A French trial probing the ill-fated 2000 Air France crash, questioned a Continental Airlines manager blamed for giving approval to aircraft repair without examining it.

It was believed that the piece of metal strip which fell off from a Continental aircraft shortly after its take-off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is the main cause of the July 2000 crash of a Concorde supersonic jet owned by Air France.

Continental Airlines chief of maintenance Stanley Ford has been blamed for signing on a non-standard metal strip allegedly fitted into the Continental aircraft by a mechanic in Texas, 16 days prior to the accident. Ford, who worked for 30 years under the US airline, told the court during the trial that he decided to replace the original metal strip as it looked to be faulty. He said that after the replacement, the super hard titanium metal strip was painted over. Ford then gave his thumbs up for the repair without even scrutinising it.

The Continental Airlines management and two mechanics are indicted for the killing of 109 people aboard of the supersonic jet. Most of the passengers are German tourists, including four hotel staff.

The court will soon decide whether to support the investigators and technical experts’ claim that the Concorde crash was caused by a strip of metal that fell off from the Continental DC-10 aircraft shortly before takeoff. Investigators moreover said that the strip shredded a tyre on the jet, sending debris into the Concorde’s engine and fuel tank, and eventually setting it on fire.

Due to the tragic incident, Air France and British Airways temporarily grounded their supersonic jets for 15 months, and, after a short resumption, both companies stopped the operations of the world’s only supersonic commercial passenger service in 2003.