Paris court rules Continental Airlines 'criminally responsible' for 2000 crash of Air France Concorde

A Paris court ruled yesterday that Continental Airlines was "criminally responsible" for the crash of the Air France Concorde in July 2000, which killed 113. The court fined the airline EU200,000 ($268,000) and ordered that it pay Air France EU1 million ($1.34 million). A Continental mechanic was given a 15-month suspended sentence, while another mechanic and three French officials were cleared. The court backed the French investigation that concluded a strip of titanium that fell from a Continental DC-10 set in motion the sequence of events that led to the crash. Continental disputes the findings and is expected to appeal.