Ruptured Tank Caused Flames

G O N E S S E, France, July 30, 2000 -- A ruptured fuel tank is responsible for the flames which spewed from the Concorde as it sped down the runway to its doom, investigators with the French Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) have determined.

And investigators have confirmed that a piece of a fuel tank was found amidst the debris on the runway the plane used to take off.

Investigators also revealed today that all of the runway debris found so far is located beyond the point where the plane reached so-called “V-1” speed, the moment in the takeoff when the pilot is committed to get airborne, and can no longer abort the takeoff.

Meanwhile, France’s transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot has called for a meeting of international aviation experts on to discuss new safety measures for the Concorde, before allowing Air France to resume flights on its supersonic jets. Air France grounded its five remaining Concordes after Tuesday’ fiery crash, which killed 113 people.

Burst Tires

Investigators said Friday one, and possibly two, of the four tires on the left side of the jet had come apart on the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport.

In previous incidents involving Concordes, burst tires have punctured the wing fuel tanks, although no fires ensued. Investigators have not said whether the fuel tank fire which preceded last Tuesday’s crash was caused by a burst tire.

Investigators have asked Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for information on tires that the American company supplied for the plane. Investigators say they are trying to determine whether tire debris found on the runway came from the supersonic jet, Chris Aked, a company spokesman in Ohio, was quoted as saying in the Beacon Journal newspaper.

Goodyear spokesman David Russ said it was too soon to tell if atire explosion caused the crash. “It’s way too early to makeany assumptions or comments like that,” he said.

A History of Tire Trouble

A ruptured tire could be significant because it could send debris at high speed into fuel tanks inside of a wing and possibly into the front of an engine, causing internal damage.

When the landing gear is extended — as it would be on taxi and takeoff — the tires are almost directly below the engines. Investigators know that engine No. 2 failed during the flight, probably contributing to the crash.

“If a tire went, it could go very explosively,” a retired engineer who worked on the Concorde project said Friday. “The rubber fragments alone could probably pierce the wing and certainly if the metal rim of the wheel sheared off, that would slice through anything.”

On Friday, an Air France spokeswoman acknowledged that the Concorde has a history of problems with tires blowing on takeoff. But she declined to speculate on whether this could have been a factor in Tuesday’s crash, saying only that the airline has routinely checked its Concordes’ tires before every flight for the past 20 years, including on Tuesday.

Some of the past incidents involving blown tires have resulted in serious damage to the aircraft, forced landings, and safety warnings from both European and U.S. regulatory agencies. Both Air France and British Airways have implemented a series of design and maintenance modifications to address the problem, including a system to warn pilots if the tire pressure is imbalanced or a tire has blown, a decision to stop using retreaded tires, and additional tire inspections.

Fire From Outside the Engine

Photos and a video of the plane during takeoff have shown a massive fire on the left side of the plane in the area of the No. 2 engine.

The BEA now says the flames originated from a fuel tank rupture, rather than from the engine, which had been suspected earlier. On Friday, investigators said they knew the fire originated from outside the engine, but hadn’t pinpointed the source.

French authorities continue to examine tire debris collected from the runway, all of which, they said, appeared to come from the left side of the plane.

No engine debris has so far been found on the runway, which appears to argue against the theories that poor maintenance of an engine or faulty part may have caused an engine to malfunction as the plane was taking off. However, French authorities haven’t ruled out such possible explanations.

A report indicating conclusions to the investigation is not expected until late August.

Apparently confident no sabotage was responsible for the crash, an official from the French Ministry of Justice said Friday the department’s criminal probe would be swift. They have been looking into whether anyone should be charged with involuntary homicide.

Pilot Says Two Engines Damaged

Meanwhile, investigators continue to unravel what appears to be a chain reaction of events that doomed the Concorde.

According to the cockpit voice recorder, the pilot said he was unable to retract the landing gear — which would have made it difficult for the aircraft to gain speed and altitude and increased problems with the jet’s stability, officials told ABCNEWS.

On Thursday, French officials said physical evidence collected in the investigation, including analysis of the aircraft’s flight and voice data recorders, shows trouble with both engines.

