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Concorde loses part of rudder
NEW YORK (CNN) -- An Air France Concorde lost a piece of a rudder during a flight from Paris to New York on Thursday but landed safely and on schedule. It was the sixth time since 1989 that a Concorde has experienced a rudder breakup, said British Airways, the only other airline flying the supersonic jet. There was no need for an emergency landing and the crew of Air France Flight 002 did not even know that a piece of the rudder had fallen off until after landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Air France said. The Concorde left Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport at 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) and landed at JFK at 8:18 a.m. ET (1318 GMT). U.S. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said preliminary indications were that one-third of the left side of the lower rudder and two-thirds of the right side of the lower rudder were missing. The rudders are the moveable vertical parts of the tail used to steer a plane left or right. The Concorde has four rudder sections made of honeycombed composite or carbon material. Five similar incidents have happened aboard BA Concorde flights, a BA spokesman said. The most recent was last November, when BA Flight 001 from Heathrow to New York landed safely after a part of the lower rudder section fell off during the trans-Atlantic flight. BA spokesman Richard Goodfellow said the rudder piece was not "critical" and the plane was able to fly safely without it. He said the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch had not ordered any actions as a result of the incident. BA said Thursday it had no plans to ground its Concordes following the Air France rudder incident. The airline said it carries out checks to its Concorde rudders above and beyond what is required of the airline, and that it was satisfied all safety procedures were in place. A week ago, an Air France Concorde making the Paris-New York trip was forced to make an emergency landing in Canada after one of its engines malfunctioned. Air France and BA grounded their Concorde fleets after an Air France Concorde crashed on takeoff from Paris on July 25, 2000, killing 113 people. An investigation determined that a burst tire ruptured a fuel tank. Flights resumed in November 2001 after modifications were made to avoid a repeat accident. Concorde entered service in 1976. BA and Air France have a total of 12 planes still flying between them. News of the latest drama comes only a day after a press report said British Airways could scrap its fleet of Concordes because it is not making money. British Airways, Europe's biggest airline, told CNN that the airline continually reviews its fleet but there are no immediate plans to halt Concorde flights. Concorde has a certificate to fly until 2009 and "will continue to do so as long as it is safe, reliable and commercially viable," a BA spokesperson said. -- CNN Producer Beth Lewandowski contributed to this report.
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