Airline executives to be questioned about crash

CERGY-PONTOISE, France - French prosecutors summoned Continental Airlines' top two executives for questioning in the investigation of the July 2000 crash of a supersonic Air France Concorde, two lawyers said Tuesday.

The decision to question chief executive officer Gordon Bethune and president and chief operating officer Larry Kellner came after a panel of experts concluded that the crash outside Paris was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental jet that took off earlier on the same runway.

The experts' report also pointed to a critical defect in the Concorde design as having a role in the accident.

The Concorde crashed in flames minutes after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25, 2000, and slammed into a hotel, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground. The crash also spelled an end to the career of the sleek but costly supersonic jet.

The Houston-based airline said it does not believe it had responsibility in causing the crash.

"Continental has not received any communications from the court. As the company has stated previously, it strongly disagrees that anything Continental did was the cause of the Concorde accident," an airline statement said. "It is outraged that media reports have said criminal charges may be made against the company and its employees. Continental is confident that there is no basis for a criminal action and it will defend any charges in the appropriate courts."

The prosecutors' office in Pontoise, the region covering Gonesse, north of Paris where the accident occurred, opened an investigation for manslaughter after the crash. Those questioned in the case risk eventually being placed under investigation - a step short of being charged - by Judge Christophe Regnard, who is heading the inquiry.

However, they could simply be dismissed after answering questions.

A panel of experts concluded that the titanium strip that fell off a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had used the runway ahead of the Concorde was the main cause of the deadly crash.

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