5 charged in Concorde crash of 2000 near Paris

[arsenal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7487282.stm

Rubber from the tyres ruptured the plane's fuel tanks shortly after take-off from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport.
A French accident inquiry in 2004 found that the strip of metal had fallen on the runway from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that took off just before the Concorde flight.

Not sure if anyone remembers this. I do somewhat.



One of those being charge is the engineer that allegedly fitted the piece of metal to the DC-10 that fell off leading to the accident.

[Eastern Girl]

What are the charges exactly? Unless I am blind, I am missing it in that article. It says they will stand trial over the crash and explains why they were charged, but not with what they were charged, I assume negligence??

[arsenal]

What I got from the article:
The Engineer is be charged with fitting the strip of metal that fell off the DC 10 that ruptured the tyre of the concorde.
I am guessing maintance official is being charge because he probably signed off on the repair.
Not sure exactly why the people from Concorde are being charged. Unless it is because of the design flaw with the gas tank that blew up.

Seems kind of strange.

[Eastern Girl]

Yeah, I realize that's why, but what is the charge exactly? I assume criminal negligence or something along those lines, because they didn't do their jobs properly and people died?

The article says who is being charged and the reasoning for it, but not specifically the charges. Perhaps I am just being incredibly dimwitted here?

[arsenal]

nope. the article is very vague as to the actual charges

[Eastern Girl]

According to this article, they are up on charges of manslaughter.

[Bagor]

The case could be made that Concorde's design engineers should accept some responsibility too, not that they'll likely have to.

One would think that the fuel tanks would have been designed to withstand impact from rubber.

[Hack&Lube]

France is scary. Jail time for doing your job when a freak accident occurs?

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

France is scary. Jail time for doing your job when a freak accident occurs?

that's what i was thinking.

[Dan02]

Is France trying to become the next USA, where simply serving someone hot coffee which they spill on themselves is grounds for a lawsuit? Pretty soon we're gonna be doing the "on in france"