What could have been a revolutionary change in the global airline industry came to a halt when the world's fastest commercial jet crashed, killing more than a hundred people.
On an unassuming summer day in 2000, the Concorde supersonic plane was bound to take dozens of tourists from Paris to New York for a cruise. None of the passengers on Air France Flight 4590 knew that the world's fastest commercial jet would never leave Europe and would eventually ground the fleet forever.
History of the Concorde Supersonic Plane
The Concorde supersonic plane is a supersonic airliner that is the result of a collaboration between France's Sud Aviation and the UK's British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). In 1954, France and the UK entered into an agreement to develop the Concorde supersonic plane, which would then become the world's fastest commercial jet with the capability to fly 1,350 miles per hour.
The Concorde supersonic plane was powered by four Rolls Royce turbojets and could travel more than twice the speed of sound, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in just less than 3.5 hours, History reported. The supersonic jet was truly an engineering marvel, with every aspect of its design created for aerodynamic efficiency.
More than just a sleek, fast plane, it was a big technological leap into the future as scientists and engineers hoped to make the world a smaller place, Simple Flying reported. But following the Air France Flight 4590 crash, nothing had ever been the same for the once-revered Concorde.
What Caused the Air France Flight 4590 Crash?
On July 25, 2000, Air France Concorde flight number 4590 was set to depart from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), in a trip chartered by German travel company Peter Deilmann Cruises. It was set to take passengers to New York for a 16-day cruise to Ecuador on the MS Deutschland. But the Concorde supersonic plane never left France and instead had met its demise just minutes after takeoff.
When Air France Flight 4590 left DeGaulle Airport for New York, it carried 96 German tourists and nine crew members. However, when the Concorde supersonic plane took off on the runway, it ran over debris, specifically a metallic strip that fell off a Continental Airlines DC-10 that took off just moments earlier.
Upon impact, the metal strip caused a tire of the Concorde supersonic plane to blow and throw debris underneath the left wing and landing gear bay. This then caused a rupture on the full fuel tank inside the left wing, causing fuel to freely flow out at great force. The debris that entered the landing gear bay also severed wires, preventing the pilots from retracting the wheels.
The broken wing's sparks ignited the flowing fuel, creating a massive flame trailing behind the Concorde supersonic plane. Pilots then lost control of the plane, which crashed into the Hotel Hôtelissimo in Gonesse, just minutes after it took off. The crash killed all 109 people on board and four hotel employees.
Other Interesting Facts About the Concorde
Following the Air France Flight 4590 crash, the Concorde fleet was grounded as the disaster was investigated. In November 2001, the Concorde supersonic plane went back into service, but minor problems prompted Air France and British Airways to permanently end the service in October 2003.
The Concorde supersonic plane was lovingly nicknamed "l'oiseau blanc" or "the white bird" after it debuted in 1976, showcasing its technological advancements and aerodynamic elegance, the Smithsonian Magazine reported. Featuring a "needle-nosed, delta-winged, ivory-white" form, the plane was equipped with just 100 seats laid out in a 2+2 configuration and was truly "the pinnacle of modern luxury" at the time, as tickets had a handsome price tag of at least $10,000.
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