A mechanical problem forced an Air France Concorde bound for New York to return to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport shortly after take off on today.
Concorde forced to abort transatlantic flight AThe company said the nose of the Concorde on flight AF002 from Paris to New York failed to move into position for supersonic speed after take off, and the pilot decided to return to Paris, where the aircraft landed without incident before noon.
The 38 passengers and the crew were transferred to another of Air France's fleet of Concordes.
"The breakdown didn't present any danger to the aircraft or the passengers. It simply prevented supersonic flight," said the airline.
The aircraft was being examined by Air France mechanics.
The nose problem was the latest in a string of incidents to plague the supersonic jet since it returned to service in November 2001 following a safety review in the wake of the July 2000 Concorde crash in Paris, in which all 109 people on board and four people on the ground died.
Last November part of the rudder of a British Airways Concorde fell off during a transatlantic flight between London and New York, but none of the 96 passengers or nine crew was hurt.
Earlier in the month, an Air France Concorde en route to Paris suffered an engine failure and quickly dropped 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) over the Atlantic Ocean, terrifying the 67 passengers and crew on board.
Two days earlier a British Airways Concorde was forced to return to London following an engine failure.
The Concorde crash in 2000 was attributed to a metal fragment on an airport runway that shredded a tyre on the aircraft and flung rubber chunks up into an engine fuel tank, causing a fire and then the crash.
AFP