Continental on Trial for Concorde Crash, 10 Years on

It's been 10 years since an Air France Concorde, once the pride of passenger aviation, took off from a Paris airport in flames before crashing into a nearby hotel. Investigations in the years that followed found that the accident was caused by a piece of titanium that had fallen off a Continental Airlines DC-10. Now Continental and two former employees will finally answer charges of involuntary manslaughter in a trial that starts tomorrow near Paris.

At at least three explanations for the crash will be examined, though Air France lawyer Fernand Garnault tells Time he is convinced the blame lies solely with Continental. "It is clear that a piece from a Continental plane fell on the runway. It is clear that the origin of the accident was this," says Garnault, a leading aviation lawyer. (More Concorde stories.)