Crash came day after BA grounded Concorde over cracks

Tuesday's Concorde crash in Paris came just a day after British Airways announced it had grounded a Concorde aircraft after small cracks spotted on its wings grew larger.

Tuesday's Concorde crash in Paris came just a day after British Airways announced it had grounded a Concorde aircraft after small cracks spotted on its wings grew larger.

Engineers detected 2.4 inch cracks a few months ago in the rear of the wings of seven Concorde planes.

They were all given the go-ahead by aviation authorities to remain in service. But the crack in one of the planes was found to have grown to 3 inches last week, forcing the company to ground it for maintenance repairs.

British Airways said passengers had not been at risk, and that the six aircraft still in use remain completely safe, despite the flaws.

Concorde's wings are manufactured by French company Aerospatiale which had been notified about the problem.