French court: Continental guilty in Concorde crash

PONTOISE, France (AP) — Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics were convicted of manslaughter today by a French court, which ruled that debris from a Continental plane caused the crash of an Air France Concorde jet that killed 113 people a decade ago.

The panel of judges fined Continental euro202,000 ($268,000) and John Taylor, its mechanic living in the United States, euro2,000 ($2,650). Taylor also was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence. Both said they will appeal.

Continental Airlines Inc.'s lawyer, Olivier Metzner, criticized the Pontoise court outside Paris for what he called a "patriotic" decision — blaming an American company while acquitting French officials accused of ignoring design flaws in the elegant Concorde, a jet that could fly at twice the speed of sound and was the pride of European aviation.