August 16, 2000

British Airways grounds Concorde fleet after French and British investigators recommend withdrawal of supersonic plane's airworthiness certificate in aftermath of fatal crash in Paris; France says concern is about risks linked to aircraft's tires; Air France grounded its flights after July crash, first in Concorde's history; chronology of Concorde; photo; investigators believe 16-inch piece of metal on runway at de Gaulle Airport probably slashed tire as plane hurtled toward takeoff, creating debris that ruptured fuel tanks; emphasize that ruptured tire should not have such deadly consequences (M)

About half dozen dams gave way during recent intense flooding in northwestern New Jersey, highlighting slapdash system in which many dams never undergo state-mandated inspections or repairs; New Jersey regularly monitors condition of only 187 of state's 1,600 dams, about 800 of which are privately owned; no one knows to what extent dam failures contributed to flood damage, but officials are inspecting each of them, and say that they will not provide public money for repair of private dams; map of dams that were damaged, destroyed or overflowed; photo of Lake Seneca, which emptied after dam broke (M)

Ira Berkow Sports of The Times column discusses versatility of New York Mets pitcher Pat Mahomes; photo (M)

Ben Brantley Critic's Notebook column examines London's current theater scene, where heroines of top-rated shows represent departure from traditional and are older and well past ingenue years; casting in The Witches of Eastwick, Mamma Mia, Orpheus Descending and The Graduate discussed; photos (M)

Chief executives at large corporations appear to be keeping their jobs longer than before contrary to conventional wisdom of revolving door among top business leaders; long tenures of chief executives Charles F Knight of Emerson Electric, Maurice R Greenberg of American International Group, Edward E Whitacre Jr of SBC Communications and Michael D Eisner of Walt Disney Co noted; recent departures of Jill E Barad at Mattel, M Douglas Ivester at Coca-Cola and Durk I Jager at Procter & Gamble noted; graph; photos (M)