Former Concorde Team Chief Calls for Resumption of FlightsThe former chief pilot for Air France's Concorde aircraft,Franck Debouck,said Friday that he hopes the supersonic planes can resume flights as soon as possible.In an interview with radio Europe 1,Debouck said he hopes the French Bureau of Accident Investigation, which is in charge of investigating the crash of the Air France Concorde on July 25, would publish "in the coming days" an explanation on what happened during the crash. Air France has grounded all of its Concorde planes after the tragic crash in which 114 people were killed,96 of them German tourists. A meeting of aviation officials on Thursday decided to maintain the suspension of the flight of Concorde,because the investigation has not found the definite causes of the crash. Another air company using Concorde aircraft, British Airways, resumed the flight of the supersonic plane one day after the Air France crash. "With all my heart I hope for a rapid return to the plane," said Debouck, who is now general director of Air France Consulting after retiring from the post of director of exploitation of Concorde six months ago. He said that before the planes resume their flights, one should give a clear answer to the causes of the crash "to explain what happened and why it will not happen again." He admitted that the entire company of Air France was badly shaken by the July 25 crash, and the trauma it has caused will not be forgotten for years. |
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