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IT’S been 24 years since the catastrophic Concorde was engulfed by a fireball and went crashing down, killing 113 people.
On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 plummeted to the ground shortly after take-off, killing 109 passengers and crew as well as four people on the ground.
AP:Associated Press
Reuters
ReutersThe infamous plane was heading from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to New York.
But shortly after taking off the luxury jet caught fire and subsequently ploughed into a hotel in the small town of Gonesse.
But there was one tiny mishap that sparked the horrific crash – and even led to Concorde’s extinction.
Investigators found one of the plane’s tyres struck a small piece of sheet metal debris that had fallen from the aircraft that took off five minutes prior.
The report said the 40cm piece of metal almost certainly slashed the Concorde’s tyre, sending large chunks of rubber hurtling at tremendous speed into the plane’s fuel tanks.
French investigators confirmed the burst tyre set off the tragic chain of events.
They said: “Shortly before rotation, the front right tyre of the left undercarriage became damaged and tyre fragments were projected against the fuselage.
“At least one fuel tank was ruptured in one or more places, resulting in a substantial fuel leak.
“The leaking fuel caught light and a very violent fire ensued throughout the duration of the flight. Engine problems occurred in engine number 2 and, briefly, in engine number 1.
“The aircraft flew for approximately one minute.”
The terrifying photo of the plane engulfed in flames mid-flight has forever been engrained in French history.
Scenes from the wreckage also left viewers shocked as the frame of the jet was left in ruins.
But the chilling final words of the Concorde’s pilot Captain Christian Marty surfaced.
APFollowing take-off, the Paris control tower was heard telling the crew: “Concorde zero… 4590, you have flames. You have flames behind you.”
The Concorde’s chief navigator said: “Breakdown eng… Breakdown engine two.
“Cut engine two.”
The aircraft reportedly tried to gain speed for an emergency landing before the captain was heard saying his final words.
Marty said: “Too late… no time.”
The co-pilot was then heard saying: “Le Bourget, Le Bourget.
“Negative, we are trying Le Bourget [airport to land].”
The crew lost all power in one engine and could neither accelerate nor gain altitude as they desperately tried to reach Le Bourget airport.
Sixteen seconds later the recording ends and not long after everyone onboard was dead.
Devastatingly, the Air France flight 4590 Concorde plane was only in the air for a mere 77 seconds in total.
The crash prompted the airline to ground its remaining Concorde planes immediately and British Airways followed soon after.
Concorde was a hugely groundbreaking development in the aeronautical world and meant so much to many people.
The aircraft’s first commercial flight took place on 21 January 1976 and the last was 26 November 2003.
World's Worst Air Disasters
Tenerife Airport Disaster, 1977
On March 27, 1977, on the island of Tenerife two Boeing 747 jets collided on the runway in the deadliest accident in aviation history.
The accident occurred as a result of heady mix bombings, organisational issues and fog.
A bomb explosion at the airport on Gran Canaria caused many flights to be diverted Los Rodeos Airport on the popular holiday island.
Among two of the flights affected were KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, neither would leave the island.
Tragedy struck due to radio miscommunication causing the Dutch plane to rocket down the runway at take-off speed while the US aircraft was taxing in the opposite direction.
The resulting collision resulted in the death of 583 people.
Malaysian Airlines 370, 2014
The MH370 Boeing was seen for the last time on military radar at 2.14am, close to the south of Phuket Island in the Strait of Malacca.
Half an hour later, the airline lost contact with the plane. It had been due to land at around 6.30am.
On July 29, 2015 – more than a year after the plane’s disappearance – debris was found by volunteers cleaning a beach in St Andre, Reunion.
A week later investigators confirmed the debris did belong to MH370, but it did not help to locate the plane as it had drifted in the water.
Theories abound about what happened to the missing jet but the true cause of the crash may never be known.
Malaysian Airlines 17, 2014
Flight MH17 was as passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17 2014.
All passengers and crew perished putting the death toll at 298 in the deadliest case of “airliner shootdown” in history, 80 children was on board when it went down.
It was hit by a Russian made Buk surface to air missile fired from Ukrainian separatist held land near Donetsk.
Air France Flight 447, 2009
On June 1 2009 Air France Flight 447 disappeared off the radar off the coast of Brazil.
The airline took six hours to acknowledge the loss of the plane and no trace was found for days.
All 216 passengers and 12 crew were never seen again after the Rio to Paris flight crashed out of the sky.
Investigations went on to prove that the crash was caused by the pilot flying to high and stalling the engines causing the plane to fall out of the sky and into the Atlantic ocean.
Uruguayan Flight 571, 1972
The chartered Air Force plane carrying 45 people, including a Uruguayan rugby team, crashed in the Andes in South America.
More than a quarter of the passengers lost their lives on impact and a number of others quickly succumbed to the cold of the mountains or injuries sustained in the crash.
Of the 27 who survived the initial impact and cold a further eight were killed in an avalanche a few days after the incident.
Eventually 16 people were rescued after spending more than two months in the freezing conditions of the mountains.
But those survivors had been forced to eat the corpses of their fellow passengers when faced with starvation.
JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367, 1972
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 model aircraft was blown up by a bomb placed on board by Croatian fascist militant group the Ustase as it made its way back to Yugoslavia from Sweden.
All but one of the 28 passengers and crew died on the plane but one stewardess made it into the record books.
Lockerbie Bombing, 1988
Pan Am Flight 103 was flying from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York on 21 December 1988.
While over the Scottish town of Lockerbie a bomb was detonated aboard the flight, killing all passengers and crew.
Eleven of the town’s residents on the ground were also killed by falling debris, bringing the death toll to 270.
American Airlines Flight 191, 1979
Moments after take-off the left engine of Flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles fell off.
The plane rolled over upside down and smashed into a field near O’Hare international airport.
A firefighter on the scene was quoted as saying that not a single complete body was found.
AP:Associated Press
EPA
AP:Associated Press
Reuters
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