Speaking of trans-Atlantic crossings that didn't end well: Air France Flight 4590

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Air France Flight 4590

Air France Flight 4590 was an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde, registration F-BTSC, on a scheduled international flight from Paris, France, to New York City, on 25 July 2000, local time 16:43 CET. While taking off, the aircraft ran over debris on the runway, blowing a tyre and puncturing a fuel tank, leading to fire and engine failure. All 100 passengers and nine crew members aboard the Concorde died when it crashed into a hotel in nearby Gonesse, while on the ground four people were killed and one was critically injured.

The flight was chartered by German company Peter Deilmann Cruises; the passengers were on their way to board the cruise ship MS Deutschland in New York City for a 16-day cruise to Manta, Ecuador. This was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history.

And that was the end of that.

[PJMcK]

1. What a dramatic photograph!

And a terribly sad story that I had forgotten.

I used to be near a flight path into New York's JFK airport and watching the Concordes approach and depart was fascinating. It was a uniquely beautiful aircraft.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. In the late 1980s,

I worked in Reston, Virginia. We were near final approach or a takeoff route of Dulles Airport. We used to see Concorde about noon, either nearing or leaving Dulles. I'll have to look that up.

Quite the aircraft.

Thanks for writing.

[DFW]

3. We took the Air France Concorde once

When my grandfather was celebrating his 100th birthday in New York iin 1994, the whole family came, and we got permission to take our kids out of school for 2 days. But air fare across the Atlantic was always extremely expensive if you only stayed a couple of days. I asked my travel agent to call a few airlines to see if they'd offer us something special for a family of 4. Air France was best, with a return flight from New York to Paris on the Concorde, and they threw in a hotel room for us in Paris, since the Concorde got in later than the last flight to Düsseldorf departed. Most of the "thrill" was the VIP treatment Concorde passengers got before the flight. It was very cramped, and the food was OK but nothing special. Of course, getting from New York to Paris in 3 hours was amazing, but when we found out how much fuel the thing had to burn to do it, we thought it was the sort of thing that should only be used for dire international emergencies.

[rickford66]

4. I was close by when this happened.

We were working on a FSI flight simulator at Le Bourget. We could see the smoke from our hotel. The police and emergency vehicles were an endless stream for several hours afterwards. Of course we saw Concords quite frequently and took them for granted. Our company had also done work on the Concord simulator Terrible accident. The air museum at Le Bourget has the original test aircraft on display and you can walk through it to see how cramped it was.