This animation from Seconds From Disaster shows the fuel tank on fire

Air France Flight 4590 was a Concorde flight from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, France to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, New York, and operated by Air France. On July 25, 2000 it crashed in Gonesse, France. All 100 passengers and nine crew on board the flight, as well as four people on the ground, were killed. July 25 is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by Green Day, see F.O.D.. FOD damage to the compressor blades of a Honeywell LTS101 turboshaft engine on a Bell 222, caused by a small bolt that passed through the protective inlet screen. ... Gonesse is a town in the Val dOise département, north of Paris. ... The new logo of Aéroports de Paris used since 6 June 2005 Charles de Gaulle International Airport (IATA: CDG, ICAO: LFPG) (French: ), also known as Roissy Airport (or just Roissy in French), in Paris, is one of Europes principal aviation centres, as well as Frances main international... John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK), originally known as Idlewild Airport, is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in southeastern New York City about 12 miles (19 km) from Lower Manhattan. ... British Airways Concorde G-BOAB. Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. ... Air France (Compagnie Nationale Air France) is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM. Before its merger with KLM, it was the national airline of France, employing 71,654 people (as of March 2004). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1059x1275, 572 KB) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1059x1275, 572 KB) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ... Logo of the documentary Seconds from Disaster Seconds From Disaster is a documentary that investigates the worst man-made disasters and several natural disasters in modern history, and analyses the causes and events that led up to each disaster. ... British Airways Concorde G-BOAB. Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. ... The new logo of Aéroports de Paris used since 6 June 2005 Charles de Gaulle International Airport (IATA: CDG, ICAO: LFPG) (French: ), also known as Roissy Airport (or just Roissy in French), in Paris, is one of Europes principal aviation centres, as well as Frances main international... This article is about the capital of France. ... John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK), originally known as Idlewild Airport, is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in southeastern New York City about 12 miles (19 km) from Lower Manhattan. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... NY redirects here. ... Air France (Compagnie Nationale Air France) is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM. Before its merger with KLM, it was the national airline of France, employing 71,654 people (as of March 2004). ... July 25 is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gonesse is a town in the Val dOise département, north of Paris. ...

The flight

During the plane's take-off run from Charles de Gaulle Airport, a piece of titanium debris on the runway shredded a tyre, which then burst. The piece was about 3 cm wide and nearly 50 cm long. A large chunk of tyre (4.5 kg) struck the underside of the aircraft's wing at over 300 km/h, causing the fuel tank above the landing gear to fail from the inside out, possibly by a hydrodynamic pressure surge. Leaking fuel was ignited by an electric arc in the landing gear bay or through contact with the hot parts of the engine (the latter is disputed by the British investigators). At the point of ignition, engines 1 and 2 both surged and lost all power, but slowly recovered over the next few seconds. A large plume of flame developed; the crew then shut down engine 2 in response to a fire warning. General Name, Symbol, Number titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Standard atomic weight 47. ...

Having passed V₁ speed, the crew continued the take-off but they could not gain enough airspeed on the three remaining engines, because the undercarriage could not be retracted. The aircraft was unable to climb or accelerate, and it maintained a speed of 200 knots (370 km/h) at an altitude of 200 feet (60 m). The fire caused damage to the port wing. Engine 1 surged again but this time failed to recover. Due to the asymmetric thrust, the starboard wing lifted, banking the aircraft to over 100 degrees. The crew reduced the power on engines 3 and 4 to attempt to level the aircraft but with falling airspeed they lost control, crashing into Les Relais Bleus hotel near the airport. The V1 of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the critical engine failure recognition speed. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...

The crew was trying to divert to nearby Le Bourget Airport, but accident investigators say that a safe landing with the flight path the aircraft was on would have been highly unlikely. Le Bourget airport (Aéroport du Bourget) is an airport, located in Le Bourget, close to Paris, France, nowadays only used for general aviation (business jets) as well as air shows. ...

Flight AF4590 carried 96 Germans, two Danes, one American and one Austrian as well as nine crew members, all of whom were killed, along with four people on the ground. The flight was chartered by German Peter Deilmann Cruises and all passengers were on their way to board a cruise ship in New York City. ^[1] The term Air Charter is a catch all phrase that refers to the renting of an entire aircraft vs. ... Pacific Sky sails under Sydney Harbour Bridge A cruise ship or a cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ships amenities are considered an essential part of the experience. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

As the CVR transcript recorded it, the last intelligible words of the crew were (in English): In aircraft, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) are used to record aircraft and pilot behavior in order to analyze accidents, and are usually called black boxes by the news media. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Co-pilot: "Le Bourget, Le Bourget, Le Bourget."

