Guide Note

July 3, 2008: A judge in France ordered Continental Airlines to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges for the deadly July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde. In addition, five individuals—including two Continental employees—were also expected to stand trial.¹

Fast Facts

1. Air France Concorde crashed on July 25, 2000²
2. Concorde had just taken off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport when it went down
3. Crash killed 113 people³
4. 109 people on the Concorde perished; four people on the ground were killed³
5. Two employees of the Concorde program and a French civil aviation authority worker were also indicted³
6. Continental Airlines spokesman calls the indictments "outrageous and completely unjustified"¹
7. No immediate word on a trial date³

A French investigation of the deadly Concorde crash found that a metal strip on the runway from a Continental Airlines plane punctured a tire on the Concorde during takeoff. The inquiry said debris from the blown tire then ruptured the Concorde's fuel tanks.³ The fiery crash was captured on video by the wife of a Spanish truck driver.⁴