ORIGINAL: rorywquin
When I lived in the UK a club member was on the crash investiagtion team and he eventually gave a presentation (edited at the time) on their findings. I don't remember the details but it was a series of events that led to the plane crashing and if even one of those early events had not happened the Concorde would not have crashed. Pointing to pilot error of a piece of metal on the runway is too simplistic.
Again a classic Human Factors story, the type of which is taught all the time in the aviation industry....the Swiss Cheese model....eventually a series of holes will line up to allow the accident to take place, move the hole on any slice and the chain is broken. If you look into the subject deep enough you will always find a HF even the ones deemed mechanical failure.
Rob.