/ 27 July 2000

CRASH PROBE FOCUSES ON ENGINE FAILURE

INVESTIGATORS are focusing their attention on the port engine of the doomed French Concorde, after it was revealed that the pilot reported engine failure shortly before the crash. French deputy public prosecutor, Elisabeth Senot, who is leading a judicial investigation into the crash, said that experts had made a transcript from the cockpit voice recorder retrieved from the plane’s ashes. “The pilot reported a failure on the number two motor and it seems that he was no longer able to brake given that the thrust was too great,” she said. A spokesperson for Air France also revealed that technicians had carried out repairs to the second of the four engines of the Concorde minutes before the plane took off on its ill-fated flight. The work had been carried out at the request of the captain, Christian Marty, who wanted a defective thrust reverser, used to help the supersonic airline brake on landing, replaced.