British Airways suspends Concorde flights

LONDON (Aug. 15)—British Airways P.L.C. has suspended all flights of its Concorde fleet after being notified by the British Civil Aviation Authority that the CAA and its French counterpart, the BEA, were about to suspend the supersonic airliner´s Certificate of Airworthiness. British Airways´ move comes only days after French investigators said the chain of events that led to the crash of an Air France Concorde July 25 probably was caused by a 16-inch metal strip found on the runway that punctured one of the plane´s main tires. The tire exploded and scattered debris that punctured one or more of the aircraft´s fuel tanks. The ensuing fire and other complications left the pilots without sufficient control of the aircraft, and it crashed only minutes after takeoff, killing all 109 on board and four on the ground.