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Concorde Airworthiness Certificate Might Be Restored in August
It is quite possible that the certificate of airworthiness of Concorde be restored by the end of August 2001, the French-British joint work team on resumption of flights of the supersonic airliner announced Monday.
The certificate was suspended on August 16 last year following the crash of a Concorde of Air France on July 25, 2000 that killed 113 people on board and on ground minutes after taking off.
"The proposed modifications will be approved and the lift of suspension will be pronounced when the authorities have finished the analyses of documents presented by manufacturers," said the French-British work team composed of aviation experts and officials of transportation ministries from both countries.
France's civil aviation body DGAC and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will study the technical files presented by French and British manufacturers -- Aerospatiale and BAE Systems, who hope a series of modifications mainly to the engine and fuel tank system of the plane could bring it back to the sky.
Once documents approved and then airworthiness certificate restored by the authorities, Air France and British Airways could restart commercial flights with their Concordes (five and seven respectively).
The crash last year was believed to be caused by a sharp metallic object left on the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, which led to a tire burst and which, in turn, led to debris rupturing a fuel tank.
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