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Concorde, the supersonic jet airliner was set to revolutionize air travel, but disaster took hold. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 is about to take-off from Paris. Suddenly, flames eject from the Concorde's left wing as it rises off the runway. Flight 4590 isn't able to lift its landing gear. 120 seconds later, the disaster ends with a horrific crash into a hotel in nearby Gonesse. 113 people die as a result of the crash. Why did the wing go up in flames?
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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 the number 2 wheel was cut by a metal strip lying on the runway, which came from the thrust reverser cowl door of the 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.
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[Originating Article]
July 2005
