Air France Flight 4590

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Air France Flight 4590 was a Concorde flight from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, France to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, New York.

On 25 July, 2000, the flight crashed in Gonesse, France shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 on board and four on the ground.

Concorde was the fastest airliner in the world, and—with no fatal accidents since its service entry in 1976—was considered to be the safest, as measured by passenger deaths per passenger mile, until the crash. The tiny Concorde fleet flew far fewer passenger miles than other airliners, however. Indeed, by the same statistic, Concorde instantly became the most dangerous airliner in the world after the crash.

The investigation into the crash determined that a strip of titanium metal that fell onto the runway from an earlier Continental Airlines DC-10 flight punctured one of F-BTSC's tires on the left main gear in the latter stages of takeoff. A large chunk of shredded tire (4.5 kg) hit the underside of the aircraft's wing at over 300 km/h, and the pressure wave within the full fuel tank caused it to rupture near the leading edge. Power was lost on engine number two, and for a brief period, engine number one. A tremendous fire rapidly ensued. The aircraft was unable to climb or accelerate, and it maintained a speed of 200 knots (370 km/h) and an altitude of 200 feet (60 m). The aircraft stalled after engine number 1 lost power again. The crew was unable to control the aircraft, in part because the fire melted away the ailerons on the left side. The plane crashed into a hotel (Les Relais Bleus) just miles from the airport, killing all 9 crew and 100 (mostly German) passengers and 4 people on the ground.

A few days after the crash, all Concordes were grounded, pending an investigation into the cause of the crash and possible remedies. Air France Concorde F-BVFC was allowed to return home from its stranded position in New York, empty of passengers.

The crash would force modifications to be made to the aircraft (mostly a double skin inside the tanks), but just before services resumed, the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks took place, resulting in a marked drop-off in customers and leading to the eventual end of Concorde flights; by Air France in May 2003, and by British Airways in October 2003.

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