Concorde: How the supersonic dream came to an end Sam Lee relives the crash of Air France and what this did to the reputation of Concorde
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“…45 90 you have flames behind you.” “45 90 you have strong flames behind you…” “We’re trying for Le Bourget.” . . . . . . . . “The Concorde has crashed near Le Bourget, Fire Service Leader”
16 | SATNAV | June 2021
he crash of Air France Flight 4590 on the 25th of July 2000 marked the beginning of the end for, arguably, the world’s only successful supersonic passenger airliner. But what caused the tragic accident in Paris, and how did this lead to the premature retirement of Concorde just three years later? Flight 4590, chartered to take 100 tourists to New York, was running late due to maintenance issues. At 4:34pm Concorde finally began its taxi towards the runway, and by 4:42pm the aircraft was lined up on the runway and ready for take-off. Accelerating rapidly, the aircraft passed “V1”- the point beyond which it would be impossible to stop before the end of the runway. Four seconds later flames erupted from underneath the wing. Unable to stop, Concorde slowly heaved into the air. Moments later the aircraft began to pitch up, roll to the left and rapidly lose height. The flight of Air France 4590 lasted less than 70 seconds. All 109 people onboard, and four on the ground, were killed. Accident investigators began to trace Concorde’s movements and happened to stumble across a 40cm-long metal strip lying on the runway. Could this strip of metal be responsible for bringing down the 190-tonne aircraft? The investigation revealed that the strip of metal was shed by another aircraft that had used the runway only minutes before Flight 4590. As Concorde’s tyres hit the metal, a chunk
