Report: Concorde landing gear problem investigated

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- French authorities are investigating whether a piece of the landing gear that broke loose before the July 25 crash of the Air France Concorde could have caused a massive fuel leak, USA Today reported on Thursday.

Air France Flight 4590 caught fire as it took off from Paris' Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport last week, plunging into a hotel near the town of Gonesse and killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground.

A fuel leak erupted and burst into flames as the jet took off, and two of its four engines failed, but investigators have said they do not know what triggered the failures. Air France and accident investigators declined substantive comment on the USA Today report.

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Among items found on the runway was a part of the metal shield that reduces water spray from the tires on wet runways, the paper quoted sources close to the investigation as saying.

The part has been implicated in a fuel tank leak in 1993, according to the paper.

In that earlier incident, the part flew off after a tire exploded on a British Airways Concorde, causing a severe puncture in a tank, according to English aviation authorities.

British Airways later modified its Concordes to prevent the part, known as a water deflector or "cow catcher," from coming loose.

USA Today said it had asked Air France if it also made the modification on its Concorde supersonic jets, but a company spokeswoman in New York declined comment.

The paper quoted sources as saying investigators had preliminary information that Air France did not modify its fleet. Another interview suggested it was not yet clear if the modification had been made or not, the paper said.

French investigators have said that they uncovered signs that one, or possibly two, of the Concorde's tires burst as the jet roared down the runway, that there was an intense fire probably caused by a major fuel leak, and that there were problems with the landing gear and two of the four engines.

They have also recovered pieces described as portions of a fuel tank from the runway.

Exploding tires have been a problem on the Concorde in at least seven cases, USA Today said, citing aviation databases, causing severe fuel tank leaks, severing hydraulic tubes and damaging engines.

In an incident at London's Heathrow Airport on Oct. 25, 1993, a tire exploded on a Concorde, causing a "substantial" fuel leak, USA Today said, quoting the English Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The AAIB, in a bulletin on the incident obtained by USA TODAY, concluded that the exploding tire caused the water deflector to break loose and "flung it against the underside of the wing, causing the (fuel tank) puncture." Afterward, British Airways and the manufacturer of the Concorde added a tether that prevented the piece from coming loose, sources said.

Aviation experts are expected to meet again on Thursday to review progress in the inquiry.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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