BY THE time the Air France Concorde had travelled 1200 metres down the runway
at Charles de Gaulle airport, it had reached the point of no return. It was
committed to take off as there was not enough runway left to stop. Nine hundred
metres further down the runway the plane took off with its port wing on fire.
Two minutes later the blazing Concorde crashed into a hotel, killing 113
people.
When investigators from the Bureau Enquêtes-Accidents, part of the
French Ministry of Transport, retraced the journey of flight AF4590, they found
debris from a burst tyre—or tyres—littering…
