Ministry of Transport, Gilles Ricono, a senior official in the ministry, said: "It appears that the technical inquiry is progressing rapidly, but as of today, there are still uncertainties about the interpretation (of the problems) and the chain of events. Under those conditions the suspension of Concorde flights cannot be lifted today."

SNPL, the main French pilots' union, believes a resumption of flights could be a matter of weeks, rather than days, especially as the BEA, assisted by French, UK and U.S. aviation experts, does not expect to issue its preliminary report into the accident until the end of August.

Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot has said additional safety measures have to be put in place before Air France's five remaining Concordes can return to service. Investigators say they know that one, possibly two, tires burst; that there was an intense fire caused by a major fuel leak; that the flight crew could not retract the landing gear; and that there were problems with two of the four engines.

Speculation about the possible involvement of the water deflector came Thursday after French government officials confirmed they had discovered a piece of the water deflector on the runway at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

U.S. and British government records show the Concorde has a history of mishaps involving blown tires.

National Transportation Safety Board records show at least four instances in the late 1970s and early 1980s in which Concorde tires exploded on takeoff, sending tire fragments and wheel shrapnel through the planes' fuel tanks and into engine intakes.

In one instance, the damage was discovered only after a passenger noticed a hole in the plane's wing. Fuel was streaming from the plane, which was in flight.

Following those incidents, British authorities said they ordered design modifications strengthening the tires and landing gear of the aircraft. They also banned the use of re-treaded tires.

But some aviation experts say the Concorde's design makes it vulnerable to tire bursts. The Concorde's landing gear sits astride the intakes of the supersonic plane's four engines; in most commercial jets, the landing gear is behind the engine intakes.

Michael Goldfarb, a former chief of staff at the Federal Aviation Administration, told CNN the French investigation may be shifting toward design questions, rather than focusing on a simple failure.

Goldfarb said he anticipated a prolonged grounding, but added, "I'm more surprised the British have continued to fly."

He cautioned that the Federal Aviation Administration would probably continue to stay in the background and not move to restrict Concorde flights into the United States.

"It's an in-country issue for France, unless they determine there's a design issue," Goldfarb explained. He said a loss of confidence in any of the Concorde's design would prompt a fresh certification process.

"And again, we would let the French take the lead," Goldfarb said, describing how the United States, Britain and France accept reciprocal certification of aircraft design.

Tire experts to probe Concorde crash cause
August 2, 2000
18 months until crash cause found
July 31, 2000
Fuel leak likely source of fire
July 30, 2000
Crash blowouts not the first
July 29, 2000

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