Sunday night, I watched a great program on the history of the Concorde, much of it on the crash that signaled the end of the plane’s life. The program points to a series of errors committed by Air France, including overloading the plane with luggage and fuel, failure to make modifications to its fuel tanks and wings, and maintenance issues. It appears the cause might have been the Air France maintenance crew not replacing spacers back between the wheels. This caused wobbling as the flaming aircraft strayed off to the left at takeoff and eventually crashed nearby into a hotel.

Air France would like to think a small piece of metal from another aircraft punctured the Concorde’s tire, causing flying tire rubber to puncture the fuel tank. That theory seems to have some problems, as many on the ground saw a flame coming from the plane long before it would have hit the piece of metal.

British Airways tried to relaunch the modern miracle after making a two-million-per-plane retrofit, including stronger tires, Kevlar lining in the fuel tanks and a jazzy new look and interiors. The test flight took off from London Heathrow (LHR) and flew halfway across the Atlantic and returned flawlessly. Concorde was back — or was it? This flight took place on Sept. 11, 2001, and when Concorde landed, they learned of the 9/11 attacks. It was the end for Concorde; the investment bankers and celebrities stopped flying Concorde, and they lost some of their best clients in the World Trade Center.  

It was sad to see the Concorde go during those days after 9/11; it had survived Gulf War One, but this was another issue.

— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO