Air France Flight 4590
On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground. It was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history.
Flight 4590 during takeoff | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 25 July 2000 |
| Summary | Crashed following debris strike and in-flight fire |
| Site | Gonesse, near Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France 48°59′08″N 2°28′20″E |
| Total fatalities | 113 |
| Total injuries | 6 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Concorde |
| Operator | Air France |
| IATA flight No. | AF4590 |
| ICAO flight No. | AFR4590 |
| Call sign | AIR FRANS 4590 |
| Registration | F-BTSC |
| Flight origin | Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France |
| Destination | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, United States |
| Occupants | 109 |
| Passengers | 100 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 109 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 4 |
| Ground injuries | 6 |
Whilst taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport, the aircraft ran over debris on the runway, causing a tyre to explode and disintegrate. Tyre fragments, launched upwards at great speed by the rapidly spinning wheel, violently struck the underside of the wing, damaging parts of the landing gear – thus preventing its retraction – and causing the integral fuel tank to rupture. Large amounts of fuel leaking from the rupture ignited, causing a loss of thrust in the left-hand-side engines 1 and 2. The aircraft lifted off, but the loss of thrust, high drag from the extended landing gear, and fire damage to the flight controls made it impossible to maintain control. The jet crashed into a hotel in nearby Gonesse two minutes after takeoff. All nine crew and 100 passengers on board were killed, as well as four people in the hotel. Four other people sustained slight injuries.
In the wake of the disaster, the entire Concorde fleet was grounded. It returned to service on November 7, 2001, following the implementation of various modifications to the airframe, but to limited commercial success. Concorde aircraft were finally retired by Air France in May 2003 and by British Airways in November of the same year.