Pilot: "Too late (unclear)."

Control tower: "Fire service leader, correction, the Concorde is returning to runway zero niner in the opposite direction." FAA radiotelephony phonetic alphabet and Morse code chart. ...

Pilot: "No time, no (unclear)."

Co-pilot: "Negative, we're trying Le Bourget" (four switching sounds).

Co-pilot: "No (unclear)."

Concorde grounded

Concorde had been the safest working passenger airliner in the world according to passenger deaths per distance travelled, although the Boeing 737 fleet acquires more passenger miles and service hours in one week than the Concorde fleet acquired in its entire service career. The crash of the Concorde was the beginning of the end of its career. The Boeing 737 is the worlds most popular short to medium range, single aisle, narrow body airliner. ...

A few days after the crash, all Concordes were grounded, pending an investigation into the cause of the crash and possible remedies. Air France Concorde F-BVFC was allowed to return home from its stranded position in New York, empty of passengers.

Investigation

The official investigation was conducted by the France’s accident investigation bureau, the BEA, and it was published on December 14, 2004. It concluded that the crash was caused by a titanium strip, part of a thrust reverser, that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off about four minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured Concorde's tyres, which then disintegrated. A piece of rubber hit the fuel tank and broke an electrical cable. The impact caused a shockwave that fractured the fuel tank some distance from the point of impact. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning but were unable to retract the landing gear, hampering the aircraft's climb. With engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed, entering a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left. The impact occurred with the stricken aircraft tail-low, crashing into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. ^[2] According to the report, the piece of titanium from the DC-10 had not been approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration. December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... General Name, Symbol, Number titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Standard atomic weight 47. ... KLM Fokker 70 with reverse thrust applied. ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is an American certificated air carrier. ... The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American three-engine medium- to long-range widebody airliner, with two engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. ... For the song by Green Day, see F.O.D.. FOD damage to the compressor blades of a Honeywell LTS101 turboshaft engine on a Bell 222, caused by a small bolt that passed through the protective inlet screen. ... “FAA” redirects here. ...

Conclusions

The investigators concluded that:

• The aircraft was airworthy and the crew was qualified. The landing gear that later failed to retract did not show serious problems in the past. However, despite the crew being trained and certified, no plan existed for the simultaneous failure of two engines on the runway, as it was considered highly unlikely.
• The aircraft was slightly overloaded, being about a tonne too heavy.
• After reaching take-off speed, the tyre of No. 2 wheel was cut by a metal strip lying on the runway, which came from the thrust reverser cowl door of number 3 engine of a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off from the runway several minutes before. This strip was installed in violation of the manufacturer's rules.
• Aborting the take-off would have led to a high-speed runway excursion and collapse of the landing gear, crashing the plane anyway.
• While two of the engines had problems and one of them was shut down, the damage to the plane's structure was so severe that the crash would have been inevitable, even with the engines operating normally.

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is an American certificated air carrier. ...

Modifications and revival

The accident led to modifications being made to Concorde, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks, and specially developed, burst-resistant tyres. The new-style tyres would be another contribution to future aircraft development. However, just before services resumed, the September 11, 2001 attacks took place, resulting in a marked drop in customer numbers and leading to the eventual end of Concorde flights. Air France stopped flights in May 2003, while British Airways ended its Concorde flights in October 2003. Chemical structure of Kevlar. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...

On March 10, 2005 French authorities began a criminal investigation of Continental Airlines.^[3] March 10 is the 69th day of the year (70th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

As of October 2005, Jacques Herubel, a former Aerospatiale engineer, is under investigation for negligence leading to the crash. A report stated that the company had more than 70 incidents involving Concorde tyres between 1979 and 2000, but had failed to take appropriate steps based upon these incidents.^[4] 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Aerospatiale Corvette first flew in 1970 and went into service in 1974. ...

References

External links

• Final report from Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyse
• PlaneCrashInfo.Com - Data Entry on Flight 4590
• Aviation-Safety.Net - Data Entry on Flight 4590
• The Observer - this article mentions other contributing factors
• Crash report(PDF)

• CVR transcript

Coordinates: 48°59′08″N, 2°28′20″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...