Video: 'Air Disaster - Air France Flight 4590 Concorde'

(Tuesday, July 25, 2000, 4:45 p.m. Central European Summer Time; during Air France Flight 4590) — An Air France Concorde carrying mainly German tourists bound for a cruise ship in New York crashed in flames shortly after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris today, killing all 109 passengers and crew members on board as well as four people on the ground.

Investigators determined the aircraft ran over debris on the runway during takeoff, blowing a tire, and sending debris flying into the underside of the left wing, and into the landing gear bay, leading to in-flight fire and loss of control.

It was the first crash of a Concorde since the world’s first supersonic passenger plane went into commercial operation in 1976.