Concorde Flies From Paris to NY
NEW YORK (AP) - An Air France Concorde flew from Paris to New York on Monday for a training flight, the airline's first trans-Atlantic flight since its supersonic jets were grounded last year after a crash that killed 113 people.
British Airways, the only other airline to offer Concorde service, completed its first trans-Atlantic test flight, from London to New York, on Oct. 22.
The flights' purpose was to prepare crews for the jets' return to commercial service next week.
Air France commercial flights are to resume Nov. 7, while British Airways will run a preview flight for corporate customers and reporters that day and resume its regular commercial service Nov. 9.
During test flights since the grounding, the French carrier's Concordes had flown a loop over part of the Atlantic, but hadn't gone all the way across.
The jet took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport at about 10:30 local time carrying 69 passengers - all Air France employees - for the three-hour, 55-minute flight to John F. Kennedy Airport, a spokeswoman said. It arrived on time and was expected to return to France on Tuesday.
Both British Airways and Air France grounded their fleets following the July 25, 2000, crash outside Paris. The jet has been revamped to address safety concerns, and civil aviation authorities in both countries cleared its return to the skies.
Investigators studying last year's crash say a stray strip of metal on the runway punctured one of the jet's tires, propelling bits of rubber into the fuel tank and starting a fire.
Aviation experts have designed durable new tires that would burst into lighter, more flexible fragments if a blowout happens. They also installed fuel tank liners engineered to prevent leaks if the plane's wing is ruptured. The liners are made in part with Kevlar, which is used in bulletproof vests.
On the Net: http://www.airfrance.com/us
Originally published October 29, 2001.
