A French magistrate opened a formal investigation on Thursday of Houston-based Continental Airlines for manslaughter in the alleged role that one of its jets played in the July 2000 crash of the supersonic Concorde. The step of placing Continental under investigation is the process that the French criminal justice system follows prior to formally charging a defendant with a crime, such as the anticipated manslaughter and involuntary injury charges in this case.
Investigators have previously concluded that a titanium strip that fell from a Continental DC-10 onto the runway caused one of the Concorde’s tires to burst, which in turn propelled rubber debris that perforated the Concorde’s fuel tanks. Continental contends that it is not responsible for causing the crash because of defects in the Concorde’s fuel tanks.