Concorde crash: As families pay tributes, here's what happened 20 years ago
Air France Flight 4590
Air France Flight 4590 was an international charter flight, from Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, flown by an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde.
A sad end
On July 25, 2000 at 14:44:31 (UTC, 16:44:31 time local in France) , the aircraft ran over debris on the runway during takeoff. This blew its tyre and sent debris flying into the underside of the left wing, and into the landing gear bay.
Fault in fuel tank
The fuel tank in the left wing was unusually full which resulted in lack of air space in the tank. This caused it to rupture and the fuel started to pour out. Following this, the debris from the tire struck the wing and caused a shock wave, which weakened the tank.
Losing control of the aircraft
Debris entering the landing gear, lack of thrust and the fire damage made it impossible to control the aircraft, which then crashed into a hotel in nearby Gonesse.
A small flight
The plane crashed two minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 109 people on board and four more people in the hotel, and left one hotel attendee critically injured.
Tribute
This year, friends and families of the victims along with ministers of France came together to pay tribute to the victims during a ceremony in Gonesse on July 25 near the site of the Paris Concorde crash, marking the 20th anniversary of the disaster which killed 113 people.
Overture: A new supersonic jet
Now, after all these years, a brand new supersonic jet, with a price tag of $200 million, is all set to take its first test flight in 2021.
The XB-1, a 1:3 scale prototype of the upcoming supersonic commercial jet Overture, will be rolled out on October 7, with test flights beginning in 2021.
Photo credit: Boom Supersonic
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