Concorde Airplane

Supersonic passenger travel was abruptly halted Tuesday--and some analysts said it might be ended forever--when British Airways grounded its seven Concordes in advance of plans by French and British authorities to rule the exotic jet unfit to fly, at least temporarily. The action came amid an investigation into a July 25 crash of an Air France Concorde outside Paris that killed 114 people.

A fuel leak that led to the fiery crash of an Air France Concorde jet was probably caused by a strip of metal left on the runway where the supersonic jet took off, investigators said Thursday. The 16-inch metal piece probably punctured one of the jet's tires, sending heavy chunks of rubber flying into the jet fuel tanks.

Investigators probing the cause of the doomed Concorde flight said Sunday that flames seen spewing from the aircraft most likely came from a major fuel leak and that they believe they found part of a fuel tank on the runway. The supersonic jet crashed less than a minute after takeoff Tuesday from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 114 people.

Market Square on most weekends is a vibrant cacophony of produce hawkers, flower vendors and discerning shoppers. But on the first Saturday after the Concorde crash near Paris killed 13 local friends and neighbors, the square was an empty expanse of cobblestone and a fitting metaphor for the hole in this grieving city's heart.

Investigators searching for the cause of the Air France Concorde crash combed through wreckage and examined debris in high-tech labs Saturday, trying to confirm whether a tire explosion could have triggered the jet's fiery plunge. A tire blew out on the supersonic jet's undercarriage as it raced down the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport for takeoff, France's Transportation Ministry confirmed Friday.

A tire blew out as the doomed Air France Concorde roared down the runway, France's Transport Ministry said Friday, leading to speculation that debris from the blowout might have triggered a fire in one of the plane's engines. The ministry statement was the first time a tire blowout has been confirmed, and investigators were trying to determine what role if any it played in sending the luxury jet plunging into a hotel in the town of Gonesse minutes after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Accident investigators examining flight data from the doomed Air France Concorde discovered Thursday that both engines on the port side of the supersonic jet failed during takeoff and that the cockpit crew was unable to retract the plane's landing gear once it was airborne.

The mood was somber, not celebratory, as passengers boarded the cruise ship Deutschland on Thursday and wept for those who would not make the luxury voyage. "Everywhere, there are signs of people missing--seats and cabins empty," Brigitte Schoeneberg, a teacher from Luenen, Germany, said as she boarded the ship, which was set to sail for Ecuador.

The Air France Concorde that crashed and killed 113 people here underwent preflight repair to the port-side engine that caught fire on takeoff, airline officials disclosed Wednesday. As French forensic experts began the gruesome task of identifying the remains, President Jacques Chirac headed an ecumenical ceremony for the victims in this Paris suburb, where the Concorde plummeted into a small hotel.

Aviation experts were sharply divided Tuesday over whether the first crash of a Concorde could spark the demise of the 30-year-old model--whose economic usefulness already was in question--and of supersonic passenger travel overall.