Authorities also have confirmed that the No. 1 engine also failed just before the aircraft crashed. The No. 1 was housed right next to the No. 2 on the plane’s left wing.

One theory investigators have considered is that improper maintenance or a faulty part may have caused the No. 2 engine to malfunction, damaging other parts of the aircraft including the No. 1.

Investigators were looking into an engine part replacement ordered by the pilot just before takeoff. The part, associated with engine No. 2’s thrust reverser, was replaced with one taken from another aircraft.

The thrust reverser redirects the jet engine’s powerful exhaust upward and downward, helping to slow the plane when landing. An unlikely, accidental deployment of a thrust reverser during a Concorde’s takeoff could severely damage an engine, experts say.

Air France says a problem with the thrust reverser on the No. 2 engine was discovered when the plane returned to Paris from New York on Monday, the day before the crash.

Aflame on Takeoff

Several photographs, taken by an amateur photographer near Charles de Gaulle airport and obtained by ABCNEWS, show the Air France Concorde awash in flames in the vicinity of the No. 2 engine as it was taking off.

French authorities have not yet said when the Concorde’s pilot first became aware that the plane was on fire. That could be made clear after the full analysis of the plane’s cockpit voice recorder.

Experts say analysis of the recorder could also explain why the pilot didn’t stop the plane on takeoff.

“The way you operate the Concorde, and all airliners, is there’s a ‘go/no go’ decision speed,” a point at which the plane can no longer be stopped on the runway because it is moving too fast and there is not enough runway ahead, explains Mike Dornheim, senior engineering editor for the magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology.

A question investigators will probably try to answer, says Dornheim, is “Did the guy know before the decision speed and then he continued anyway … was he aware there was something going on or not, and did he make a bad decision to go or what?”

The fact that all of the runway debris found so far is located after the point where the plane was committed to take off may help answer this question.

Fifty-six seconds after takeoff, the pilot of the doomed jet got a message from the control tower: the engine was on fire.

“The control tower signaled the crew that flames were coming from the rear of the plane,” according to a statement released by investigators.

“The crew announced a failure of engine No. 2, and a little later that thelanding gear would not go up.” It said engine No. 1 suffered a partial failure, recovered and then lost partial power again. The investigators ’ statement concluded: “The plane swerves sharply to the left and crashes.”

Remembering the Dead

The dispassionate prose from investigators stood in starkcontrast to the emotions at the Madeleine church in downtown Paris,the site of a memorial service Thursday for the victims, most of whom wereGerman. Hundreds of blue-uniformed Air France personnel joinedweeping relatives and dignitaries from Germany and France.

“Concorde is one of those works of human genius,” said Pierred’Ornellas, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Paris. “But afailure brought such a brutal disappearance of so many lovedones.”

Friday, friends and colleagues of the nine crew members who died attended a memorial service at Air France’sheadquarters at the Charles de Gaulle airport.

Many of the mourners bowed their heads while others cried in their handkerchiefs. One woman fainted.

“It was a very moving ceremony,” said Gerard Feldzer, an AirFrance pilot. “Each one of us was touched.”

In Gonesse, residents walked silently in a procession from thetown hall toward the site where the Concorde went down in a ball offire.

Mayor Jean-Pierre Blazy walked at the front with the owner ofthe destroyed Hotelissimo hotel, Michele Fricheteau, whose arms were wrapped in white bandages and face was scattered with burns.

“We’re still in shock. It’s a time for reverent silence, pain,and emotion,” Blazy said.

Ninety-six of the victims were Germans heading for the vacationof a lifetime — supersonic jet to New York, then a five-star cruiseinto the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal to Ecuador and, forsome, a transpacific voyage to the Olympic Games in Sydney,Australia.

Today in Germany, nearly 2,000 mourners gathered in a church in the town ofMuhn-chen-glad-bach to pay their respects to their 13 neighbors — six couples and one child — who died in the crash.

ABCNEWS.com’s Lucrezia Cuen in Gonesse, France, ABCNEWS’s Antonio Mora and Lisa Stark in Gonesse, Nathan Thomas in London, Sue Masterman in Vienna, Merlin Koene in Hamburg, David Ruppe, Rose Palazzolo, Julia Campbell and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.