Although the investigators examining the reasons behind the crash of Air France Concorde AF4590 on 25 July are slowly piecing together the events that led to the disaster, a technical fix, and the associated cost of this, still seem a long way off.
An Anglo-French group has been formed to co-ordinate all aspects of the inquiry into the crash with a view tore-establishing the aircraft's certificate of airworthiness and getting it back into the air. This will involve working with the airframe and engine manufacturers and the airlines.
The group will include the UK and French transport ministries and the Civil Aviation Authority and Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile. It will meet about every two weeks.
The crash investigation is concentrating on a 430x25mm strip of metal that was found on the runway after the accident as a possible cause of the crash. It is thought that the metal dropped off a Continental Airlines DC-10 that took off four minutes before flight AF4590, and that it punctured one of the Concorde's tyres on take-off, leading to the crash.
Source: Airline Business
